UK Roundup - Olivier Special

By: Jake Brunger Jan. 15, 2004

Hold the front page! - The 2004 Laurence Olivier Award nominations have been unveiled. Well actually, it seems the press don't actually give a hoot about it.. after a surprise decision has meant the awards won't be televised this year. Whereas in the USA Tony Awards are a big part of many theatregoers year - many have Tony parties in their houses and work places - here the awards are very low key and edited to an hour long programme on a small channel. Well this year, they won't even be seen at all. A sorry decision for an already quiet industry.

But onto the awards themselves! The National Theatre, unsurprisingly, lead the way with 20 nominations.. 2 best actresses.. 2 best actors… 3 best new plays.. and the Donmar Warehouse scoop twelve despite a significantly less repertoire of shows. Jerry Springer the Opera, again, unsurprisingly, came up trumps with an armful of nominations including Best Director, Best Musical, and two of its stars up for Best Actor in a Musical.

But does it really matter anyway? They're not being televised, the public aren't invited to go and watch the ceremony.. who's really going to take much interest in them except for those involved? This is the biggest sign yet of it being a purely political ceremony and not an outlet to recognise talent and to flaunt good theatre in the public's eyes. Ticket sales for Broadway shows hit the roof after its theatrical nominations, here it goes by fairly unnoticed.
Full list of nominations @ Playbill.com .

Everyone likes to get tickets cheaper than what you pay at the box office, and nobody more than Ken Livingstone, major of London. His yearly promotion Get Into London Theatre is back, offering tickets to all West End shows at just £25 maximum.. around half the price of the box office. Check the list out for booking and information here

Everyone finds trains interesting, don't they? If you do then The National Theatre's Cottesloe venue should expect your company, as David Hare's docu-drama The Permanent Way has now officially opened after a UK tour pulled in to the South Bank complex earlier this week. Tourists may wonder what all this is about - people sitting around telling their stories of Britain's rail system, but those living in the UK will find this an interesting dramatised version of our news; train crashes particularly dominate the headlines annually.

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