North East costume designer Paul Shriek has won the award for Best Costume Design at the Great British Pantomime Awards 2018 for his work on The Lambton Worm at the Customs House in South Shields.
He has designed both set and costumes for the theatre’s pantos for the last nine years and is already working on this year’s show, Beauty and the Beast.
There were four other nominees in the category, including Dick Whittington at the London Palladium. Shriek, however, was the judges’ unanimous choice.
“I feel like Jack who has climbed a very tall beanstalk and won the goose who has laid the golden egg,” he said. “To represent The Customs House, the Little Panto with the Big Heart, and bring home this award is both very humbling and extremely gratifying for a lad from Ashington who makes frocks for a living!
“Thank you to my mam and dad Trudi and George for giving me a real grounding in panto illusion—and for their love and support.”
Shriek works with long-time collaborator Matt Fox. Their company Fox and Shriek is committed to creating visually stunning, unique and exciting theatrical productions.
He has worked with a number of theatre and dance companies, including the National Dance Company of Wales whose Co-founding Artistic Director Ann Sholem said, “Shriek is an artist who creates a unique world with couture clothes for a theatrical setting.”
The Great British Pantomime Awards recognise and celebrate the great effort that goes into the yearly pantomime season throughout the UK. There are over 20 awards in total, including Best Comic, Best Male and Female Baddie and Best Ensemble as well as awards for Lighting, Design and Direction.
“Judges saw well in excess of 200 shows with up to 6 judges seeing each show,” said co-founder Daniel Dawson. “The variety of talent that we have seen has made it clear that pantomime is as alive as ever. With so many talented actors so well supported by back of house teams it has made the judging very difficult, but that can only be good for audiences and the future of pantomime.
“Those who came away with awards last night have every reason to be immensely proud and can rest assured that we and the judges consider them to be the crème de la crème and at the top of their game.”