Theatre News

Callow Wins Sheridan Morley Prize for Biography

Though he lost out to Meera Syal at the Whatsonstage.com Awards on Sunday night, Simon Callow has reason to celebrate this week having won another prize – not for his acting, but his writing.

Callow has been announced as the winner of this year’s Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography for his book My Life in Pieces which, according to a press statement, “combined zest, originality and passion and has elegantly turned his views and his life in the theatre into an astonishing memoir.”

The Sheridan Morley Prize is awarded annually for the best biography, autobiography or diary of a theatrical or show‐business subject published in the English language. The members of this year’s jury were stage director Richard Eyre, actress Siân Phillips and editor of the Evening Standard, Geordie Greig. It was chaired by critic, broadcaster and biographer Ruth Leon.

The other shortlisted books were The Reluctant Escapologist by Mike Bradwell, Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim, Putting it On by Michael Codron and Alan Strachan and Born Brilliant – The Life of Kenneth Williams by Christopher Stevens.

The £2000 Prize is administered by theatre publisher Oberon Books (who also sponsor the Whatsonstage.com Awards).