Water Colour

A beautifully observed and tender play about what happens when we choose to reach out. Winner of the 2024-25 St Andrews Playwriting Award, and Best New Play at the 2026 Critics' Award for Theatre in Scotland.

'Your feet make the bridge creak as you wander and you wonderWhat if?What if?'Esme is at an all-time low, struggling with her studies and her art. Standing on a bridge, contemplating something she won't be able to take back, she meets Harris, a young chef whose own life is shifting beneath his feet. They may never see each other again, but in that moment their lives begin to change direction. Set along the waters of the Clyde, Water Colour is a beautifully observed and tender play about what happens when we choose to reach out – and how even the briefest meeting can become a turning point. The play won the St Andrews Playwriting Prize in 2025, was named Best New Play at the 2026 Critics' Award for Theatre in Scotland, and saw Milly Sweeney named Best Writer at the 2025 Stage Debut Awards. It was presented by Byre Theatre in partnership with Playwrights' Studio Scotland and Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and first performed at Pitlochry in 2025, before a run at the Traverse Theatre during the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.