Little Shop of Horrors, Antigone, The Drover’s Wife and Faith Healer win 22 of the 35 awards presented.

Four productions dominated the 2016 Sydney Theatre Awards: the Hayes Theatre Co’s Little Shop of Horrors with eight awards, Sport for Jove’s Antigone with seven, Belvoir’s The Drover’s Wife with four, and Belvoir’s Faith Healer with three, while Sydney Theatre Company went home empty-handed.

^{Leah Purcell in The Drover’s Wife at Belvoir. Photo by Brett Boardman}

Announced on Monday January 20 at the York Theatre, Seymour Centre, having outgrown their previous home at the Paddington RSL, the Sydney Theatre Awards presented 35 awards across 15 productions.

The Drover’s Wife, Leah Purcell’s retelling of Henry Lawson’s story – described by its director Leticia Caceres as “a rough-edged stone cast straight into the heart of the colonisation story” – was named Best Mainstage Production. It also took home Best New Australian Work, Best Direction of a Mainstage Production (Caceres) and Best Score or Sound Design of a Mainstage Production (The Sweats).

Sport for Jove’s Antigone, featuring a new, contemporary adaptation by Damien Ryan, which brought conflict zones in Syria and Iraq to mind, dominated the Independent categories....