Sir Ian McKellen at the UK Theatre Awards in London on Sunday, October 14, 2018. Photo: Pamela Raith Photography

• Four wins for Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, including Best Director for Sarah Frankcom and Best New Play for The Almighty Sometimes
• The Assassination of Katie Hopkins wins Best Musical Production
• Accolades for Denise Black, Ashley Zhangazha and Gemma Dobson
• Maxine Peake and Richard Eyre receive honorary achievement awards
• The Mill at Sonning crowned UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre

LONDON–This year’s UK Theatre Awards winners were revealed today (Sunday 14 October) in a lunchtime ceremony at London’s Guildhall.

The Awards were hosted by Olivier-nominated musical theatre performer Tyrone Huntley, and presenters included Wendi Peters, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Ria Jones, Matt Cardle, Emma Williams and Michael Ellis MP.

Actor and writer Maxine Peake was honored with an Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre award, presented by producer Conrad Lynch and the Artistic Director of Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, Sarah Frankcom. Director Richard Eyre received the Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts, presented by Ian McKellen.

Accepting the Gielgud Award, Richard Eyre said: ‘I’m constantly bewildered by the fact that local authorities and government can’t see what an extraordinary, unique asset theatre is’. He also praised Ian McKellen, who presented the award, as ‘a wonderful actor and a very good friend and the natural artistic son of John Gielgud’.

Receiving her Outstanding Contribution Award, Maxine Peake said: ‘People keep saying to me, “you’ve given so much to regional theatre” – I haven’t given anything, it’s given it to me; it’s allowed me to do the work I want to do, and that is mainly down to Sarah Frankcom and her bravery and her belief in me’.

Maxine Peake also revealed that Richard Eyre had been instrumental in giving her an early start in the industry, as part of the panel which gave her a scholarship to drama school.

FULL LIST OF UK THEATRE AWARDS WINNERS 2018

Best New Play

THE ALMIGHTY SOMETIMES by Kendall Feaver, a Royal Exchange Theatre production

_________________________________________________________________________

Best Musical Production

THE ASSASSINATION OF KATIE HOPKINS directed by James Grieve, a Theatr Clwyd production

_________________________________________________________________________

Best Touring Production

THREE SISTERS, a RashDash and Royal Exchange Theatre co-production

_________________________________________________________________________

Best Show for Children and Young People

THE LITTLE MERMAID directed by Emma Earle and Cameron Carver, a The Egg – Theatre Royal Bath and Pins and Needles co-production

________________________________________________________________________

Best Director

Sarah Frankcom for OUR TOWN, a Royal Exchange Theatre production

________________________________________________________________________

Best Design

Morgan Large for WONDERLAND, a Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company production

_________________________________________________________________________

Best Performance in a Play

Denise Black for THE CHERRY ORCHARD, a Sherman Theatre production _______________________________________________________________________

Best Performance in a Musical

Ashley Zhangazha for GUYS AND DOLLS, a Royal Exchange Theatre and Talawa Theatre Company co-production

_________________________________________________________________________

Best Supporting Performance

Gemma Dobson for RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO, a Royal Court, Out of Joint and Octagon Theatre, Bolton production

_________________________________________________________________________

Achievement in Dance

Northern Ballet for its bold and varied programming, particularly THE LITTLE MERMAID and its Kenneth MacMillan tribute

_________________________________________________________________________

Clothworkers’ Theatre Award

Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch

___________________________________________________________

Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre

Maxine Peake

_________________________________________________________________________

Achievement in Opera

David Pountney and Tomáš Hanus for their artistic leadership of Welsh National Opera

________________________________________________________________________

The Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre

Scottish Ballet

________________________________________________________________________

Theatre Employee of the Year sponsored by Integro in Association with Chubb

Clare Lindsay – The Watermill Theatre

________________________________________________________________________

Promotion of Diversity

Birmingham Repertory Theatre

________________________________________________________________________

Achievement in Marketing/Audience Development

The Old Vic

________________________________________________________________________

UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre

The Mill at Sonning

_______________________________________________________________________

Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts

Richard Eyre

For more information visit the UK Theatre Awards website.

