AVALON LAND was one of five finalists for the 2026 Papatango New Writing Prize, selected from more than 1,900 submissions. The play was also chosen for Papatango Playwrights’ Progress, a year-long development programme supporting the next stage of its journey.

(credit: Vehbi Kohca)

There are dragons at Avalon Land. Everyone knows they’re not real.

Somewhere off the motorway, near Britain’s deepest lake, is a clapped-out theme park staffed by bored teenagers in cheap Arthurian costumes.

Wes is planning an epic end-of-season party but needs to find his brother, who’s gone AWOL again. Kat and Tara are up for the same job, but both dream of something beyond the park. And Ronnie’s, well, Ronnie — a grown man who’s never left, because he knows what the water holds.

The castle is plastic. The legends are real.