Theatre News

Crucible & Gondoliers Scoop Barclays Awards

The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield was named Theatre of the Year at the annual
Barclays Theatre Awards, in a ceremony held at last night at London’s Royal Court Theatre. Other major awards went to Abi Morgan‘s
Splendour, named Best New Play and Vicky Featherstone, named best
director for her production of that play, with Newbury’s Watermill
production of Gondoliers, which subsequently transferred to the West
End’s Apollo Theatre, named Best Musical.

The Barclays Awards are the only only awards presentation to reflect excellence in theatre on a nationwide basis and this year a total of 15 awards were offered. Presented by the Theatrical Management Association (TMA), the trade body which provides a professional
support network for the performing arts industry, the awards are sponsored
by Barclays Bank, with two awards being sponsored by Equity and The Stage
newspaper.

In a unique nominating process, 150 members of the theatregoing public are
appointed each year to serve on the theatre panel; this year, they saw more
than 700 productions at over 180 theatres across the UK, between 1 September
2000 and 31 August 2001. From this emerges a shortlist which is put forward
to a panel of professional critics who cover work across the UK; three
nominations are selected for each category and voting is done by secret
ballot for the winner.

In an equally unique ceremony, the irreverent host for the evening, comedian
and sometime playwright Arthur Smith, speedily despatched the proceedings
by not permitting long acceptance speeches, but rather asking winners
a brief question or two. (Smith also suggested new categories of his own,
including Best Tantrum in a Dress Rehearsal). Prizes – a specially designed silver goblet – were presented by a gala
array of theatrical and musical personalities, including Siobhan Redmond,
Isla Blair, Sian Phillips, Meera Syal, Penelope Wilton, Donald
Sinden
, Clive Rowe and Sally Burgess.

The presentations were interspersed by live musical extracts from the
nominees for Best Musical. In addition to Gondoliers, these comprised Chichester Festival Theatre’s My One and Only, from which Tim Flavin and Janie Dee performed a medley of songs, and Dundee Rep’s Mince?, written and composed by Forbes Masson. The song from Mince? was performed by Ann Louise Ross, who went on to take an award herself for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in another Dundee Rep production, The Winter’s Tale.

Leading the other acting categories, Paterson Joseph was named Best Actor
for his performance in Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre Company’s Les
Blancs
(winning over the Olivier Award recipient in the same category,
Simon Russell Beale, nominated again here for his National Theatre
performance as Hamlet which was seen on a UK tour, and Samuel West,
nominated for the title role of the RSC’s Richard II, also seen on a
UK tour).


Kate O’Toole, the actress daughter of Sian Phillips and
Peter O’Toole who were both in the audience to see her victory, took the
Best Actress Award for her role in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women,
seen at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, winning over the also nominated Morag
Hood
and Helen Schlesinger. Freddie Annobil was named Best Actor in a
Supporting Role for his performance in Yerma, co-produced by The
Theatre, Chipping Norton and Fifth Amendment, on tour.

Laura Hopkins was named Best Designer for Mister Heracles at West
Yorkshire Playhouse, with the Unicorn Theatre’s Tom’s Midnight
Children
presented with the Equity Award for Best Show for Children and
Young People. The Stage’s Award for Special Achievement in Regional Theatre
– which seeks to reward a recipient who has made a real difference to the
sector – was presented to the Wales Association for the Performing Arts. The
Barclays Award for Most Welcoming Theatre went to the Cambridge Arts
Theatre, with Darlington’s Civic and Llandudno’s North Wales Theatre also
nominated.

The Barclays Award for Best Touring Production went to Robert
Lepage
‘s The Far Side of the Moon, seen at the National Theatre’s
Lyttelton and also on tour, in a category that also comprised Grid Iron’s
Decky Does a Bronco, presented on tour by the Almeida Theatre
Company, and the double-bill of Rita, Sue and Bob Too and A State
Affair
, co-produced by Out of Joint, the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse
and Soho Theatre Company. A spokesman for Barclays further announced that
next year they will host another award, to reflect cultural diversity.

Finally, awards for outstanding achievements in opera and dance went
respectively to Richard Jones, Vladimir Jurowski and the company for Welsh
National Opera’s production of The Queen of Spades, and to Rambert
Dance Company for their performance of Mats Ek’s She Was Black.

– by Mark Shenton