@UK_Theatre

#UKTawards

UK Theatre is the UK’s leading theatre and performing arts membership organisation –promoting excellence, professional development, and campaigning to improve resilience and increase audiences across the sector.

The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide Awards to honour outstanding achievement in theatre throughout the United Kingdom. The Awards are supported by White Light, Q-Park, Theatre Tokens, John Good, Harbottle & Lewis and Integro in association with Chubb.

2018 UK Theatre Awards at London’s Guildhall. Photo: Pamela Raith Photography

The post UK Theatre Awards Announced in London appeared first on StageZine.

GREAT ‘GODOT’: Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen. Photo: Joan Marcus

WAITING FOR GODOT
Written by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Sean Mathias
Cort Theatre
138 West 48th Street
(212) 239-6200; http://www.twoplaysinrep.com/

By Scott Harrah

When Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart are starring together on Broadway, it’s an event. Watching these two venerable British veterans of theater and Hollywood doing Samuel Beckett’s 1953 classic Waiting for Godot is sheer bliss because the camaraderie and chemistry the two actors exude makes us forgot what a complicated, obtuse drama this is to many. A good portion of the audience paying premium prices to see these two legends primarily know them from the X-Men films, Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, but here we are reminded that Mr. McKellen and Mr. Stewart are at their best on the live stage. The play is performed in repertory with Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land.

Mr. Beckett’s 1953 magnum opus Waiting for Godot is a classic because one can interpret so many meanings from it. For a play that’s really about absolutely nothing, it remains a marvelous piece of metaphysical theater, and although the show was just done in 2009 with Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin, this revival is original in every sense, from the outstanding performances of the cast to Sean Mathias’ skillful direction.

Two homeless characters, Estragon (McKellen) and Vladimir (Stewart), who refer to themselves as, respectively, Gogo and Didi, stand around in a rocky wasteland on a remote road in a mythical place, waiting for someone named Godot. Both they—and we—aren’t exactly certain who Godot is, but it’s this brilliant sense of absurdist mystery that keeps us riveted to the non-action onstage. Are the two men really just lost somewhere?  Or are they in Purgatory or hell on earth? Beckett never makes it clear, and this gives the storyline the requisite suspense that makes us want to keep watching.

Gogo and Didi are essentially hobos with nothing else to do but wait for the enigmatic Godot as they eat, discuss their lives, tell jokes, and look at the tree on Stephen Brimson Lewis’ minimalist set. Gogo tries to remove his boot and utters, “Nothing can be done.” Much of the first act shows the two bantering about how nothing can be done about their situation indeed.

Beckett’s story has been described as a tragicomedy, but it’s funnier than one might think. Ian McKellen plays Gogo with more dignity than other actors have shown in previous productions.  Patrick Stewart is brilliant as Didi, the more sensible of the two during their many arguments, and he’s quite protective of his pal’s well-being. They quarrel and bicker like a married couple, but there’s no sense of romance here. Nonetheless, through their nonsensical bickering and joking, it’s apparent that the two are hopelessly dependent on each other for survival. Both are like surrealistic clowns, acting in this existential vaudeville show. As dry and cryptic as the story and characters are, the duo always manages to make us laugh.

Godot keeps failing to show up, but Pozzo (Shuler Hensley) arrives, using a rope to drag along his human slave, Lucky (Billy Crudup), a fey, disturbing creature. Why Pozzo tortures his servant is anyone’s guess, but it adds to the heightened sense of the bizarre and unexplained in Beckett’s unorthodox narrative.

Waiting for Godot has been interpreted by academics as being a political allegory about the Cold War; a Freudian tale about the futility of man’s existence; a Jungian story representing the four aspects of the soul; and, finally, a Christian fable, with the tree representing Christ and the cross. Regardless of the universal message or underlying subtext one cares to extract from the play, it remains a fascinating story of much ado about nothing, and this revival is certainly one of the best yet.

‘WAITING FOR GODOT’: Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 27, 2013
Reviewed at  press performance on November 26, 2013

The post Glorious ‘Godot’ revival worth the wait appeared first on StageZine.