Theatre News

Belarus, Omagh Play & One-to-one Yes Win Fringe Firsts

Editorial Staff
London's West End

The third and final round of winners of this year’s prestigious Fringe First Awards, celebrating high-quality new drama at the Edinburgh Festival, has been announced by The Scotsman newspaper today (26 August 2011). There are five Fringe Firsts bestowed this week.

The Underbelly scooped two more prizes: for Look Left Look Right’s one-on-one interactive theatre experience You Once Said Yes, played out on the streets of the city, and for Nigerian boy Gbolahan Obisesan’s lyrical play about an inner city teen, Mad About the Boy, for Iron Shoes.

The other awards went to: A Reply to Kathy Acker: Minsk 2011, presented by Belarus Free Theatre, the company outlawed in their homeland and now making their Fringe debut at the Pleasance Courtyard; Minute After Midday, Ross Dungan’s three-hander about the 1998 Omagh bombing, at the Gilded Balloon; and physical theatre piece Leo, in which the laws of gravity are reversed, pulling the title character skywards, at St George’s West.

The Fringe Firsts will be presented this morning at a ceremony held at 11am at the Speigeltent in Assembly George Square, where winners of additional accolades, including the Carol Tambor Award and the Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe Award, will also be announced.

The Fringe First Awards were established in 1973 when there was concern that the Fringe was not attracting the right quantity and quality of shows. The awards are announced weekly during the festival. There is no fixed number given and the only requirement is that the work must be new – having had no more than six performances in the UK, prior to the Fringe.

For full coverage of Edinburgh 2011, including reviews, interviews, news, gossip, blogs, features and videos,
log on to Whatsonstage.com/Edinburgh!