The Manchester Evening News has announced the nominees for its annual
theatre awards, the winners of which will be announced at a ceremony
at the Midland Hotel in Manchester on Tuesday 5th December.
Out of the 85 nominations, seventeen were for productions that could
be seen at the Lowry - including every nomination in the categories
of best international production and best actor in a visiting production
and all but one nominated for dance - eight at the Palace or the Opera
House, eleven in the Royal Exchange Studio, nine in the Royal Exchange
main house, eight at the Library Theatre, six at the Contact Theatre
and seven at the Octagon in Bolton.
The local festivals are well represented, with two nominations from
Buxton Festival, four from Buxton Festival Fringe and an impressive
nine from Manchester's 24:7 Festival.
The Palace and the Opera House still dominate in the musicals category,
with nominations for Mack and Mabel, Miss Saigon and Sweeney
Todd, whereas the Lowry has emerged top for dance and international
productions as well as in the category of best actor in a visiting production.
The Royal Exchange Studio has all of the nominations for best performance
in a studio production and best studio production, nearly all for best
new play and half for best design, and the main house theatre dominates
in best actor and actress in a supporting role categories and has half
of the nominations in both best actor and best actress.
However it is the Octagon and the Library that share the nominations
for best production, with three going to Bolton (Accidental Death
of an Anarchist, Blue/Orange and Blonde Bombshells of
1943) and two to the Library (A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
and Speed-The-Plow).
Two of the nominated productions are still running, so you still have
the chance to see best actor nominee Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and best
actor in a supporting role nominee Wyllie Longmore in Ma Rainey's
Black Bottom at the Royal Exchange and best actor in a supporting
role nominee Robert Demeger in best design nominee production Vieux
Carré at the Library.
Comedy
Vince Atta – City Life Comedian of The Year, Comedy Store
Russell Brand, Palace Theatre
Rik Mayall – The New Statesman, Opera House
Ross Noble – Fizzy Logic, Opera House
Musical
Anything Goes (The Lowry)
Mack & Mabel (The Palace)
Miss Saigon (The Palace)
Sweeney Todd (The Opera House)
Opera
The Coronation of Poppea - Opera Theatre Company Ireland (Buxton
Festival)
Cosi Fan Tutte - Classical Opera Company (Bridgewater Hall)
La Traviata - (Clonter Opera)
Pimpinone - (Buxton Festival)
Dance
Bush - Bangarra Dance Theatre (The Lowry)
Edward Scissorhands - New Adventures (The Lowry)
Madame Butterfly - Northern Ballet Theatre (Opera House)
The Sleeping Beauty - Birmingham Royal Ballet (The Lowry)
Stories In Red - Phoenix Dance (The Lowry)
Best special entertainment
Circus Ronaldo (Platt Fields Park)
The Fall Of The House of Usherettes (Forkbeard Fantasy/The
Lowry)
The Chichibu Mikado, Tokyo (Gilbert And Sullivan Festival)
Swan Lake On Ice (The Lowry)
Best family show
Aladdin (Bury Met)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (The Palace)
In The Shadow Of Trees (Royal Exchange Studio)
Oliver Twist (Library Theatre)
Best new play
In The Shadow Of Trees, from Horse & Bamboo (Royal Exchange
Studio)
Pomegranate, by Linda Marshall Griffiths (Royal Exchange Studio)
Susan And Darren, by Darren Pritchard (Queer Up North/Contact)
What’s In The Cat, by Linda Brogan (Royal Exchange Studio)
Best performance in a studio production
Cast of The Flags (Royal Exchange Studio)
Carla Henry, in Weeding Cane (Royal Exchange Studio)
Mary Jo Randle, in What’s In The Cat (Royal Exchange Studio)
Best studio production
The Flags (Royal Exchange Studio)
Thalidomide, The Musical! (Royal Exchange Studio)
Best international production
The Dragon’s Trilogy (The Lowry)
Slava’s Snowshow (The Lowry)
Twelfth Night (The Lowry)
Best fringe production
Canaveral’s Lurch (24:7)
Divas And Double Glazing (24:7)
The Judgement Of Mr. Jenkins (24:7)
Two Sisters (Buxton Festival Fringe and 24:7)
Vegetable (24:7)
Best performance in a fringe production
Kath Burlinson for The Mother’s Bones (Buxton Festival
Fringe)
Candida Gubbins for Two Sisters (Buxton Festival Fringe and
24:7)
Caroline Harding for Two Sisters (Buxton Festival Fringe and
24:7)
Sue Jaynes for Relativity (24:7)
Best design
Drenched (Contact)
In The Shadow Of Trees (Royal Exchange Studio)
The Flags (Royal Exchange Studio)
Vieux Carre (Library Theatre)
Best newcomer
Zariah Bailey, in Vent (Contact)
Sian Haslock, in Divas And Double Glazing (24:7 Festival)
Ceallach Spellman, in Oliver Twist (Library Theatre)
Best actor in a visiting production
William Gaunt, in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (The Lowry)
Ben Hull, in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (The Lowry)
Ian McKellen, in The Cut (The Lowry)
Nitzan Sharron, in 2000 Years (The Lowry)
Best actress in a visiting production
Lynda Bellingham, in Sugar Mummies (Bolton Octagon)
Rosemary Leach, in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (The Lowry)
Cathy Tyson, in Trumpet (Contact)
Melanie Wilson, in Drenched (Contact)
Best visiting production
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (The Lowry)
The Cut (The Lowry)
Moby Dick (Library Theatre)
The Overwhelming (Library Theatre)
Township Stories (Contact)
Best actress in a supporting role
Gabrielle Drake, in What Every Woman Knows (Royal Exchange)
Janet Henfrey, in Separate Tables (Royal Exchange)
Best actor in a supporting role
Desmond Barritt, in She Stoops To Conquer (Royal Exchange)
Robert Demeger, in Vieux Carré(Library Theatre)
Wyllie Longmore, in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Royal Exchange)
Gary Whelan, in A Whistle In The Dark (Royal Exchange)
Best actress
Raquel Cassidy, in Mirandolina (Royal Exchange)
Freya Copeland, in A View From The Bridge (Bolton Octagon)
Barbara Marten, in Broken Glass (Bolton Octagon)
Alexandra Mathie in Separate Tables (Royal Exchange)
Best actor
Cast of Blue/Orange (Bolton Octagon)
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Royal
Exchange)
Ben Keaton, in Harvey (Royal Exchange)
Jamie Lee, in Speed-The-Plow (Library Theatre)
Best production
Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Bolton Octagon)
Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (Bolton Octagon)
Blue/Orange (Bolton Octagon)
A Day In The Death of Joe Egg (Library Theatre)
Speed-The-Plow (Library Theatre)
