Theatre News

Enron, Spend, Price & Kent Honoured at TMAs

Theo Bosanquet

London London's West End

01 November 2009

The 2009 TMA Awards were announced today (1 November 2009) at the Lyric Hammersmith, with Lucy Prebble’s Enron picking up the Best New Play award, and the Watermill Newbury’s production of Spend Spend Spend taking home two awards including Best Musical (beating off competition from Spring Awakening), and West Side Story).
Another big winner was the Royal and Derngate theatre in Northampton, which won three awards, including Anna Francolini‘s for Best Performance in a Play for her lead role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the venue. Also in the performance categories, Alexandra Silber picked up the Best Performance in a Musical award for Carousel, while Claire Price picked up Best Supporting Performance in a Play for Mary Stuart at Clwyd Theatr Cymru.

Elsewhere, Glyndebourne opera festival was honoured for its outstanding 75th anniversary season, while the Special Award for Individual Achievement went to Nicolas Kent for his work as artistic director of Kilburn’s Tricycle Theatre, which this year has staged cycles of work dedicated to Afghanistan, South Africa and Black British writing.

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, Enron‘s nominations stem from the production’s premiere dates this summer at Chichester Festival Theatre, rather than its sold-out Royal Court season.

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.

The full list of 2009 TMA Theatre Awards nominations, with winners denoted in bold, 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

Adam Gillen for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company’s A TASTE OF HONEY
Eileen O’Brien for WHEN WE ARE MARRIED at West Yorkshire Playhouse
Claire Price for MARY STUART at Clwyd Theatr Cymru

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