Irish Times Theatre Awards 2016

The winners of the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2016 were announced last night and the big winner was DruidShakespeare, winning pretty much everything! It won Best Production, Director, Actor and Actress. Landmark productions did win Best Opera along with a well deserved Special Tribute Award for Anne Clarke. See the full list of winners below.

Best Production: DruidShakespeare Druid Theatre coproduction with Lincoln Center Festival of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V. New adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Nominated alongside:

Chekhov’s First Play A Dead Centre production with Dublin Theatre Festival, Baltoscandal and Theatre National Bordeaux Aquitaine of Chekhov’s First Play, adapted from Anton Chekhov

Pals: The Irish at Gallipoli Anu Productions, with the National Museum of Ireland and Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in association with the National Archives of Ireland and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions

The Gigli Concert A Gate Theatre production of Tom Murphy’s play

 

Best Director : Garry Hynes For the Druid Theatre and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Nominated alongside:

Grace Dyas For the THEATREclub production of The Game

Pat Kiernan For the Corcadorca and Eat My Noise production of Enda Walsh’s Gentrification

Wayne Jordan For the Abbey Theatre and Lyric Theatre production of Seán O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman and for the Abbey production of a new version of Oedipus, by Sophocles

 

Best Actress : Derbhle Crotty For her role as King Henry IV in the Druid Theatre and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Nominated alongside:

Cathy Belton For her role as Sal in the Galway International Arts Festival production of Frank McGuinness’s play The Match Box

Aisling O’Sullivan For her roles as Hal/King Henry V in the Druid Theatre and LincolnCenter Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Susan Lynch For her role as Hester Swane in the Abbey Theatre production of Marina Carr’s play By the Bog of Cats

 

Best Actor : Marty Rea For his role as King Richard II in the Druid Theatre and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Nominated alongside:

Adrian Dunbar For his role as Tommy in the Dublin Theatre Festival and Lyric Theatre production of Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive

Mark O’Halloran For his role as Donal Davoren in the Abbey Theatre and Lyric Theatre production of The Shadow of a Gunman, by Seán O’Casey

Denis Conway For his role as Irish Man in the Gate Theatre production of The Gigli Concert, by Tom Murphy

 

Best Supporting Actress : Abigail McGibbon For her role as Sandra in the Rough Magic production of David Ireland’s Everything Between Us

Nominated alongside:

Dawn Bradfield For her role as Mona in the Gate Theatre production of The Gigli Concert, by Tom Murphy

Clare Barrett For her roles as Aoife and Margaret Gaj in Rough Magic’s The Train, by Arthur Riordan and Bill Whelan

Amy McAllister For her role as Minnie Powell in the Abbey Theatre and Lyric Theatre’s production of Seán O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman

 

Best Supporting Actor : Laurence Kinlan For his role as Doc in the Dublin Theatre Festival and Lyric Theatre production of Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive

Nominated alongside:

Brian Gleeson For his role as Sean in Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce, staged by Landmark Productions in association with MCD

Peter Campion For his role as Katurian in Decadent Theatre and the Lyric Theatre’s production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman

Rory Nolan For his role as Falstaff in the Druid Theatre and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

 

Best New Play : Scorch By Stacey Gregg, produced by Prime Cut Productions in association with the Mac and Outburst Queer Arts Festival

Nominated alongside:

Luck Just Kissed You Hello By Amy Conroy, produced by HotforTheatre and Galway International Arts Festival

The Match Box By Frank McGuinness, produced by Galway International Arts Festival

The Night Alive By Conor McPherson, produced by Dublin Theatre Festival and the Lyric Theatre

 

Best Opera : The Last Hotel Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera production of a work by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh

Nominated alongside:

Agrippina Irish Youth Opera and Northern Ireland Opera’s production of Handel’s work, in association with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the Lime Tree Theatre

Faust By Gounod, staged by the Everyman and Cork Operatic Society

Guglielmo Ratcliff Wexford Festival Opera production of Pietro Mascagni’s work in association with the Italian Institute of Culture

 

Best costume design  : Doreen McKenna and Francis O’Connor For the Druid and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, by Mark O’Rowe

Nominated alongside:

Sarah Bacon For the Abbey and Lyric production of Seán O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman

Monica Frawley For the Abbey Theatre’s production of Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats

Catherine Fay For the Gate Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

 

Best Set Design  : Sarah Bacon For the Abbey Theatre and Lyric Theatre production of The Shadow of a Gunman, by Seán O’Casey

Nominated alongside:

Francis O’Connor For the Druid Theatre and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Aedín Cosgrove For the Abbey Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare

Ciaran O’Melia For the Gate Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

 

Best Lighting Design  : Sarah Jane Shiels For the Brokentalkers and Junk Ensemble production of It Folds, and Anu Productions’ Pals: The Irish at Gallipoli

Nominated alongside:

Sinéad Wallace For the Abbey Theatre’s production of Sophocles’ Oedipus, in a new version by Wayne Jordan

Aedín Cosgrove For the Abbey Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Adam Silverman For Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera’s The Last Hotel, by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh

 

Best Sound Design  : Jimmy Eadie For the Dead Centre production with Dublin Theatre Festival, Baltoscandal and Theatre National Bordeaux Aquitaine ofChekhov’s First Play, adapted from Anton Chekhov

Nominated alongside:

Denis Clohessy For the Brokentalkers and Junk Ensemble production of It Folds

Gregory Clarke and Conor Linehan For the Druid Theatre and Lincoln Center Festival coproduction of DruidShakespeare, an adaptation by Mark O’Rowe

Tom Lane For the Abbey Theatre’s Oedipus by Sophocles, in a new version by Wayne Jordan

 

Judges’ Special Award  : Lian Bell For leading the Waking the Feminists movementwith courage and conviction, highlighting the inequalities in Irish theatre and advocating sustainable change

Nominated alongside:

Galway International Arts Festival For its consistently supportive role as co-producer to independenttheatre

Blue Raincoat Theatre Company For its imaginative restoration of the theatre of WB Yeats as part of its A Country Under Wave programme

Druid For the way the company has assembled and enabled a group of actors to work as a true ensemble, the pinnacle of this rare achievement being DruidShakespeare

 

Special Tribute Award: Anne Clarke, Landmark Productions.