MATT Pattison has won the 2012 Script Factor All-Winners Final, held by Script Yorkshire’s York branch in The Studio at York Theatre Royal last night.

Better known for his performing and singing skills on the York theatre circuit, Matt has spread his creative wings by taking part in the annual event for branch members, who competed in a series of five heats since last September in City Screen’s Basement bar.

Each heat victor had to write a new piece for the final on the theme of York 800, as part of the city’s celebrations of King John granting York its Royal Charter.

Rachel Alexander-Hill and Helen Wilson’s fluffily humorous entry, Hudson’s Choice, speculated on who should be the 800th freeman of the City of York; Angela Bridge’s Maundy Mayhem envisaged a time-travelling meeting between King John and Queen Elizabeth II, who washed his regal feet in the old Maundy tradition.

Sarah Chalk’s Them was a psychological drama about mentally tormented 19th century scientist Michael Faraday with audience participation to choose the play’s optional path on three occasions.

Historian Chris Green’s History, Mystery, Story mused on 800 years of theatre history, satirising everything from the Mystery Plays’ soap opera storylines to Harold Pinter’s patented pauses.

Matt Pattison’s winning play, Let’s Get Mysterious, was the last to be performed by the York Settlement Community Players actors. Read by Daniel Wilmot, Natalie-Clare Brimicombe, Rosy Rowley and Maurice Crichton, it harked back to the days of Beyond The Fringe with its mischievous mockery of the York Mystery Plays, as re-written in sensationalist style by an embittered actor who had flunked his audition.

After the competition was decided by audience votes – Sarah Chalk came second – Matt received the Script Factor Champion’s Trophy from compere Liam Evans-Ford, community producer of the 2012 York Mystery Plays.

The next Script Factor competition will begin in September and the final again will be held at York Theatre Royal next July. Jessica Fisher, playwright, 2012 York Mystery Plays actress and York Theatre Royal education administrator, will be taking over from the long-serving Ged Cooper as the branch co-ordinator.