THERE WERE awards for playing the Dane and Playing the Daneas Hamlet was to the fore at the Irish TimesIrish Theatre Awards in Vicar Street, Dublin, last night.
Best production went to The Rehearsal: Playing the Dane, Pan Pan Theatre's deconstruction of Hamlet, directed by Gavin Quinn, while Marty Rea won best actor for his performance as the procrastinating prince in Second Age Theatre's Hamlet, directed by Alan Stanford.
Olwen Fouéré, who also appeared in The Rehearsal, won best actress for her performance as the woman in her translation of Laurent Gaudé's Sodome, My Love, directed by Lynne Parker.
At the ceremony warm tribute was paid to TP McKenna and Mick Lally, both recently deceased, and to this newspaper’s veteran theatre critic David Nowlan, who died last December.
Irish Timesmanaging editor Gerry Smyth said David Nowlan "cared passionately about this art form and championed it". He "may have been a humanist but theatre was his church".
Describing Mick Lally as one of the “great stalwarts and voices” of theatre, he said the late actor had “left behind him a great and enduring legacy in the shape of Druid of which . . . he was a co-founder”.
TP McKenna would be missed “for his equally distinctive voice but also that commanding stage presence”.
Smyth thanked judges Jack Gilligan, a former arts officer with Dublin City Council, journalist and dramaturge Christine Madden and artist Bernadette Madden.
The award for best supporting actor went to Laurence Kinlan who played Mossy Lannigan in Christ Deliver Us!by Thomas Kilroy and directed by Wayne Jordan for the Abbey Theatre.
Best supporting actress was Eleanor Methven for her role as Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Lynne Parker for Rough Magic.
Best director was Selina Cartmell for Medea, produced by Siren Productions. Best set was by Aedín Cosgrove for The Rehearsal: Playing the Dane. Joan Bergin won the costume award for Frank McGuinness's new version of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman.
Sínead Wallace won the best lighting award for the Landmark production of Knives in Hensby David Harrower, directed by Alan Gilsenan. Best sound was by Dennis Clohessy for Sodome, My Love.
Best new play was B for Babyby Carmel Winters, directed by Mikel Murfi for the Abbey Theatre. Best opera winner was Virginiaby Saverio Mercadante, directed by Kevin Newbury for Wexford Festival Opera.
The judges’ special award went to Project Brand New, recognising the Project Arts Centre’s “dedication to supporting and providing a platform for . . . new work”.
Further details of the awards will be published tomorrow.
