Andrew Lloyd-Webber provides gift to help young writers
London's Royal Court theatre receives £150,000 to nurture young playwrights after composer's Picasso payout
Mark Brown, arts correspondent
Wed 22 Feb 2012 20.00 EST First published on Wed 22 Feb 2012 20.00 EST
The Royal Court theatre in London's Sloane Square. Photograph: Demetrio Carrasco/Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley
Lord Lloyd-Webber is to donate £150,000 to London's Royal Court theatre to help find, nurture and support emerging playwrights, especially those aged under 25 and writers from under-represented minority communities.
Lloyd-Webber's foundation, which benefits from the £31m he made by selling his blue period Picasso in 2010, said the money would be donated over two years to help fund the theatre's Studio programme, a scheme that has helped writers including Lucy Prebble, DC Moore, Polly Stenham, Simon Stephens and Laura WadeIt will support key projects which include the young writers programme for 18- to 25-year-olds and the unheard voices programme which, in 2012, will focus on writers from China and south-east Asia.
The Royal Court's artistic director Dominic Cooke said the Studio was "absolutely integral" to the organisation and what has come out of it had been extraordinary. "Writing can be a solitary profession, so the value of the Studio groups in which writers, their characters and their ideas can grow is hugely important.
"I'm delighted that the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation shares our commitment and their generous investment in the programme will help a whole new generation of writers flourish."
Lloyd Webber's wife Madeleine, a trustee for the foundation, said the Royal Court's work with young writers was of great value. "Without the Royal Court's support in finding new writers, many of the most impacting and internationally recognised plays would not exist. I'm therefore incredibly pleased that we are providing funding to help sustain the Royal Court's Studio which makes a significant contribution to new writers."
The composer bought Picasso's Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto, or The Absinthe Drinker, in 1995 for £19m and when he sold it, Lloyd Webber vowed to spend the money on grants to the arts.