Joe Ward Munrow
Playwright
About
Joe Ward Munrow is an award-winning playwright based in Liverpool. His recent work includes The Legend of Ned Ludd at the Liverpool Everyman. Joe is interested in the dramatic form: The Legend of Ned Ludd is the first play to contain a multi-varied structure in which the scenes to be performed are randomly chosen by machine, resulting in a possible 256 versions of the play.
Joe grew up in Deptford, south London and is focussed on access to theatre and how it intersects with class. In 2022 he co-founded the theatre company New Step, which aims to bring world-class theatre directly to communities that might not have access to it. New Step’s first play Dogs was written by Joe and directed by Nathan Powell. A thriller which examines nature versus nurture, the play opened at the Liverpool Playhouse Studio before touring directly to schools, community centres, pupil referral units and even a boxing gym.
In 2025, Joe was awarded the Royal Literary Fund’s Robert Holman award for writers from, or based in, the North. This allowed him the time and space to begin planning for his next play Razor Clam, a one-woman show about being both a parent and carer.
Joe enjoys teaching and has previously led writers’ programmes at the Royal Court, London; Royal Exchange, Manchester; and the Liverpool Everyman. He has taught at Edge Hill University and currently lectures part- time at Manchester Metropolitan University. He lives in south Liverpool and has two sons, Alfie and Leo