In 1956 the London Observer newspaper held a competition for the best new stage play with a prize of 500 pounds. The competition was held in part to respond to allegations there were no new exciting plays in British theatre, and was run by Kenneth Tynan, the newspaper's drama critic. There were over 2,000 entries. According to Tynan, the submitted plays fell into six main groups: the H bomb, the Hungarian Uprising, Australia, the "colour problem", "angry young men" and poetry. The competition's support of Australian playwriting was notable at a time when very few Australian written plays were professionally produced on stage.[3]
The judges were Alec Guinness, Peter Ustinov, Peter Hall, and Michael Barry.[4]
The winner of the competition (prize £500) was Moon on a Rainbow Shawl by Errol John.[3] Second prize (£200) went to Sit on the Earth by Gurney Campbell and Daphne Athas.
Third prize (£100 each) went to:
Honourable mentions (£50 each):
- All My Own Work by Romilly Cavan
- Four Men by Andre Davis
Other plays that made the final twenty five finalists included:
- Angel in My Eye by David Shelley Nicol
- The Bastard Country by Anthony Coburn
- Boy with a Meataxe by Ray Rigby
- The Breaking Wave by Joseph Taylor
- Brixton 55 by R.A. Taylor Cole
- The Edge by R. Dellar
- The Life of the Party by Ray Mathew
- The Lilywhite Boys by Harry Cookson
- Marriage a la Carte by Ronald Duncan
- The Palace of Art by Mary Rose Duncan
- Swamp Creatures by Alan Seymour[5]
- The Wounded Boy by Jeremy Kingston
- Yesterday's Children by George Crowther