UK Theatre Awards 2016 – nominees revealed

Mark Meadows as Albert Harris and Clare Burt as Ada Harris in Sheffield Theatres’ Flowers For Mrs Harris. Picture: Johan Persson

Flowers For Mrs Harris, Half a Sixpence and Show Boat will battle it out for the title of Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards next month.

The three hit shows were among the list of nominees for the 2016 awards which will be presented at a ceremony at London’s Guildhall on Sunday 9 October.

In the other major genre category, Flowers For Mrs Harris’ Clare Burt is up against Half A Sixpence leading man Charlie Stemp and The Etienne Sisters’ trio of Allyson Ava-Brown, Jennifer Saayeng and Nona Toussaint-White in the Best Performance In A Musical category.

The ceremony, which will be hosted by multi-award winning actor Lesley Manville, will also include the presentation of the prestigious award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre to Sir Ian McKellen.

The full list of UK Theatre Awards 2016 Nominations:

Best New Play
• Folk by Tom Wells, a Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre and Watford Palace Theatre production
• Cuttin’ It by Charlene James, a Young Vic/Royal Court Theatre co-production with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Sheffield Theatre and The Yard Theatre
• This Restless House by Zinnie Harris, a Citizens Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland production

Best Musical Production
• Flowers For Mrs Harris, directed by Daniel Evans, a Sheffield Theatres Production
• Half a Sixpence, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, a Chichester Festival Theatre and Cameron Mackintosh production
• Show Boat, directed by Daniel Evans, a Sheffield Theatres production

Best Touring Production
• A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Dawn Walton an Eclipse Theatre Company, Belgrade Theatre Coventry and Sheffield Theatres production
• The Herbal Bed, directed by James Dacre, an English Touring Theatre, Royal & Derngate Northampton and Rose Theatre Kingston production
• Toast, directed by Eleanor Rhode, a Snapdragon Production

Best Show For Children and Young People
• Gangsta Granny, a Birmingham Stage Company production
• The Hobbit, a The Dukes production
• Little Red And The Wolf, a Dundee Rep Ensemble production

Devon-Elise Johnson and  Charlie Stemp in the Chichester production of Half a Sixpence. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Best Director
• Robert Hastie for Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, a Theatr Clwyd production
• Samuel Hodges for The Glass Menagerie, a Nuffield Theatre production
• Raz Shaw for Wit, a Royal Exchange Theatre production

Best Performance In a Play
• Paapa Essiedu for Hamlet, a Royal Shakespeare Company production
• Julie Hesmondhalgh for Wit, a Royal Exchange Theatre production
• James McArdle for Young Chekhov: Platonov and Ivanov, a Chichester Festival Theatre production

Best Performance In a Musical
• Clare Burt for Flowers For Mrs Harris
• Charlie Stemp for Half a Sixpence
• Allyson Ava-Brown, Jennifer Saayeng and Nina Toussaint-White for The Etienne Sisters

Best Supporting Performance
• Emmanuel Kojo for Show Boat
• Rebecca Trehearn for Show Boat
• Olivia Vinall for Young Chekhov: The Seagull

Best Design
• Lez Brotherston for Flowers For Mrs Harris and Show Boat, a Sheffield Theatres productions
• Max Dorey and Sally Ferguson for And Then Come The NightJars, a Theatre503 and Bristol Old Vic production in association with Tara Finney Productions
• Robert Jones for Strife, a Chichester Festival Theatre production

Allyson Ava-Brown in The Etienne Sisters at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London. Picture: Roy Tan

Achievement In Opera
• The Royal Opera and Guildhall School Of Music and Drama for 4.48 Psychosis in association with the Lyric Hammersmith
• Scottish Opera and Music Theatre Wales for The Devil Inside
• Welsh National Opera for Figaro Gets A Divorce and In Parenthesis

Achievement In Dance
• Dance Consortium for bringing back the exceptional dancers of Nederlands Dans Theater 2 for a UK tour
• Gary Clarke for his vital, heartfelt and socially relevant dance-theatre production, Coal
• Northern Ballet for commissioning two striking new contemporary ballets: Jonathan Watkins’ 1984 and Cathy Marston’s Jayne Eyre

Promotion Of Diversity
• Belgrade Theatre
• Eclipse Theatre Company
• Oldham Coliseum

UK Theatre Insurance Award For Theatre Employee Or Manager Of The Year
• Kevin Shaw, Oldham Coliseum
• Diane Belding, Liverpool Empire Theatre
• Neil Chandler, New Wimbledon Theatre

Achievement In Marketing
• Birmingham Hippodrome
• York Theatre Royal
• Northern Ballet

The Renee Stepham Award For Best Presentation Of Touring Theatre
• Curve On Tour
• Northern Stage
• Northern Ballet

Angela Thomas

uktheatre.org/awards

Readers may also be interested in:

Interview – Clare Burt on Flowers For Mrs Harris and creating new work

Interview – Emmanuel Kojo takes on the role of Joe in Show Boat