Regional Theatre Nominations Announced

Nominations have been announced for the 2000 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 some of the country's leading theatrical actors - including Kathryn Hunter and Victoria Hamilton, both nominated for Best Actress, and Timothy West for Best Actor - and successful productions which later transferred to London, such as Birmingham Repertory Theatre's revival of Tennessee Williams' Baby Doll.

Productions at over 160 theatres throughout the UK are eligible for the Awards. The judging panel includes 100 regular theatregoers from across the country. The 2000 judging year ran from 1 September 1999 to 31 August 2000.

In addition to standard production and performance categories such as Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best New Play and Best Musical, the Barclays Theatre Awards also celebrate the best in regional front-of-house, programming and audience development with awards for Theatre of the Year and Most Welcoming Theatre. Winners will be announced on Sunday, 22 October 2000 at an awards ceremony presented at London's Royal Court Theatre and hosted by Ned Sherrin.

The full nominations are as follows:

BEST ACTRESS: Victoria Hamilton for As You Like It at the Sheffield Crucible and Lyric Hammersmith; Kathryn Hunter for Scenes from an Execution, The Wrestling School with BITE:99 and on tour; Allison McKenzie for Cabaret at Dundee Rep.

BEST ACTOR: Jonathan Cake for Baby Doll at Birmingham Rep; David Rintoul for Phaedra at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh; Timothy West for English Touring Theatre's The Master Builder.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Linda Bassett for the Almeida's Triumph of Love; Emma Cunniffe for The Master Builder; Rebecca Johnson for the Royal Exchange's Mrs Warren's Profession.

BEST DIRECTOR: Howard Barker for Scenes from an Execution; Mark Clements for Speaking in Tongues, a Derby Playhouse co-production with Hampstead Theatre; Richard Wilson for Mr Kolpert at the Royal Court Upstairs.

BEST DESIGNER: Jeremy Herbert for 4.48 Psychosis at the Royal Court Upstairs; Cathy Ryan, Tom Conroy and Izabella Kolka for The Millennium Mysteries at the Coventry Cathedral; Kit Surrey for Queueing for Everest at the Sheffield Crucible.

BEST NEW PLAY: Larkin with Women by Ben Brown at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough; Marching On by Garry Mitchell at the Lyric Belfast; Silence by Moira Buffini at Birmingham Rep and Theatre Royal Plymouth.

BEST TOURING PRODUCTION: Tricycle Theatre's The Colour of Justice - The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry presented by Virginia Buckley and West Yorkshire Playhouse, edited by Richard Norton-Taylor; the RSC's The Seagull by Anton Chekhov in a new version by Peter Gill; Translations by Brian Friel presented by the Palace Theatre Watford, Salisbury Playhouse and Coventry's Belgrade Theatre.

BEST MUSICAL: Anonymous Society by Andrew Wale and Perrin Allen at the Lyric Hammersmith; Noel Coward's Cavalcade produced by Citizens' Company; Pal Joey by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and John O'Hara, a Chichester Festival production.

BEST SHOW FOR CHILDREN: The Phoenix and the Carpet adapted by Deborah Shaw and Scott Ramsay from the book by E Nesbit, at Chester's Gateway Theatre; Under the Apple Tree devised by Paul Harman, Philip Harrison and David Tarkenter for CTC on tour; Wise Guys by Philip Osment at Manchester's Contact Theatre.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE: Matthew Bourne's The Car Man, Adventures in Motion Pictures on tour; Derek Deane for his programming of Triple Bills for English National Ballet; Tamara Rojo for her outstanding performances for the English National Ballet.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA: Anja Silja, Amanda Roocroft and Jiri Behohlavek for leading Glyndebourne's revival of Jenufa; Opera North's Genoneva and A Midsummer Night's Dream, conducted by Steven Sloane; Wagner's Parsifal and Das Rheingold for Scottish Opera.

MOST WELCOMING THEATRE: Theatre Royal, Plymouth; Grand Theatre, Swansea; Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.

THEATRE OF THE YEAR: Mercury Theatre, Colchester; Almeida Theatre, London; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.

Related Content