Writers should submit a full-length horror play (approximately 70–120 minutes). “The Mainstage Prize champions playwrights who are thinking big. We’re interested in plays that:

• Have a strong sense of story, character, and theatrical momentum
• Use horror as a powerful storytelling engine
• Could realistically be staged at scale and engage a broad audience
• Combine ambition, clarity, and emotional impact

We encourage writers to explore horror in all its forms — psychological, political, supernatural, or social — but the work should clearly engage with fear, dread, unease, or the darker edges of human experience, and feel unmistakably theatrical and audience-facing.”
Apart from the cash prize, the winner also gets a rehearsed reading of the winning play, and mentorship opportunities with members of the judging panel.
Value: £10,000
Deadline: 1 August 2026
Open for: UK/Ireland based writers who have had at least one stage production
Details here.

Deadline: August 1st, 2026