Nuffield Southampton Theatres Nominated For Three UK Theatre Awards

Nuffield Southampton Theatres (NST) celebrates their nominations for three awards in the UK Theatre Awards 2018. The world premiere of Howard Brenton's The Shadow Factory, has been nominated for a UK Theatre Award in the Best Design category; Streetcar Named Desire, a co-production with Theatr Clwyd and English Touring Theatre, has been nominated for The Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre; and the NST City opening campaign has been nominated in the Achievement in Marketing and Audience Development category.

This year marks the fifth year in a row that NST has been nominated for nationally recognised theatre industry awards. Last year the company won The Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre for their co-production of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. In 2016, Samuel Hodges was nominated for the UK Theatre Award for Best Director for the NST production The Glass Menagerie. In 2015, NST won a UK Theatre Award in the Best Design on their co-production The Hudsucker Proxy. In 2014, NST won Regional Theatre of the Year at the Stage Awards and in 2013, NST Associate Blanche McIntyre won the UK Theatre Award for Best Director on the NST production The Seagull.

This year in the UK Theatre Award nominations, NST is also the second most nominated theatre in the country.

On the nominations Sam Hodges, director of Nuffield Southampton Theatres, said

"To be nominated for three such important awards in our opening season in the new theatre is a great endorsement of all the hard work the team have put in - The Shadow Factory and opening weekend was one of those special moments in the company's history and the support of the city was palpable."

The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide Awards to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements in regional theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This year's UK Theatre Awards will take place at London's historic Guildhall, on 14 October.

NST produced The Shadow Factory as the opening production for Southampton's new theatre NST City. It was written by leading playwright Howard Brenton, directed by Samuel Hodges and designed by 59 Productions using a combination of projection, sound, movement and Nano Winches lighting technology. The Shadow Factory told the Second World War Southampton story of building the Spitfire after German bombing raids destroyed the Woolston factory. This story also inspired the marketing and audience development campaigns "Southampton Can Do It" and "Southampton Celebrates" which contributed to a sell-out opening show and attracted over 7000 people to the opening events of NST City in February 2018.

Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Theatr Clwyd and English Touring Theatre co-produced a bold new revival of Tennessee Williams' classic A Streetcar Named Desire. This production was directed by Chelsea Walker, winner of the 2017 Royal Theatrical Support Trust Sir Peter Hall Director Award, and designed by Georgia Lowe. The show opened in Southampton in March and toured the UK from April to May, returning to Southampton in June 2018.

For more information, visit nstheatres.co.uk