Manchester Theatre Awards announce nominees

Front-running North West venues included in the nominations include Manchester’s Royal Exchange, the Bolton Octagon and Salford’s Lowry.

Shows in the running for Best Musical include tours of West End musicals Avenue Q and Legally Blonde as well as the try-out run of Ghost the Musical at Manchester Opera House.

Other productions nominated include the National Theatre’s productions of One Man, Two Guvnors and Hamlet which toured to the Lowry and the Donmar Warehouse production of King Lear starring Derek Jacobi.

Many of those nominated in the individual acting categories are also competing in the 2012 Whatsonstage.com Awards which will be presented on 19 February 2012 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. They include James Corden for One Man, Two Guvnors and Richard Fleeshman and Sharon D Clarke for Ghost the Musical.

Actors nominated for their performances in touring productions include Faye Brookes for Legally Blonde as well as Declan Conlon, Olwen Fouere and Catherine Walker who are all nominated for their performances in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin’s production of Terminus.

The full nominees for the Manchester Theatre Awards is as follows:

Best Production

Hard Times, directed by Chris Honer for the Library Theatre at Murrays’ Mills
The Price, directed by David Thacker for Bolton Octagon
Private Lives, directed by Robin Herford for Oldham Coliseum
Secret Thoughts, directed by David Thacker for Bolton Octagon
A View From The Bridge, directed by Sarah Frankcom for the Royal Exchange
Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, directed by David Thacker for Bolton Octagon

Best Actor

Rob Edwards, Secret Thoughts, Bolton Octagon
George Irving, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Bolton Octagon
Con O’Neill, A View From The Bridge, Royal Exchange
James Simmons, Private Lives, Oldham Coliseum

Best Actress

Kate Coogan, Secret Thoughts, Bolton Octagon
Anna Francolini, A View From The Bridge, Royal Exchange
Cush Jumbo, As You Like It, Royal Exchange
Margot Leicester, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Bolton Octagon

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

David Crellin, Hard Times, Library Theatre at Murrays’ Mills
Kieran Hill, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Bolton Octagon
Pearce Quigley, Zack, Royal Exchange
Kenneth Alan Taylor, The Price, Bolton Octagon

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Judith Barker, All The Way Home, Library Theatre at the Lowry
Tammy Joelle, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Bolton Octagon
Suzan Sylvester, The Price, Bolton Octagon
Shannon Tarbet, Mogadishu, Royal Exchange

Best New Play

Last Orders, by Sarah McDonald Hughes, Royal Exchange Studio and Library Replay season at Contact
Mogadishu, by Vivienne Franzmann, Royal Exchange
Once In A House On Fire, adapted for the stage by Sarah McDonald Hughes, from a memoir by Andrea Ashworth, The Lowry Studio
Secret Thoughts, by David Lodge, Bolton Octagon

Best Newcomer

Zora Bishop, As You Like It, Royal Exchange
Harry Livingstone, The Glass Menagerie, Oldham Coliseum and New Vic Theatre
Emma Matthews, Stepping Out, Oldham Coliseum
William Postlethwaite, As You Like it, Royal Exchange
Matthew Tennyson, Beautiful Thing, Royal Exchange

Best Studio Performance

Matthew Ganley, God Wept And The Devil Laughed, Lowry Studio
Rad Kaim, Ivan and the Dogs, Lowry Studio
Amy Nostbakken, The Big Smoke, Lowry Studio
Sarah McDonald Hughes, Once In A House On Fire, Lowry Studio
Rosie Wyatt, Bunny, Royal Exchange Studio

Best of the Fringe

Lucia Cox, Blackbird, Salford Studio
JB Shorts season, Joshua Brooks Bar
Alex Moran, Hyde, Buxton Fringe Festival
Sherica, Balloon Head and Shred Productions, 24:7 Festival
True, Laal Marra Theatre Company, 24:7 Festival

Design

Deathtrap, design Foxton; light Jane Barrek; sound Lorna Munden, Oldham Coliseum
The Demolition Man, design James Cotterill; light Brent Lees; sound Andy Smith; projection design Joe Stathers-Tracey, Bolton Octagon
Hard Times, design Judith Croft; light Nick Richings; sound Peter Rice, Library Theatre at Murrays’ Mills, Manchester
Secret Thoughts, design/light Ciaran Bagnall; sound Andy Smith; projection design Joe Stathers-Tracey, Bolton Octagon
Stepping Out, design Foxton; light Thomas Weir; sound Lorna Munden, Oldham Coliseum

Best Musical

Avenue Q, The Lowry
Ghost the Musical, Opera House
Legally Blonde the Musical, Opera House
Spring Awakening, The Lowry

Best Visiting Production

Dancing At Lughnasa, The Original Theatre Company, Oldham Coliseum
Hamlet, National Theatre at The Lowry
King Lear, The Donmar, at The Lowry
One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theatre at The Lowry

Best Actor in a Visiting Production

Declan Conlon, Terminus, Abbey Theatre Dublin, at The Lowry
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theatre at The Lowry
Derek Jacobi, King Lear, The Donmar at The Lowry
Rory Kinnear, Hamlet, National Theatre at The Lowry
Richard Fleeshman, Ghost, Opera House

Best Actress in a Visiting Production

Faye Brookes, Legally Blonde the Musical, Opera House
Sharon D Clarke, Ghost the Musical, Opera House
Olwen Fouere, Terminus, Abbey Theatre Dublin, at The Lowry
Catherine Walker, Terminus, Abbey Theatre Dublin, at The Lowry

Best Special Entertainment

Dr Dee, Manchester International Festival, Palace
The Crash Of The Elysium, Manchester International Festival, Media City
The Life And Death of Marina Abramovic, Manchester International Festival, The Lowry
Midnight Tango, The Lowry
Dick Whittington, Oldham Coliseum

Opera

Albert Herring, Royal Northern College of Music
Gianni Schicchi, English Touring Opera, Buxton Opera House
Lucia di Lammermoor, Clonter Opera
The Portrait, Opera North, The Lowry
Utopia Ltd, Gilbert & Sullivan Festival, Buxton Opera House

Dance

Carlos Acosta, The Lowry
Cinderella, Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Lowry
Danish Dance Theatre, Triple Bill, The Lowry
Richard Alston Dance Company, Triple Bill, The Lowry