Sydney Theatre Awards announced
At a star-studded ceremony, the winners of the 2018 Sydney Theatre Awards were announced, with 34 Awards presented, shared between 16 productions which played in Sydney in 2018.
Over 450 members of the Sydney theatre community
packed the York Theatre at the Seymour Centre to celebrate.
Best Mainstage Production was awarded to Sydney Theatre Company’s
The Harp in the South: Part One and Part Two, which also won Best
Direction of a Mainstage Production (Kip Williams) and Best New
Australian Work (Kate Mulvany).
STC’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Uialso won four awards, Best Male Actor in a
Leading Role (Hugo Weaving), Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Mitchell Butel), Best Stage Design (Robert Cousins) and Best Sound Design (Stefan Gregory) in the mainstage categories.
Best Independent Production went to New
Theatre’sStupid F*cking Bird, which also won Best Female Supporting
Actor in an Independent Production (Annie Stafford). Best Direction of
an Independent Production went to Dino Dimitriadis for Apocalypse
Theatre Company and Red Line Productions’Metamorphoses, which was also
awarded Best Costume Design (Jonathan Hindmarsh), Best Lighting Design
(Benjamin Brockman) and Best Sound Design (Ben Pierpoint).
In the Musical categories, Best Musical went to Cry-Baby, produced
by LPD in association with Hayes Theatre Co, which also got nods for
Best Direction of a Musical (Alexander Berlage), Best Stage Design of an
Independent Production (Isabel Hudson) and Best Performance by a
Female Actor in a Musical (Ashleigh Rubenach). Best Male Actor in a
Leading Role in a Musical was awarded to Ryan Gonzalez (In the
Heights). The Best Newcomer Award went to Justin Amankwah (The Flick).
The Sydney Theatre Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to Riverside Theatres, Parramatta Director Robert Love, a champion of the arts in Western Sydney. Robert’s 45-year career began as trainee director for the Old Tote and ATYP before he founded theatre-in-education company Toe Truck Theatre in 1976. Since then he has been General Manager of the Seymour Centre, the State Theatre Company of South Australia and Sydney Theatre Company, before being appointed to his position at Riverside Theatres in 2002.