Harry Mould wins 2025 Alfred Fagon Award

Edinburgh-based playwright Harry Mould has won the 2025 Alfred Fagon Award with their debut play The Brenda Line.

The £6,000 prize has been run in memory of playwright Alfred Fagon since 1997, recognising the best new play by a black British writer annually.

The Brenda Line, which ran at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the Traverse Theatre in 2024, focuses on two women manning The Samaritans’ hotline in 1979, when the charity’s policy of not hanging up on anyone extended to include men who rang up for sexual gratification.

Mould, who was revealed as the winner in a ceremony in the National Theatre’s Dorfman auditorium on Friday night, said that receiving the award was a “surreal delight”. They dedicated the award to their mother, whose experiences loosely inspired the play.

Director Daniel Bailey, who chaired the judging panel, said: “This two-hander teaches us something about ourselves and questions our moral compass page after page.”

Alan Cumming, artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, said: “We are thrilled for Harry and are so pleased The Brenda Line continues to have a life it richly deserves.”

He added: “Our audiences were deeply moved by this vital story and we are excited to see where it goes next.”

At the same ceremony, the Mustapha Matura Award, which offers a £3,000 prize and a nine-month mentoring programme to a black playwright aged 25 or under, went to Thea Melton for her play Blaxit Means Blaxit, while the Roland Rees Bursary, which offers £3,000 to enable a playwright to devote more time to writing, went to Amahra Spence.