Regional Theatre Nominations Announced

The nominations have been announced for the 1999 Barclays Theatre Awards, presented by the Theatrical Management Association. Unlike most of the UK's awards for theatre, the Barclays Awards do not focus on London and the West End. They are in fact the only nationwide awards for excellence in regional theatre.

Among this year's nominees are several big names including Siobhan Redmond for Best Actress, Paul Rhys for Best Actor, Rachel Weisz for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Ian McKellen for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. A number of the UK's best new plays appear across several categories, reflecting the wealth of high quality new writing originating outside London, including Simon Gray's The Late Middle Classes, Liz Lochhead's Perfect Days, Marie Jones' Stones in his Pockets and Lee Hall's Cookin' with Elvis.

The winners of the 1999 awards will be announced on Sunday, 7 November at a special awards ceremony at Greenwich Theatre, followed by a reception at the newly refurbished National Maritime Museum.

The rest of the nominations are as follows:

Best Actress: Thelma Barlow for Enjoy at the West Yorkshire Playhouse; Hayley Carmichael for The Dispute on tour and the Almeida/Right Size production of Mr Puntila and His Man Matti on tour; and Siobhan Redmond for the Traverse Theatre's Perfect Days on tour and at the Hampstead Theatre

Best Actor: Conleth Hill for Stones in His Pockets at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast; Paul Rhys for Hamlet at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and the Young Vic; and Nicholas Woodeson for The Late Middle Classes at the Palace Theatre Watford

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Josette Bushell-Mingo for Peer Gynt at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; Kelly Reilly for the Oxford Stage Company's Three Sisters on tour; Rachel Weisz for Suddenly Last Summer on tour

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Jimmy Chisholm for the RSC's Measure for Measure; Ian McKellen for The Seagull at the West Yorkshire Playhouse; and Nigel Planer for High Life at the Bush Theatre

Best Director: Edward Hall for Twelfth Night at the West Berkshire Playhouse; Klaus Maria Brandauer for Speer at the Almeida; and Lawrence Till for The Importance of Being Earnest at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton

Best Designer: Stephen Brimson-Lewis for Dreaming at the Royal Exchange; Es Devlin for Howie the Rookie at the Bush Theatre; and David Knapman for Uncle Vanya and What the Butler Saw at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester

Best New Play: Cookin' with Elvis by Lee Hall; IPH by Colin Teevan at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast; The Late Middle Classes by Simon Gray

Best Touring Production: Mr Puntila and His Man Matti; The Dispute, an RSC and Lyric Theatre Hammersmith co-production; and Northern Stage's production of A Clockwork Orange

Best Musical: Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral adapted by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith, music by Barrie Bignold, lyrics by Shaun McCarthy at Birmingham Rep; Irma La Douce, music by Marguerite Monnot, book and lyrics by Julian More, David Heneker and Monty Norman at the Watermill, West Berkshire Playhouse; Martin Guerre, book by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, music by Schonberg, lyrics by Boublil and Stephen Clark at West Yorkshire Playhouse in association with Cameron Mackintosh

Best Show for Children and Young People: Arabian Nights, adapted and directed by Dominic Cooke at the Young Vic and on tour; Lord of the Flies by William Golding, adapted by Nigel Williams on tour; Playing from the Heart by Charles Way at the Polka Theatre for Children, Wimbledon

Outstanding Achievement in Opera: Daniel Slater and Robert Innes Hopkins for the direction and design of The Bartered Bride for Opera North; Welsh National Opera for Hansel and Gretel; Scottish Opera for its productions of Der Rosenkavalier and Macbeth

Outstanding Achievement in Dance: Lez Brotherston for designing Northern Ballet's Carmen and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Giselle, Dracula and A Christmas Carol; Scottish Ballet's acting artistic director Kenn Burke for reviving Peter Darrell's Cinderella; and Matthew Hart for his performances in Cruel Garden and The Golden Section for the Rambert Dance Company

Theatre of the Year: Polka Theatre; Royal Exchange, Manchester; and The Watermill, West Berkshire Playhouse

Most Welcoming Theatre: Derby Playhouse; Everyman Theatre, Liverpool; Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch.

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