Manchester Theatre Awards 2018 nominees announced

Nominees Danny Mac and Ria Jones, with Adam Pearce in Sunset Boulevard. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Hope Mill Theatre’s acclaimed production of Yank! will battle it out with-high profile hits Funny Girl, Bat Out of Hell and Sunset Boulevard for the title of Best Musical at this year’s Manchester Theatre Awards.

Funny Girl’s Sheridan Smith and Sunset Boulevard’s Ria Jones and Danny Mac are also among a number musical theatre stars in the running for awards at the ceremony that is due to be held on Friday 9 March at The Lowry’s Quays Theatre.

The prestigious annual awards launched in 1981 and aimed at honouring productions seen in the Greater Manchester area will this year be hosted by actor and comedian Justin Moorhouse.

With the backing of the Greater Manchester theatres and a judging panel made up of some of the country’s most experienced critics, the awards have expanded in recent years to include a group of enthusiastic young critics who also choose an annual award winner from the city’s youth theatre productions.

Since the relaunch of the awards in 2011, famous faces including Kenneth Branagh, Maxine Peake, Rufus Hound, Rory Kinnear, Barry Humphries, Julian Glover and Sian Phillips have been among the winners.

Celebrating the best work in the region both on stage and off, the red carpet event will involve the presentation of awards in 21 categories.

Presented in association with Target Live, the full list of 2018 Manchester Theatre Awards nominees is:

Musical
Funny Girl, Palace Theatre
Jim Steinman’s Bat out of Hell the Musical, Opera House
Sunset Boulevard, Palace Theatre
Yank!, Hope Mill Theatre

Actress in a Leading Role
Karen Henthorn, Spring and Port Wine, Oldham Coliseum
Lisa Dwyer Hogg, People, Places & Things, HOME
Nina Hoss, Returning to Reims, Manchester International Festival
Janet Suzman, Rose, HOME

Actor in a Leading Role
Cliff Burnett, Hard Times, Oldham Coliseum
Jason Merrells, Uncle Vanya, HOME
Kenneth Alan Taylor, The Father, Oldham Coliseum
Ashley Zhangazha, Guys and Dolls, Royal Exchange

Actress in a Supporting Role
Alison Halstead, The House of Bernarda Alba, Royal Exchange
Kate Kennedy, Twelfth Night, Royal Exchange
Kerry Peers, The Father, Oldham Coliseum
Katie West, Uncle Vanya, HOME

Actor in a Supporting Role
Tom Michael Blyth, Hard Times, Oldham Coliseum
David Fleeshman, Uncle Vanya, HOME
Andrew Sheridan, People, Places & Things, HOME

Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl. Picture: Johan Persson

Actress in a Visiting Production
Ria Jones, Sunset Boulevard, Palace Theatre
Laura Pitt-Pulford, Nell Gwynn, The Lowry
Natalie Radmall-Quirke, The Weir, Oldham Coliseum
Sheridan Smith, Funny Girl, Palace Theatre

Actor in a Visiting Production
Danny Mac, Sunset Boulevard, Palace Theatre
Graham McDuff, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Palace Theatre
Sean Murray, The Weir, Oldham Coliseum

Ensemble
Oh What A Lovely War, Oldham Coliseum
Operation Black Antler, HOME
The Suppliant Women, Royal Exchange

Performance in a Fringe Production
Rosie Fleeshman, Narcissist in the Mirror, Greater Manchester Fringe
Amie Giselle-Ward, Little Women – The Musical, Hope Mill Theatre
Alexandra Maxwell, The Loves of Others/Freak, Greater Manchester Fringe
Danny Solomon, Days of Wine and Roses, 53TWO

Performance in a Studio Production
Rhodri Meilir, How My Light is Spent, Royal Exchange
Lucy Jane Parkinson, Joan, Contact
Keisha Thompson, Man On the Moon, Contact
Alex Walton, From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads, The Lowry

Robert Robson Award for Dance
Debut, Acosta Danza, The Lowry
English National Ballet double bill, Palace Theatre
Ghost Dances, Rambert Dance, The Lowry
Leviathan, James Wilton Dance, Contact

Design
Jenny Melville (set) and Lysander Ashton (video), Paul Auster’s City of Glass, HOME
Bunny Christie, People, Places & Things, HOME
Alex Lowde, Persuasion, Royal Exchange
Yael Bartana, What If Women Ruled the World?, Manchester International Festival

Fringe Production
Bad Advice, Greater Manchester Fringe
Gypsy Queen, Hope Mill Theatre
The Marriage of Kim K, Greater Manchester Fringe
Moth, Hope Mill Theatre

New Play
Gypsy Queen, writer Rob Ward, Hope Mill Theatre
How My Light is Spent, writer Alan Harris, Royal Exchange
Narcissist in the Mirror, writer Rosie Fleeshman, Greater Manchester Fringe
Narvik, writer Lizzie Nunnery, HOME

Newcomer
Gemma Dobson, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Octagon Theatre Bolton
Scott Hunter, Yank!, Hope Mill Theatre
Vinay Lad, The Railway Children, The Lowry

Opera
Cendrillon, Royal Northern College of Music, RNCM
La Cenerentola, Opera North, The Lowry
Opera North Little Greats, Opera North, The Lowry
The Snow Maiden, Opera North, The Lowry

Production
The Father, Oldham Coliseum
People, Places & Things, HOME
Rose, HOME
The Suppliant Women, Royal Exchange

Special Entertainment
Dick Whittington, Opera House
Running Wild, The Lowry
The Toad Knew, The Lowry
Under Glass, Clod Ensemble,The Lowry

Studio Production
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads, The Lowry
Joan, Contact
Man On the Moon, Contact
Swansong, The Lowry

Target Live Award for Best Visiting Production
La Strada, The Lowry
My Country; a Work in Progress, HOME
Nell Gwynn, The Lowry
The Weir, Oldham Coliseum

Youth Panel Award
There is a Light/BRIGHTLIGHT, Contact Young Company
Singin’ in the Rain, RNCM Young Company
Tis Written in the Stars, Oldham Theatre Workshop, Oldham Coliseum

Angela Thomas

www.manchestertheatreawards.com