We’re thrilled to announce that the winner of the 25th Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play of the Year is Mojisola Adebayo for her play Family Tree, produced by ATC and commissioned by ATC and Young Vic.

Mojisola was presented with her award by the Patron of the Alfred Fagon Award, Baroness Floella Benjamin.

The Alfred Fagon Award is supported by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.

FAMILY TREE was showcased as a work-in-development for a limited number of performances at the Greenwich & Docklands International Festival 2021, directed by ATC Artistic Director Matthew Xia and presented by ATC, GDIF and Young Vic.

Background to the commissioning of Family Tree

FAMILY TREE is a joint commission by Actors Touring Company and its long-term partner the Young Vic and was one of several commissions ATC made during the period of lockdown.

Commissioning Mojisola Adebayo’s play was borne out of ATC’s commitment to commissioning new plays from female writers of colour for the first three years of Matthew Xia’s tenure (2019-21). This was alongside ATC’s mission during the same period to produce UK premieres of contemporary international plays, all of which were exclusively by female writers of colour.

The strategy aimed to pro-actively improve and elevate the representation and diversity of playwriting voices in ATC’s work and in the wider sector.

Matthew Xia says:

“Mojisola Adebayo is an exceptional writer and I’m thrilled that her outstanding new play has won the award. There’s a beauty in her work that responds so well to the present moment whilst holding historical malpractice to account. It’s fearless, brutally honest, at turns hilarious, and ultimately transformative. The ritualistic celebratory nature of this play, is our way of uplifting, remembering, and learning from these women who were used in the name of medical advancement. I hope that audiences far and wide will have the opportunity to see this vital work brought to life again on stage.”