Theatre News

TMA Announces 2009 Regional Theatre Nominees

Editorial Staff
London London's West End

Already hailed as the play of the year by many critics, Lucy Prebble’s corporate fraud drama Enron has today (1 October 2009) received the first of what’s likely to be numerous award nominations over the coming months.

In the 2009 TMA Theatre Awards shortlists, announced today, Enron is in the running for both Best New Play and Best Performance in a Play for Samuel West who stars as real-life corporation president Jeffrey Skilling.

Unlike most of the UK’s prizes for theatre, the TMA Awards do not focus on London and the West End. They are the only nationwide awards for excellence in regional theatre. As such, the Enron nominations stem from the production’s premiere dates this summer at Chichester Festival Theatre, rather than its current sold-out Royal Court season, which precedes a West End transfer in the new year.

Meanwhile, another production whose West End stint was short-lived despite rave reviews, the UK premiere of the Tony Award-winning Spring Awakening, is nominated for Best Musical for its initial run at the Lyric Hammersmith, in competition with Spend Spend Spend at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury and West Side Story on tour.

With Enron, Spend Spend Spend is one of three productions with double nominations, its second nod for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical. Lindsay Posner’s revival of Carousel, which ended its tour with an extended season at the West End’s Savoy Theatre, is up for Best Performance in a Musical and Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical, for Alexandra Silber and Lauren Hood respectively.

Two other West End hits, the Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart-led Waiting for Godot and the stage version of Brief Encounter, which hit the road before and after London, go head-to-head for Best Touring Produciton. Amongst the other names in contention for this year’s awards are Marc Warren, Anna Francolini and Claire Price.

The 2009 awards presentation will be held on Sunday 1 November 2009 at the Lyric Hammersmith. In considering the 14 awards categories 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 five years ago.

The full list of 2009 TMA Theatre Awards nominations are as follows:

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY

  • Anna Francolini for THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE at Theatre Royal, Northampton
  • Irene Macdougall for WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGNIA WOOLF? at Dundee Rep
  • Marc Warren for THE PILLOWMAN at The Curve, Leicester
  • Samuel West for ENRON, A Headlong, Chichester Festival Theatre and Royal Court Theatre production at Chichester Festival Theatre

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY

BEST NEW PLAY

  • ENRON by Lucy Prebble, a Headlong, Chichester Festival Theatre and Royal Court Theatre production at Chichester Festival Theatre
  • KING PELICAN by Chris Goode at Theatre Royal, Plymouth
  • Mercury Theatre and Theatre 503’s THE LIFESAVERS by Fraser Grace at The Mercury, Colchester

BEST SHOW FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE SUPPORTED BY EQUITY

  • FOR THE BEST Presented by the Unicorn Theatre in collaboration with Mark Storor and Anna Ledgard
  • HEIDI: A GOAT’S TALE a new adaptation by Andrew Pollard, Northern Broadsides on tour
  • TAG’S MUSEUM OF DREAMS on tour

BEST MUSICAL

  • SPEND SPEND SPEND at Watermill, Newbury
  • SPRING AWAKENING at Lyric Hammersmith
  • The Ambassador Theatre Group’s WEST SIDE STORY on tour

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL

  • Ryan O’Donnell for QUADROPHENIA, Bill Schultz, Ina Meibach and the Theatre Royal Plymouth in association with Industrial Language Ltd on tour
  • Alexandra Silber for CAROUSEL, Stanhope Productions, Michael Edwards & Carole Winter, Tiger/WSZ, Stevens-O’Boyle, and Tulchin/Bartner/Ambassador Theatre Group in association with The Churchill, Bromley on tour
  • Allan Stewart for JOLSON AND CO, King’s Edinburgh and Churchill, Bromley on tour

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

  • Carly Bawden for EVITA, Bill Kenwright by special arrangement with The Really Useful Group, on tour
  • Kirsty Hoiles for SPEND SPEND SPEND at the Watermill, Newbury
  • Lauren Hood for CAROUSEL Stanhope Productions, Michael Edwards & Carole Winter, Tiger/WSZ, Stevens-O’Boyle, and Tulchin/Bartner/Ambassador Theatre Group in association with The Churchill, Bromley on tour

BEST SET DESIGN

  • Michael Pavelka for THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, Watermill Theatre and Propeller on tour
  • Stuart Laing for LES PARENTS TERRIBLES at Dundee Rep
  • Ferdia Murphy for THE HOME PLACE, Lyric Theatre, Belfast at Grand Opera House

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN (Supported by the Association of Lighting Designers)

  • Daniella Beattie for THE WICKED LADY at New Victoria Newcastle Under Lyme
  • James Farncombe for PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES at Theatre Royal, Northampton
  • Tim Mitchell for A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY at Salisbury Playhouse

BEST DIRECTOR

  • Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett for OTHELLO, Frantic Assembly and Theatre Royal Plymouth in collaboration with Royal and Derngate, Northampton on tour
  • David Leddy for SUB ROSA, Fire Exit and Citizen’s Theatre Co-production at the Citizen’s, Glasgow
  • Dawn Walton for the Eclipse Theatre’s THE HOUNDING OF DAVID OLUWALE on tour

BEST TOURING PRODUCTION (Supported by Walton and Parkinson)

  • Noel Coward’s BRIEF ENCOUNTER, David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers and Cineworld present The Kneehigh Theatre Production in a co production with Royal and Derngate Northampton
  • THE TEMPEST, Royal Shakespeare Company and Baxter Theatre Company South Africa
  • WAITING FOR GODOT, Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in partnership with Duncan C Weldon Productions Ltd

ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA

  • Sarah Connolly for her performances in Opera North’s I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI and Glyndebourne’s GIULIO CESARE and TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
  • Glyndebourne for an outstanding 75th Anniversary season
  • David McVicar, for his productions of COSI FAN TUTTE and LA TRAVIATA at Scottish Opera

ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE

  • Birmingham Royal Ballet’s POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCES
  • The dancers of English National Ballet, who showed new strength and interpretative skills across a range of repertory
  • Rambert Dance Company’s production of HUSH

THE STAGE AWARD FOR SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN REGIONAL THEATRE

  • The Theatre, Chipping Norton
  • Theatre Royal Stratford East for its Musical Theatre Training Programme
  • Corn Exchange, Newbury
  • Schools Theatre Support Group
  • Chichester Festival Theatre