The 2022 UK Theatre Awards returned on 23 October after a two year hiatus. Having been away so long, it made the event feel extra special to see so many names gathered at London’s Guildhall to recognise the variety and depth of skill across the theatre industry, both on stage and off.
The ceremony was hosted by Courtney Bowman, fresh off starring in Legally Blonde: The Musical at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. During the ceremony she performed Spotlight from the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
The biggest winner at the awards was Leeds Playhouse who won the Theatre Tokens Award for the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre. The accolades didn’t stop there, their production of Hedwig And The Angry Inch also saw Divina de Campo win the Best Performance in a Musical Award, a Leeds Playhouse co-production with HOME. Leeds Playhouse’s co-production with imitating the dog – Dracula: The Untold Story – also saw Laura Hopkins & Simon Wainwright (Projection and Video Design Video Design) pick up the Best Design Award.
Elsewhere Chichester Festival Theatre won the Digital Innovation Award for Digital Stages, a series of five dynamic digital events which celebrated the theatre’s 60th Anniversary.
Robert Hastie, Anthony Lau & Elin Schofield shared the Best Director Award for Rock/Paper/Scissors, a Sheffield Theatres production which was performed in the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Studio simultaneously by a single cast!
For other individual performances, Giles Terera won Best Performance in a Play for Bristol Old Vic‘s The Meaning Of Zong, while Nishla Smith won Best Supporting Performance in a Musical or Play for her performance in Kes, an Octagon Theatre and Theatre By The Lake co-production.
The award for Best New Play was won by Mugabe, My Dad & Me – an ETT, Brixton House & York Theatre Royal in association with Alison Holder co-production.
Other shows which won awards include the Made at Curve production of Billy Elliot the Musical win Best Musical Production; Translations, an Abbey Theatre and Lyric Theatre Belfast co-production, win Best Play Revival; Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World won Best Show for Children & Young People. Richard Mantle’s work for Opera North won the Achievement in Opera Award, while Rambert won the Achievement in Dance Award.
The UK Theatre Awards also recognises achievements off stage. This included the Excellence in Arts Education Award, won by Lyric Theatre Belfast; the Excellence in Inclusivity, won by ETT; the Workforce Awards, won by The Marlowe; and Excellence in Touring won by Graeae Theatre Company.
The final award was was presented to Sarah Holmes for her Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre. Sarah was selected by the board for constantly championing access and inclusion, spear-heading the post of Agent for Change and applying challenging criteria to her own programming policy with a “nothing about us, without us” policy around inclusion. Sarah’s tenure saw the New Wolsey become a founding partner on Black-led theatre initiative Eclipse, and D/deaf and disabled collective Ramps on the Moon, which has now been running for over 7 years.
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!