Current Royal Court hit Enron and former Savoy theatre musical success Carousel both received a brace of nominations in another strong London year in the Theatrical Management Association Theatre Awards.
Enron, which has already sold out its run at the Royal Court and will transfer to the Noël Coward theatre in early 2010, is nominated for Best New Play, while its leading man, Samuel West, is nominated for Best Performance in a Play. The category sees West compete against Anna Francolini, Irene Macdougall and Marc Warren, who will soon be seen in the new London revival of The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.
Carousel, which toured the UK before playing in London, receives two nominations in the performance categories; Alexandra Silber for Best Performance in a Musical and Lauren Hood for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
Carousel didn’t, however, receive a nomination in the Best Musical category, where Spring Awakening, which was staged at the Lyric Hammersmith and Novello theatre, will face off against the touring production of West Side Story, which played at the New Wimbledon theatre, and the Watermill theatre’s Spend Spend Spend.
Other nominated shows which have entertained London audiences in the past year include Frantic Assembly’s Othello (seen at the Lyric Hammersmith and nominated for Best Director), The Hounding Of David Oluwale (seen at the Hackney Empire and also nominated for Best Director), Brief Encounter (seen at the Cinema Haymarket and nominated for Best Touring Production), Waiting For Godot (seen at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and also nominated for Best Touring Production), For The Best (seen at the Unicorn theatre and nominated for Best Show for Children and Young People), and the Theatre Royal Stratford East (nominated for The Stage Award for Special Achievement in Regional Theatre for its Musical Theatre Training Programme).
The Theatrical Management Association Theatre Awards are awarded annually to celebrate theatrical excellence spanning the entirety of the UK.
Speaking about this year’s nominees, Derek Nicholls, President of the TMA said: “Each year the TMA Theatre Awards illustrate and celebrate the strength and breadth of talent seen in UK theatres. The quality of this work is already well known to enthusiastic audiences from Dundee to Plymouth and Salisbury to Belfast. I am pleased that the TMA Theatre Awards provide national recognition of this artistic and creative excellence.”
The 2009 ceremony, where the winners will be announced, will be held at the Lyric Hammersmith on Sunday 1 November, marking the start of theatre awards season, which culminates with the capital’s prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards.
MA
Full list of nominees:
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 Propellor 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
Noël 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 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