Olivier Awards 2010

The Stage reports on the winners of the 2010 Olivier Awards in London this weekend.

Here is a selection of some of the winners - the entire list is on the web site:

* Best New Play - The Mountaintop by Katori Hall at Trafalgar Studios 1
* Best New Comedy - The Priory by Michael Wynne at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court
* Best Musical Revival - Hello, Dolly! book by Michael Stewart, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, based on the play ‘The Matchmaker’ by Thornton Wilder at the Open Air
* Best New Musical - Spring Awakening music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater, based on the play by Frank Wedekind at the Novello
* Best Revival - Cat On A Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, directed by Debbie Allen at the Novello

Cheaper Theatre Earlier

Those of you in London, or considering a trip in the coming months, will be pleased to know that fans of theatre will be able to buy discounted tickets from tkts, the West End ticket booth, up to seven days in advance of a show.

Until this recent change special offers were only released to customers on the day of the performance.

The tkts booth in Leicester Square (founded in 1980 as the original Half Price Ticket Booth) and tkts at Brent Cross are the only official half price and discount theatre ticket outlets in London operated by the Society of London Theatre, the industry body that represents London theatres.

Olivier Short-List 09

The Guardian reports on the nominations for this year's Laurence Olivier Awards for theatrical achievement in London.

A full list of the nominees is on the web site, but here are categories of particular interest to our membership:

Best new play

• August: Osage County by Tracy Letts at the Lyttelton
• Black Watch by Gregory Burke at the Barbican
• The Pitmen Painters by Lee Hall at the Cottesloe
• That Face by Polly Stenham at the Duke Of York's

Best new comedy

• Fat Pig by Neil LaBute at the Comedy
• The Female of the Species by Joanna Murray-Smith at the Vaudeville
• God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, at the Gielgud

Best new musical

• Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe at the Prince Edward
• Zorro, book and lyrics by Stephen Clark, music by The Gipsy Kings, original story by Stephen Clark and Helen Edmundson, music co-composed and adapted by John Cameron at the Garrick

Theatregoers Choice 2008

The British Theatregoers Choice Awards were announced at the weekend. Guild members will be interested in the following award:

The NICK HERN BOOKS Best New Play
All About My Mother by Samuel Adamson – at the Old Vic

The other nominees in the category:

A Disappearing Number by Complicite – at the Barbican
Joe Guy by Roy Williams – at Soho Theatre
Landscape with Weapon by Joe Penhall – at the NT Cottesloe
That Face by Polly Stenham – at the Royal Court Upstairs
War Horse by Nick Stafford – at the NT Olivier

Irish actress Fiona Shaw also picked up the Best Solo Performance Award for Happy Days at the NT Lyttelton.

Royal Representation

Dominic Cooke, the Artistic Director for The Royal Court in London, has an article in The Observer about the kind of work he would like to see from emerging playwrights, and his opinions on theatre's need to represent the various factions in society.

Jordan at Royal Court

The BBC Writersroom, in association with The Royal Court Theatre in London, are holding an open and free event where screenwriter Tony Jordan (Hustle, Holby Blue, and Life on Mars) will talk with Kate Rowland, the BBC's Creative Director of New Writing, about creating, writing, and sustaining popular television drama series.

Tickets are now available for this event from the Royal Court Box Office. Phone: 020 7565 5000.

Spill in London

Fans of experimental theatre will be interested in the inaugural Spill Festival that is running in venues across London at the moment until April 22.

During the programme of performance, live art, and experimental theatre, there will be the Spill Symposium, produced in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency. It will take place at Soho Theatre, London on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 April 2007 from 10.00 to 17.30.

The two day Symposium sets out to consider different ways of working with the production, presentation, distribution and discussion of contemporary theatre and performance practices, and propose new models for a more sustainable future. The first day of the symposium will be structured around conceptual issues: polemics and presentations asking what kind of forms contemporary theatre and performance can take, what are the lineages of such work, who are they for, where can they be located, what can they do and say, what can be said about them, and why they are important. The second day will be structured around more practical and discussions: case studies and models of practices around these questions and particularly in relation to the making and touring of contemporary work, to the sharing of existing models, and to the propositions of future strategies for cultural frameworks, critical dialogues and new audiences.