Industry body the Theatrical Management Association have announced the nominations for the 2013 UK Theatre Awards.
Sheffield Theatres has done exceptionally well with two of the three Best Musical nominations for their productions of My Fair Lady and This Is My Family both directed by artistic director Daniel Evans. Amongst its other nominations are Best Touring Production for The Full Monty.
In the performance categories, Cush Jumbo (A Doll’s House, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Edward Petherbridge (My Perfect Mind, Told by an Idiot, Young Vic and Drum Theatre Plymouth) and Simon Scardifield (The Double, Theatre Royal Bath) vie for Best Performance in a Play, and Jessica Bastick-Vines (A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and Rose Theatre Kingston), Sally Reid (Time And The Conways, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Dundee Rep Ensemble) and Siân Phillips (This Is My Family, Sheffield Theatres) for Best Supporting Performance.
Best Performance in a Musical will be fought out between Alex Bourne (The Witches Of Eastwick, Watermill Theatre, Newbury), and two performances at the Curve, Leicester, from Frances Ruffelle (Piaf) and Janie Dee (Hello, Dolly!).
Writers up for the Best New Play award are Mike Bartlett (Bull, Sheffield Theatres), Tom Wells (Jumpers For Goalposts, Paines Plough, Hull Truck and Watford Palace Theatre) and Alan Ayckbourn (Surprises, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough and Chichester Festival Theatre).
The Best Director nominees are Blanche McIntyre for The Seagull, Jonathan Miller for Rutherford & Son and Rachel O’Riordan for The Seafarer.
As previously reported, this marks the inaugural My Theatre Matters! UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre Award which will be decided by public vote.
Other award categories include Best Show for Children and Young People, Achievement in Dance, in Opera, in Marketing and Promotion of Diversity.
Julian Bird, Chief Executive of the TMA and the Society of London Theatre, said, “It has been a year of great achievement for theatre throughout the length and breadth of the UK, as demonstrated by the range of nominations celebrating skill and variety, both on and off stage.”
The UK Theatre Awards will be announced on 20 October; they are the only national awards scheme to recognise achievement on and off stage.
A full list of categories and nominations is available online at the TMA UK web site. Votes in the Most Welcoming Theatre Award category must be cast on the web site of Award sponsors Classic FM; voting closes at midnight on 30 September.