Untapped Award Winners 2022

4 May 2022

NDT and Underbelly are delighted to announce the four winners of their Untapped Award 2022, supported by Methuen Drama - all four companies are headed to the Fringe this summer.

David Byrne, NDT's Artistic Director, said:

“After two years away, we had a record number of applicants for the 2022 Untapped Award. Competition was fierce, and our national selection panel did an expert job of helping us shortlist from the wealth of strong applications.

The final four shows are as varied and diverse as the Fringe itself – with some of the UK’s best new companies tackling big topics from democracy to reproductive rights, authoritarianism to death itself. It’s going to be a truly legendary year for the award. See you there.”

Chalk Line Theatre: Blanket Ban

“Sometimes I’m afraid of this play.”

Malta: Catholic kitsch, golden sun, deep blue sea, Eurovision - and a blanket ban on abortion.

Propelled by three years’ of interviews with anonymous contributors and their own lived experience, actors and activists Marta and Davinia interrogate Malta’s restrictions on the freedom of women. What does it mean for your home to boast the world’s most progressive LGBTQIA rights, leading transgender laws – and a population that is almost unanimously anti-choice?

A rallying cry from award-winning Chalk Line Theatre.

ChewBoy Productions: Caligari

Tonight, a new Caligari comes to life – accompanied by a five-piece band.

Off West End Award-winning ChewBoy Productions present their minty-fresh take on a German horror cult-classic. Five actor-musicians reimagine the seminal silent film, this time with the doctor’s victims taking centre stage.

Embracing the long shadows and broad brushstrokes of German expressionism, ChewBoy’s Caligari exposes parallels between post-war Weimar and the UK today – an ever-widening class divide, a subconscious need for a tyrant, and an unwillingness to rebel against deranged authority.

Ugly Bucket: Good Grief

A dying man’s last wish: for his friends to create a show about death.

Will it be subtle? Will it be sophisticated? Probably not, but it’s his funeral. Literally.

Multi award-winning physical comedy company Ugly Bucket process the death of a friend in the only way they know how – through a kinetic maelstrom of outrageous clowning, personal testimony and a thumping techno soundtrack.

Ugly Bucket are thrilled to present this hilarious gut-punch of a show.

Max Percy + Friends: This is Not a Show About Hong Kong

This is not a physical theatre piece about the disappearance of a city and its people. It's not about the effects of censorship brought by the National Security Bill, nor is it about the loss of freedom in the Special Administrative Region.

This is a show about that deep, sinking, helpless feeling that we can't quite put into words.

Everything is fine.

Max Percy + Friends are not here.

About The Untapped Award:

The Untapped Award entitles the winners to:

£5,000 cash
A prime venue and time slot at Underbelly for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe
A preferential box office split and no venue fees or deposit
Free rehearsal space at NDT Broadgate
Marketing and PR support featuring design by the brilliant Guy J Sanders
The option to have their production published by Methuen Drama including a separate commission fee
Relaxed and fully-funded captioned performances at the Festival
Support, guidance and advice from a team with extensive experience of the Edinburgh Festivals

Previous winners of the Untapped Award include:

Breach Theatre’s Fringe First and Stage Award-winning historical drama It’s True It’s True It’s True, which went on to tour nationally and internationally, was performed at the Barbican and was filmed for broadcast by the BBC.

Nouveau Riche’s Stage Award-winning Queens of Sheba, which toured extensively and went on to enjoy four sold-out runs at Soho Theatre - their latest show For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy has just extended a critically acclaimed run at the Royal Court Theatre.

Other previous winners include ThisEgg’s dressed which won a Fringe First award and went on to tour nationally, and BurntLemon’s Tokyo Rose, which toured extensively and recently enjoyed a successful run at Southwark Playhouse.

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