OLIVIERS 2013: Rewarding The Best In British Theatre?

I reviewed 145 productions in 2012, but only one was up for an Olivier - Goodnight Mister Tom, the winner in the Best Entertainment and Family category. Writer David Wood, is a lovely chap and really knows how to make theatre magical for kids (as I found out when I interviewed him in 2011).

But was it the best? Here's a few that might have challenged it - if the entry criteria looked beyond their narrow, West End, horizon.

The Charles Court Opera company deliver an annual boutique panto (this year it was the Three Musketeers) that is a hoot from start to finish - no Britain's Got Talent wannabees pad the cast, just the talent that Britain's got, loving every second of it. That no panto was nominated in a category like this reeks of exactly the kind of elitism theatre needs to shed if it is to survive a government only too keen to demonstrate that they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Chickenshed have been doing fabulous work for years and some of their very best was on show in Can't Pay, Won't Pay. I'd described the plot to my teenage son, who groaned a bit at the politics, as teens do. I also told him that we were trekking all the way to Southgate and not everyone on stage would be a professional - he had the good grace to smile weakly. And he loved it, saying it was one of the best nights he's had in the stalls - I agreed!

Rounding off my alternative three nominees is Jeff Achtem's beautiful, funny and utterly spellbinding puppet show, Swamp Juice. Capturing some of the aesthetic of Studio Ghibli's animations, it's sheer charm forced me to demand that friends take their kids - they did and raved as much as I did. Who would have thought shadows and wire could create such a world, one so full of poignancy?

So if you're going to have awards, count everyone in - otherwise it's not really the best is it?

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