Theatre News

Winners of Kevin Spacey Foundation's Artists of Choice Awards announced

New work from The Wardrobe Ensemble and Silent Uproar was recognised in this year’s awards

The Wardrobe Ensemble
The Wardrobe Ensemble

The winning recipients of this year's Kevin Spacey Foundation Artists of Choice Awards have been announced.

Bristol-based theatre company The Wardrobe Ensemble were victorious in the UK theatre category. After receiving their first ever grant from the foundation in 2013, the group have been awarded £10,000 in funding, support and mentoring for their production of Education, Education, Education. The piece, which is described as a theatrical love letter to the schools and teachers of the '90s, will open at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.

Silent Uproar won the UK musical theatre category with their cabaret musical about depression. A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) is created in collaboration with Jon Brittain (Rotterdam) and Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky & Mannish). The Hull-based new writing company commissions writers to create playful and provocative work. A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) plays in Hull and Leeds at the end of this month before a month long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The winners were decided by a panel of industry experts including Jamie Lloyd, Clive Rowe, Laura Pitt-Pulford, Tamara Harvey, Roy Williams, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and WhatsOnStage's Sita McIntosh.

The UK Dance category was awarded to Holly Blakey for Some Greater Class, a live dance performance which explores connectivity, class and gender. The award will help Blakey take the work on tour around the UK including dates at Latitude Festival, the Southbank Centre and The Lowry. She will also receive additional support from Studio Wayne McGregor as part of their FreeSpace programme.

Saeed Taji Farouky and Candle and Bell are this year's winners of the UK Film category. Their project Strange Cities Are Familiar is a film a Palestinian father living in the UK and deals with memories, guilt and resilience.