Dame Eileen Atkins DBE Will Receive The Gielgud Award at the UK Theatre Awards 2015

By: Oct. 07, 2015
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Dame Eileen Atkins is to receive The Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts at the UK Theatre Awards 2015. The ceremony will take place on Sunday 18 October at London's historic Guildhall.

Dame Eileen Atkins is an award-winning actress whose illustrious career has spanned seven decades. She made her first appearance after drama school at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and went on to appear with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Old Vic and the National Theatre. She has performed many contemporary plays at the Royal Court, in the West End and on Broadway where she has been nominated for a Tony Award on four occasions. There, she received great critical acclaim for her one woman show as Virginia Woolf in A Room Of One's Own, for which she won a rarely given Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle. She has won three Olivier Awards, two for Best Actress for her performances in Honour and The Unexpected Man. Following a CBE in 1990, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 for Services to Drama.

The Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts was established by The Shakespeare Guild in 1994. Previous recipients include F. Murray Abraham, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Derek Jacobi, Kevin Kline, Sir Ian McKellen, Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave OBE and Sir Patrick Stewart. Last year's honour, the first to be presented at the UK Theatre Awards, was bestowed posthumously to Sir Donald Sinden.

The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide awards to honour creative excellence and the outstanding achievement seen on and off stage. Musical theatre star Michael Xavier will compère the ceremony.

As well as established awards for both performance and management achievement, which is decided by expert panels, last year The Clothworkers' Foundation launched its five year Theatre Award programme worth £750,000. A single award of up to £150,000 will be presented each year to a regional producing theatre in England. UK Theatre has announced that this year's recipient will be a theatre in Yorkshire.

Nominees for the Clothworkers' Theatre Award 2015

• Sheffield Theatres Trust - Crucible Theatre

• West Yorkshire Playhouse

• Hull Truck Theatre Co.

• Scarborough Stephen Joseph Theatre

• Harrogate Theatre

• York Theatre Royal

Members of the public have also been able to vote for the My Theatre Matters! UK's Most Welcoming Theatre Award with Smooth Radio.

Further details about the UK Theatre Awards, including a full list of nominations and the 12 regional and national winners of the My Theatre Matters! Most Welcoming Theatre Award 2015 in association with Smooth Radio, can be found at: www.uktheatre.org/awards



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