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We are delighted to announce Rosie Wyatt as the recipient of the Dramaturgs’ Network 2025 Dissertation Prize.

Rosie received the award for her MA thesis - The Disappeared Woman and Dramaturgical Intervention During the Script Drafting Process - completed as part of the MA Theatre & Performance: Dramaturgy at Birkbeck, University of London.

Rosie’s research explores how dramaturgical intervention during script development can support playwrights to challenge, rather than reproduce, harmful tropes of victimised or “disappeared” women.

Working with the first draft of Fog by playwright Duncan Gates, Rosie’s thesis combines dramaturgical protocol, interviews, literature review and analysis of recent UK productions. The thesis reframes the missing-woman trope by exposing its links to gender-based violence and proposing dramaturgical strategies that enable more critical and transformative storytelling.

As part of the prize, Rosie will receive a complimentary annual Dramaturgs’ Network membership. In 2026, Dramaturgs’ Network will also collaborate with Rosie and Birkbeck’s School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication to present an event exploring her research during Arts Week.

Dr. Molly Flynn, Rosie’s thesis supervisor, said:

“It has been an honour to work with Rosie on this ambitious and original project that stages a crucial intervention in the development of a trauma-informed dramaturgical practice. Working closely with the author on his work-in-progress text, Rosie's work unraveled many of the pervasive tropes of true crime narratives and in doing so illuminated how diffuse and destructive the depiction of violence against women has come to be in the genre and in popular culture more broadly. There is no doubt in my mind that this thoughtful and thought-provoking research is only the first step in the development of a new and nuanced trauma-informed approach to dramaturgy and new play development, an initiative that this project has already proven to be both politically urgent and aesthetically innovative”.

Alongside her academic work, Rosie is an award-winning actress whose career spans theatre, television and radio. Her credits include work with the RSC, National Theatre, Off-Broadway at 59E59, Netflix, the BBC and BBC Radio. She also works extensively as a dramaturg and script reader, including for the National Theatre, and is a Future Light Dramaturg for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting.

We congratulate Rosie on this achievement and look forward to exploring the important conversations her work brings to the field of dramaturgy in 2026.

Goldsmiths has suspended applications to its flagship MA in Dramaturgy & Writing for Performance, putting the future of this field-defining course at serious risk.

For 25 years, its alumni have shaped UK and international theatre: from National Theatre, Almeida and Paines Plough writers, to Olivier and Bruntwood winners, leading audio creators, producers, literary managers and academics.

David Lane - Visiting Lecturer at Goldsmiths, Head of Drama Writing at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and fellow d’n member - is calling on our members to sign this open letter of protest to Goldsmiths’ interim Vice-Chancellor and to share it widely within their own networks and communities. He hopes to galvanise support for this exceptional course, demonstrating to Goldsmiths’ leadership what a significant loss its closure would be for the fields of playwriting and dramaturgy, and urging them to reconsider any potential decision to end it.

If you trained on this course and/or have worked with its alumni - or simply want to support the survival of this vital training - please read and sign the open letter by Monday 15 December.

Share widely with alumni and colleagues to demonstrate the programme’s far-reaching impact.

This letter goes to Goldsmiths leadership on Tuesday 16 December at midday.

In light of the recent news of Tom Stoppard’s passing at the age of eighty-eight, the Dramaturgs’ Network wishes to express our gratitude to the late playwright for his generous support over the years, share some words of remembrance with our membership, and offer condolences to his family and relatives.

Katalin Trencsényi, co-founder of the Dramaturgs’ Network, says:

“We will remember Tom Stoppard not only as an extraordinary playwright who created many remarkable works exploring the human condition, but also as a generous theatre professional who recognised the importance and value of theatre criticism and dramaturgy. He played a vital role in acknowledging the work of those theatre professionals who contribute significantly to shaping the paths of playwrights. Tom Stoppard’s wit, generosity, and warmth will be greatly missed.”

To find out more about how Stoppard shaped and supported the Dramaturgs' Network over many years, read our latest blog.