Nominations announced for the UK THEATRE AWARDS 2022

Photo credit: Curtis Richard

UK Theatre have announced the nominees for this year’s UK Theatre Awards, the only nationwide awards to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements in theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by UK Theatre members.    

Leading the nominations with five nominations across categories including Best Performance in a Play, Best Play Revival and Director is Leeds Playhouse. 

Meanwhile, The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield has received two nominations in the Best Director category, for Rock/Paper/Scissors (Elin Schofield, Robert Hastie, Anthony Lau) and Typical Girls (Róisín McBrinn), with four female directors nominated for this award. 

Elsewhere, actors Giles Terera and Henry Goodman go head to head in the Best Performance in a Play category, for The Meaning of Zong and Murder on the Orient Express respectively, with Eithne Browne (Maggie May) and Leah St Luce (Black Love) also offering strong competition in the category. 

Following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the winners will be announced on 23 October, during a lunchtime ceremony at London’s Guildhall. The event will be hosted by star of the stage, Courtney Bowman (Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, Six, Legally Blonde). 

UK Theatre Joint Presidents, Stephanie Sirr and Jon Gilchrist said: “Following an incredibly challenging few years due to the pandemic, theatres across the UK have had to work harder than ever to continue to provide for their local communities: to keep their doors open and to keep making the inspiring work they present. Theatres provide so much more than just entertainment. In towns across the UK they are often a central hub; a space for people to feel welcome and included. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we come together on the 23rd October to recognise and celebrate everything that they do. 

“This year’s nominations reflect a multifaceted variety of voices, highlighting the diversity and quality of shows presented across the UK. It is brilliant to see so much upcoming talent among the nominees as well as all four nations being represented.” 

Nominations are split into new ‘On Stage’ and ‘Off Stage’ categories, as part of a refresh of the Awards in 2019 instated to reflect the contemporary priorities of the UK’s theatre industry. As part of this, UK Theatre members now have more involvement in the nomination process, can put forward shows and individuals for nomination and can submit an application for an Off Stage award. 

Nominations for the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre were announced last month with Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich making the shortlist. The winner will be revealed on the 23rd October as part of the ceremony. 

The recipient of this year’s Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre Award has been revealed as Sarah Holmes, former CEO of the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. 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 of the nominees.