World Drama

The Prison Graduates by Efo Kodjo Mawugbe

Broadcast Saturday 28 November 2009 at 2001 GMT

Listen Listen to The Prison Graduates

This is the second of our two prize-winning plays from the BBC World Service and British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2009 - which won the English as a second language category.

Efo Kodjo Mawugbe’s play was described by the judges as “imaginative”, “muscular” and “hysterically funny”.

The play sees four men try to make their way in the world after being released from prison in Ghana. They explore their many options – only to choose the one that might have surprised them all. This is a surreal, post-colonial fable - whereWoza! Albert meets Samuel Beckett.

Starring Daniel Francis (Eastenders; The Hounding of David Oluwale), Richard Pepple (The Estate), David Gyasi (Shooting Dogs), Mo Sesay (Coriolanus at Shakespeare’s Globe) and Wale Ojo (Widower’s Houses, National Theatre).

The director is Marion Nancarrow.

This year's two winners, Erin Browne and Efo Kodjo Mawugbe, also got the chance to visit the BBC recording studio in London to see their dramas transformed from scripts to radio plays. Watch them in the video below.

Trying by Erin Browne

Broadcast Saturday 21 November 2009 at 2001 GMT

Listen Listen to Trying

This is the winning play from the BBC World Service and British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2009 for English as a first language.

Erin Browne’s play was described by the judges as “exquisite", “human” and “spare”, and is a tender three-hander about co-dependency and moving on.

Sisters Lena and Chels are getting by just fine, awaiting the arrival of Chels' baby. Then Lena has to go and fall in love with the girl in the bookshop.

Starring: Melanie Bond (Quantum of Solace), Sarah Goldberg (A Prayer for Owen Meany, BBC Radio 4) and Sasha Pick (The Road to Guantanamo). Directed by Marion Nancarrow.