Nottingham-based Arletty Theatre’s World War I musical Swan Canaries took the top production award at Buxton Festival Fringe 2014.
Swan Canaries is a musical play about the Chilwell canary girls who packed shells during World War I at the biggest factory of its kind in England. On 1 July 1918, eight tonnes of TNT exploded, killing 130 workers.
Acting awards went to Ami Jones for Shrew, a new piece of solo theatre exploring Shakespeare’s Katharina, the heroine of The Taming of the Shrew, and Gerard Logan for Wilde Without the Boy. James Beagon picked up the new writing accolade for First Class.
Ami Jones, writer and performer of Shrew, said, “This is amazing. We didn’t even expect to be nominated for something, let alone win an award. Everyone here in Buxton has been fantastic and we’ve had a great run. Thank you!”
In youth theatre, awards went to Buxton group REC Youth Theatre Company which won the production prize for the second year running with Blue Remembered Hills. Alex Brown from Mansfield-based Shadow Syndicate won the young actor prize for his “menacing” performance in Lapse. Buxton Drama League's Shakespeare Jukebox took the prize for street theatre.
Dance was a special category, with the award going to a company viewed by many as having delivered the best show ever seen at the Fringe, Dotdotdot Flamenco Company with No Frills.
The John Beecher Memorial Award for original, challenging work with high production values was presented to Off-Off-Off Broadway Company for Back Door.
Details of all the nominations and winners can be found at the Buxton Fringe web site.