A PLAY which stars an Abergavenny actor has won the prestigious Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Rhiannon Wallace has only just graduated from Central School of Speech and Drama with a BA(hons) degree in Acting (Collaborative and Devised Theatre) but went straight to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the play Sold that has been in development since September last year.

The cast of Sold has been working incredibly hard creating this new piece of verbatim theatre that exposes the hidden world of human trafficking.

Rhiannon said, "It has been an honour to be part of the Sold company but to win the Amnesty International award is the icing on the cake."

The award, given to an outstanding Fringe production carrying a human rights message, in association with Fest magazine, was presented by Amnesty International Scotland Director John Watson.

Judging the award were Joyce McMillan of the Scotsman and Neil Cooper of the Herald newspapers; academic, artist and researcher Stephanie Knight; Sam Friedman of Fest magazine and Amnesty International Scotland Director John Watson.

The judging panel said of the production, "Sold is an ambitious, fast-moving show which combines a strong overview of the whole issue of slavery in human society with a series of powerful cameos of individual stories, involving trafficking into this country now.  "It's a memorable piece of agitprop drama which leaves us in no doubt that despite the increasing exposure of human trafficking in recent years, and widespread political debate on the issue, it is a problem that is not going away; in fact, if anything, it is growing worse, demanding real action from us all."

The show has received critical acclaim throughout its run, achieving five stars from Three Weeks and six four star reviews all available to view on the production's website http://www.soldplay.co.uk">www.soldplay.co.uk

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