Theatre News

Winners of the inaugural WhatsOffStage Awards announced

The awards are voted by the public and celebrate work taking place in theatres off stage

Daisy Bowie-Sell

19 October 2018

The Unicorn, Victoria Palace and Hull Truck Theatre
© Left: Mickey Lee; middle: Philip Vile; right: Karl Andre

The winners for the inaugural WhatsOffStage Awards have been announced.

The awards were introduced by WhatsOnStage this year for the first time and recognise theatres' work in areas such as front of house, box office, accessibility and websites.

As with the WhatsOnStage Awards, winners are voted for by the public. Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester took home two awards – the most from the line-up – winning Best Front of House Team and Favourite Theatre.

Hull Truck Theatre won Best Box Office, while Best Stage Door was won by Prince Edward Theatre. The National Theatre was recognised in the Most Accessible Theatre category, beating Hull Truck and Shakespeare's Globe. But the Globe won in Best Theatre Website, beating the National Theatre.

The Young Vic won Best Community Theatre, while Most Child Friendly Theatre went to Unicorn Theatre.

WhatsOnStage's chief operating officer Sita McIntosh said today, "Theatre is so much more than what you see on stage – it's also the culmination of so much hard work by dedicated teams behind the scenes who help lay the foundations for audiences wanting to come to the theatre. We're thrilled today with the WhatsOffStage Awards which celebrate those brilliant people, giving them their moment in the spotlight."