Winners of The Stage Awards 2020, in association with Integro Insurance Brokers Ltd, were announced at the Royal Opera House, London on Friday, January 31.
Sheffield Theatres scooped two awards: Regional Theatre of the Year, sponsored by Berkley London, and Achievement in Technical Theatre, sponsored by ETC.
Judges praised Sheffield Theatres for producing an extraordinary season of work in 2019 but two major productions stood out – Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which won the UK Theatre award for Best Musical and a The Stage Debut Award for actor Adam Hugill, and Life of Pi, which received five-star reviews and four UK Theatre awards. Life of Pi will transfer to the West End later this year.
The Achievement in Technical Theatre award is a new category this year which recognises the terrific work that has been going on behind the scenes all over the country. Sheffield Theatres’ widely admired production, Life of Pi, was celebrated again for its state-of-the-art projections which put audiences into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and for creating a 44-pound tiger puppet that critics have called a worthy successor to War Horse.
London Theatre of the Year, sponsored by LMA, was won by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, praised for undertaking a £1million facelift towards making its venue more accessible. This was all while still producing 14 shows in 2019, including the large scale Public Acts community project with the National Theatre.
The Bunker Theatre, London won Fringe Theatre of the Year, sponsored by encoreinsure.com, for its commitment to giving talent from under-represented backgrounds a home, including the refugee-led company Borderline’s show Welcome to the UK.
ATG Productions was named Producer of the Year, sponsored by PRG, following two remarkable projects. Its critically acclaimed Pinter at the Pinter Season was an astonishing achievement; featuring 20 one-act plays, concluding with Betrayal starring Tom Hiddleston. The other – Ian McKellen On Stage – saw the great actor take his one-man show to 86 theatres across the UK before an 80-date run in the West End.
Taking home the Innovation Award, sponsored by Charcoalblue, was Artistic Directors of the Future. Its front-footed approach to diversifying the industry’s boardrooms is both pioneering and potentially transformative for the sector. Its board-shadowing initiative, which launched in Yorkshire in early 2019, is the first of its kind, and has subsequently expanded to the capital, with participants sitting in at leading theatre companies including Complicité, English Touring Theatre and Punchdrunk.
Leeds Playhouse was awarded Theatre Building of the Year, sponsored by TAIT, following its remarkable £15.8 million redevelopment, including a strikingly designed exterior and vastly improved access facilities.
Selladoor Productions won the International Award, sponsored by Ambassador Theatre Group, as it continues to take the global market by storm. Last year alone it staged 12 productions, including European premieres for Amélie and Little Miss Sunshine. It also added Madrid to its exiting offices in New York, Shanghai and Bangkok.
The Unsung Hero award, sponsored by Get Into Theatre, was given to Mary Joseph from the Almeida Theatre, London. Joseph started working as a cleaner in 1995, but now works six days a week – mainly in the box office kiosk. Having worked at the north London theatre for a quarter of a century, Joseph is the “essence of the Almeida” according to its artistic director Rupert Goold.
The Stage editor Alistair Smith: “Our 2020 winners reflect how theatre across the UK is both thriving and evolving. They balance local sensibilities with national, even international, ambitions: from the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch, whose collaboration on As You Like It saw it work with community groups and the National Theatre, to Sheffield Theatres, whose output included the musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge – telling the story of Sheffield’s Park Hill Estate – and Life of Pi, a stage adaptation of a worldwide bestseller that will transfer to the West End this year.
“Meanwhile, our producer of the year, ATG Productions, was behind Ian McKellen on Stage, which visited theatres of all sizes across the whole of the British Isles, including theatres in Orkney, Jersey, Derry and Aberystwyth. As ever, it’s a delight to celebrate all our winners and nominees and recognise the superb work they are doing to bring the very best theatre to audiences around the UK and beyond.”
The Stage associate editor Lyn Gardner: “It may be challenging times for British theatre, but this year’s winners of The Stage Awards reflect the boldness and creativity of the sector and its depth and breadth across the country. From the industry-changing innovation of Artistic Directors of the Future to the grassroots support offered to emerging artists at the Bunker, and the crucial part played in London’s ecology by the revitalised creativity and community engagement of a suburban London theatre like the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch; the 2020 winners are all beacons. They all demonstrate theatre’s ever-evolving ability to adapt and reinvent itself to the benefit of 21st century artists and audiences.”
The Stage Awards, in association with Integro Insurance Brokers Ltd, are decided by The Stage’s judging panel, following extensive consultation with leading figures in the theatre industry and a public nomination process. The winners were announced on January 31, 2020 at a ceremony at the Royal Opera House, London.
