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Dateline: 1st April, 2008 Billington Wins Book Prize Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington has won the Society for Theatre Research's annual Theatre Book Prize for State of the Natiom: British Theatre since 1945 which traces the relationship between theatre and society over the last sixty years. This year the judges were actress Siân Phillips, Claire Allfree, both theatre and book reviewer for Metro, and Professor Jeffery Richards, short-listed for this prize a couple of years ago for his book on Henry Irving. Siân Phillips said of the winning book, "And back to my choice, it's one of the best books I have ever read about theatre. It is hugely ambitious. He is working on a very big, unwieldy canvas. It is theatre over the last sixty years, which was a period of very fast-moving change. It's a very ambitious book. "I wish I could have read it as a girl - which is a very stupid thing to say, but there is so much about the theatre I have lived through, and lived through a lot of the movements he writes about, and I didn't understand many of them at the time, I made many mistakes, and I didn't know why I was having such a problem until I read this book a few months ago. I recommend it to anyone. "He's in a kind of unassailable position because he writes not about performances but about the important things, about plays, about political movements, about society - and he saw all these plays so he's in a very good position. On a personal note I was very pleased to see that he puts in a good word for people like Terence Rattigan, who is one of the people who were rather cruelly treated, I thought, when fashion - fashion changed. I can't imagine that any time soon, there could be a more worthy recipient of this prize." The prize (a cheque for £400) was presented by Sir Donald Sinden. A mixture of writers, publishers, theatre people and academics heard the judges speak about their short-list choices and some other titles they that they particularly liked. Miss Phillips appeared on video, for she is just about to open on Broadway in a revival of Les Liasons Dangereuses. This year there was a particularly large entry from publishers. The judges received more than eighty titles for their consideration but, as Howard Loxton, chair of the judging panel declared, such independent people soon recognized which titles they would give most attention, though sometimes having to take another look at titles another judge recommended. Though it might seem a very demanding task it is amazing how each year the judges declare how much they have enjoyed it. Just as well or he might find it difficult to replace them every year. The reception at Drury Lane was supported by Really Useful Group Theatres and the producers of The Lord of the Rings, which is currently playing at the theatre, and by Dewynters. Peter Lathan and John Thaxter
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