Amnesty for Roadkill, Stage Acting Nominations

Roadkill has added to its awards haul today by scooping the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. The award is presented each year, in association with Fest magazine, to recognise an “outstanding play carrying a human rights message”.
Cora Bissett’s uncompromising drama about sex trafficking, which is presented as part of the Traverse programme but takes place in a mystery location, has also so far received a Fringe First Award, a Herald Angel Award and a Total Theatre Award nomination.

In other Edinburgh award news, the shortlists have been announced for this year’s Stage Awards for Acting Excellence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – in which Roadkill also features, with a Best Actress nomination for Mercy Ojelade. These awards, now in their 16th year, are adjudicated by The Stage newspaper’s festival reviewing team and aim to recognise outstanding work by individuals and companies as a whole in the field of acting. The 2010 shortlists for The Stage awards are as follows. Winners are announced on Sunday 30 August 2010.

THE STAGE AWARDS FOR ACTING EXCELLENCE SHORTLISTS Best Actor
 
· Martin McCormick for Decky Does a Bronco, Grid Iron (Traverse @ Scotland Yard)
· Karl Shiels for Penelope, Druid (Traverse)
· Niall Buggy for Penelope, Druid (Traverse)
· Scott Kyle for Singin’ I’m No a Billy, He’s a Tim, NLP Theatre (Assembly @ George Street)
· Blair Anderson for My Name Is Richard, Kerfuffle (C too)
· Renny Krupinski for Bare, Bareback Theatre Company, (theSpaces on the Mile @ The Radisson)

Best Actress

· Marianne Oldham for The Girl in the Yellow Dress, Citizens Theatre/LIVE Theatre/Market Theatre (Traverse)
· Kerri Hall for Hot Mess, Tantrums Ltd (Hawke + Hunter)
· Natasha Gordon for Speechless, Shared Experience/Sherman Cymru (Traverse)
· Demi Oyediran for Speechless, Shared Experience/Sherman Cymru (Traverse)
· Mercy Ojelade for Roadkill, Ankur Productions/Pachamama Productions (Traverse)
· Penny Layden for Lidless, HighTide/Escalator East to Edinburgh (Udderbelly’s Pasture)

Best Ensemble

· Beautiful Burnout, Frantic Assembly/National Theatre of Scotland/Bryony Lavery (Pleasance Courtyard)
· Keepers, Pleasance and Plasticine Men (Pleasance Courtyard)
· David Leddy’s Sub Rosa, Fire Exit in Association with the Citizens Theatre (Hill Street Theatre)
· Do We Look Like Refugees?!, Beyond Borders Productions Ltd (Assembly @ George Street)
· White, Catherine Wheels, (Traverse @ Scottish Book Trust)
· Operation Greenfield, Little Bulb Theatre (Zoo Roxy)

Best Solo Performer

· Ansuya Nathan for Long Live the King, Guy Masterson/TTI and The Fixed & the Free (Assembly @ George Street)
· Kristen Thomson for I, Claudia, Guy Masterson/TTI in association with Crow’s Theatre and Brian Robertson (Assembly @ George Street)
· Nilaja Sun for No Child…, Barrow Street Theatre and Scamp Theatre (Assembly @ George Street)
· Caroline Horton for You’re Not Like the Other Girls Chrissy, Caroline Horton (Pleasance Courtyard) · Trystan Gravelle for Honest, Royal & Derngate, Northampton (Assembly @ George Street)
· Thomas Marceul for Hamlet, the End of a Childhood, Naxos Theatre & Les Tréteaux de la Pleine Lune (The Zoo)