Pram-shop play wins award!

Photo: Simon Pendrigh

Mark Whiteley and Celia Perkins (centre) with award presenter Ian Kershaw (l) and David Crowley (r).

A play performed to 40 people a night in a transformed Mumps pram shop was a winner - alongside Sir Antony Sher, legendary comedian Barry Humphries and one of the world’s most popular musicals - at this year’s Manchester Theatre Awards.

Oldham-dwelling playwright and producer Mark Whiteley’s comedy “Thick as Thieves” - performed by former Coronation Street actors Steven Arnold and Jonny Dixon - won the Best Fringe Production trophy, presented by fellow Oldham-born writer Ian Kershaw.

The play followed the exploits of two inept burglars who found more in an empty house than they bargained for.

“Thanks so much,” Mark told the full house at the Royal Northern College of Music drama theatre. And as well as thanking designer Celia Perkins, who transformed the shop into a kitchen and front room, director David Crowley and the two actors, Mark also thanked Oldham Council - for finding him the shop in which to perform!

Another “Oldham” winner was actress and playwright Deborah McAndrew, whose “An August Bank Holiday Lark” won the Best New Play Award. The play, commissioned by Northern Broadsides Theatre Company, had its final tour performance at the Coliseum and drew heavily on local Morris traditions supplied by Saddleworth Morris Men.

Deborah told the Awards audience: “The Morris Men came on board with such generosity of spirit and shared traditions and dances with us. Performing at Oldham Coliseum brought the play home - based as it was in Lancashire in World War One.”

The most successful Manchester Theatre Awards since the event was reborn four years ago gave awards to Sir Antony Sher for Henry IV Parts One and Two at the Lowry (Best Actor in a Visiting Production), Barry Humphries (Best Special Entertainment for “Eat, Pray Laugh” at Manchester Opera House), mega-musical “Jersey Boys” (Best Musical, Manchester Palace), and the National Theatre’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” (Lowry, Best Visiting Production).

Harry McEntire - the title character in the Royal Exchange’s “Billy Liar” was Best Actor, while Clare Foster was named Best Actress for roles in “Duet for One” and “Separation” at Bolton Octagon.

The founder of Manchester’s 24:7 Theatre Festival, David Slack, was given the judges’ Special Achievement award, and HOME - the city’s replacement for Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre - won three awards even before it has opened. The company’s production of “Romeo and Juliet” at Manchester’s Victoria Baths was given the Best Design award, while the theatre’s extraordinary collaboration with Dublin’s ANU Productions, “Angel Meadow”, was named Best Production and the cast the Best Ensemble.



Full list of awards:



Best Actor

Harry McEntire, in Billy Liar, at the Royal Exchange



Best Actress

Clare Foster, in Duet For One and Separation, at the Octagon Theatre,

Bolton



Best Actor in a Supporting Role

David Birrell, in Journey’s End, at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton



Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Gillian Bevan, in Hamlet, at the Royal Exchange



Best Actor in a Visiting Production

Antony Sher, in Henry IV Parts I and II, at The Lowry



Best Actress in a Visiting Production

Katherine Kingsley, in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, at the Opera House



Best Production

Angel Meadow, directed by Louise Lowe and company for ANU Productions and

HOME, at Edinburgh Castle, Ancoats



Best Visiting Production

The Curious Incident Of the Dog In The Night-Time, from the National

Theatre, at The Lowry



The Brynteg Award for Best Musical

Jersey Boys, at the Palace Theatre



Robert Robson Award for Dance

Le Corsaire, from English National Ballet, at the Palace Theatre



Opera

Götterdämmerung, from Opera North, at The Lowry



Design

Romeo and Juliet, at HOME at Victoria Baths



Best Newcomer

Emily Barber, in Billy Liar, at the Royal Exchange



Best New Play

An August Bank Holiday Lark, by Deborah McAndrew, at Oldham Coliseum



Best Studio Production
He Had Hairy Hands, from Kill The Beast Company, at the Lowry Studio



Best Fringe Production

Thick As Thieves, from Hard Graft Theatre Company, at ReTale, Oldham Mumps



Best Studio Performance

Sinèad Matthews, in Pests, at the Royal Exchange Studio



Best Fringe Performance

Kaitlin Howard, in The Alphabet Girl, at the Kings Arms, Salford



Best Ensemble

Angel Meadow, at HOME, the Edinburgh Castle, Ancoats



Best Special Entertainment

Barry Humphries, in Eat, Pray, Laugh at the Opera House



Youth Panel Award

A Midsummer Night's Dream, at The Lowry



Special Achievement Award

David Slack from Manchester 24:7 Theatre Festival



The Stage Door Foundation Award for Excellence

Monkeywood Theatre, recently made an Associate Artist of The Lowry, after more than a decade creating and touring