Shame on Wilson & Pina Bausch Virgins???

Sadler’s Wells triumphed in both of the two dance categories in this year’s Laurence Olivier Awards (See News, 26 Feb 2006), with Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant’s Push named Best New Dance Production and Pina Bausch winning Outstanding Achievement in Dance for her creation of Nelken and Palermo Palermo at the venue. Though Bausch herself wasn’t present to collect the awards, she had plenty of fans to sing her praises, not least the ceremony’s presenter Richard Wilson, who chided the audience: “If there’s anyone who hasn’t seen Pina Bausch, you should be ashamed of yourselves.” But Wilson was the one who came away red-faced after the dance announcements. Apparently, he was so rattled by the Bausch news that he lost his place in the schedule and skipped ahead two categories, introducing Michael Grandage to present the Society’s Special Award to Sir Ian McKellen when he should have been introducing Kathleen Turner and Christian Slater who were presenting Best Actor and Actress in a Musical respectively. Luckily, all involved took the hiccough in good grace. Grandage tiptoed on stage to set Wilson straight and things soon proceeded as planned, although, sensing an opportunity for a running joke, Wilson himself harked back to his Grandage introduction on two more occasions to laughter from the audience.

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