Theatre News

TMA Announces 2008 Regional Theatre Nominees

Nominations have now been announced for the 2008 TMA Theatre Awards. Presented by the Theatrical Management Association, the TMA Awards, unlike most of the UK’s prizes for theatre, do not focus on London and the West End. They are the only nationwide awards for excellence in regional theatre.

Two BBC One reality TV stars – I’d Do Anything finalist Rachel Tucker (pictured), now in the West End in We Will Rock You, and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? runner-up Helena Blackman – are up for Best Performance in a Musical and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for, respectively, The Wizard of Oz in Belfast and South Pacific on tour.

Amongst the other names in the running in this year’s awards are Brian Conley, Brenda Blethyn, Kathryn Evans, Tony Haygarth, Lee Hall, Steven Berkoff and Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Michael Boyd. In the Best Director category, Boyd – nominated for the eight-play Histories cycle, which transferred to London’s Roundhouse after Stratford-upon-Avon – goes head-to-head with Berkoff, who’s recognised for his adaptation of the Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront.

Two productions – The Children’s Hour at the Royal Exchange, Manchester and Phil Wilmott’s musical premiere Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi at the Liverpool Playhouse – have both received two nominations apiece. The Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse garnered three nods overall for its programming this year during the city’s reign as the European Capital of Culture.

The 2008 awards presentation will be held on Sunday 26 October 2008 at Hampstead Theatre. In considering the 13 awards categories – a new one, for lighting design, has been added this year – more than 1,000 productions were seen by the panel of some 150 regular theatregoers from across the country.

The Theatrical Management Association is a trade association that represents over 300 member organisations involved in the creation, presentation and management of professional theatre, opera and dance in the UK. Its annual awards were established in 1990. The TMA Awards were formerly known as the Barclays Awards, in honour of the high street banking group whose lead sponsorship ended four years ago. A separate set of awards, the TMA Management Awards, highlighting best practice in venue programming, marketing and customer services, were initiated in 2005.

– by Terri Paddock


The full list of 2008 TMA Theatre Awards nominations are as follows:


  • Best Performance in a PlayBrenda Blethyn for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company’s The Glass Menagerie; Keith Fleming & Gerry Mulgrew for Peer Gynt at Dundee Rep; and Kathryn Tozer for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Nuffield Southampton.


  • Best Supporting Performance in a PlayRoger Delves-Broughton for Journey’s End at the Mercury, Colchester; Tony Haygarth for Pygmalion on tour; and Kate O’Flynn for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company’s The Children’s Hour.


  • Best Performance in a MusicalBrian Conley for The Music Man at Chichester Festival Theatre; Kathryn Evans for Sunset Boulevard at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury; and Rachel Tucker for The Wizard of Oz at the Lyric, Belfast.


  • Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a MusicalHelena Blackman for South Pacific on tour; Martin Ball for Mary Poppins on tour; and Claire Sundin for The Hired Man on tour.


  • Best Musical ProductionDon Giovanni at the New Victoria, Newcastle Under Lyme; Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi by Phil Wilmott at the Playhouse, Liverpool; and Moon Landing at Derby Playhouse.



  • Best Touring Production – The National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch; Shared Experience’s War and Peace, presented by Shared Experience, Nottingham Playhouse and Hampstead Theatre; and Stockholm by Frantic Assembly and Drum Theatre, Plymouth.


  • Best DirectorMichael Boyd for The Histories at RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon; Steven Berkoff for On the Waterfront at Nottingham Playhouse; and Yael Farber for Molora at Oxford Playhouse.


  • Best New PlayContractions by Mike Bartlett, at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs; The Pitman Painters by Lee Hall at Live Theatre, Newcastle; and Ten Tiny Toes by Esther Wilson at the Liverpool Everyman, in association with Shared Experience.


  • Best Set DesignDouglas Heap for Don Juan Comes Back from the War at the Belgrade Coventry; Christopher Woods for Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi at Liverpool Playhouse; and Mike Britton for The Lady from the Sea at Birmingham Rep.


  • Best Lighting Design – The Royal Exchange Theatre Company’s The Children’s Hour, designed by Mick Hughes; Equus, designed by David Hersey on tour; and The Railway Children, designed by Richard G Jones at York Theatre Royal.


  • Best Show for Children & Young PeopleBrilliant at the Polka Theatre, Wimbledon; Looking for JJ, Pilot Theatre in association with York Theatre Royal and Unicorn Theatre on tour; The Emperor’s New Kilt by Wee Stories and National Theatre of Scotland.


  • Achievement in Opera – Glyndebourne’s Hansel und Gretel; Opera North for its summer Shakespeare season; Scottish Opera’s A Night at the Chinese Opera; and Welsh National Opera’s The Sacrifice.


  • Achievement in Dance – Cloudgate Dance Theatre of Taiwan for Moon Water; Theatre-Rites & Arthur Pita for Mischief; and Rambert Dance Company for Carnival of the Animals and Swansong.