Two musicals receive the most nods for the 2016 Awards, while theatre bears up “in the face of dreadful funding cuts”.

Two musicals have led the nominations count for the 2016 Sydney Theatre Awards. Little Shop of Horrors, presented by Luckiest Productions and Tinderbox Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co has received ten nominations, as has Spring Awakening, presented by Australian Theatre for Young People. Both shows have been nominated for Best Production of a Musical. Sport for Jove’s Antigone and Red Line Productions’ The Whale are not far behind with nine and eight nominations respectively.

The reviewers all felt 2016 was a strong but difficult year for theatre in Sydney. “The richness and quality of so much theatre this year has been an astonishing tribute to the resilience and generosity of our creative theatre artists,” said The Australian’s John McCallum. “This is in the face of dreadful funding cuts and, in the case of the independent sector, mostly no funding at all. That sector continues to rival, and in some cases surpass, the work of the mainstream sector. They have done this by the appallingly simple method of foregoing a decent income for themselves. There has been so much offered to us for free. The mainstream sector has also continued to produce much excellent work. On behalf of Sydney theatregoers we thank them all.”

Sydney Theatre Company and Belvoir St Theatre have wrapped up the Best Mainstage Production category with STC’s All My Sons and The Hanging vying for the award with Belvoir’s The Drover’s Wife and Faith Healer while the nominees for Best Independent Production are Sport for Jove’s Antigone, Old 505 Theatre’s The Block Universe and Hurt, Don’t Look Away and Red Line Productions’ Inner Voices and Red Line Productions’ The Whale.

“This was a year of outcry,” said Elissa Blake from Fairfax. “Alongside the widespread funding cuts, female writers, directors and actors demanded gender parity across all theatre programming, more female stories and more culturally diverse voices. There were many, many excellent theatre productions led by women in 2016. Three of the four nominated directors of mainstream productions are women. All the nominated shows for Best Mainstage Production were either led by a female director, written by a woman, or included female performances of outstanding quality. Action has and is being taken to redress imbalance in the theatre and audiences are reaping the rewards.”

“Some of the work in the independent sector was particularly exciting this year,” concurred Jo Litson, Limelight’s Deputy Editor. “To see three small-scale musicals receiving nominations in the musical theatre category, for example, alongside two large commercial shows (when there were other commercial musicals in the long list) speaks reams about some of the invention happening in the indie sector. It is also exciting to look at the five very different productions nominated for Best New Australian Work – among them Benedict Andrews’ Gloria, which Griffin Artistic Director Lee Lewis was prepared to take a risk on when every other theatre company passed it up following the critical savaging his play Every Breath received at Belvoir in 2012. Not only is Gloria up for Best New Work but Marta Dusseldorp is nominated for her performance in it – and the production sold out too.”

“It’s also exciting to see two plays by Patricia Cornelius – Slut and Savages – getting nominations in the Best Ensemble category,” Litson added. “Lauded in Melbourne, Cornelius’s work has not been seen a great deal in Sydney. These two pieces showed what we are missing – with more to come in January at Sydney Festival.”

The Sydney Theatre Awards are presented every year by a group of leading theatre critics to celebrate the strength, quality and diversity of theatre in Sydney. The panel consists of Elissa Blake (Fairfax), Jason Blake (Sydney Morning Herald), Dee Jefferson (Time Out), Deborah Jones (The Australian), Jo Litson (The Sunday Telegraph/Limelight), John McCallum (The Australian), Ben Neutze (Daily Review), Diana Simmonds (Stage Noise), Polly Simons (Daily Telegraph) and Cassie Tongue (AussieTheatre/The Guardian). Nominations for the 35 categories were spread across 45 productions from 2016. The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony on January 23 at the Seymour Centre.

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NOMINATIONS FOR 2016 SYDNEY THEATRE AWARDS

MAINSTAGE

BEST MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION

All My Sons (Sydney Theatre Company)

The Drover’s Wife (Belvoir)

Faith Healer (Belvoir)

The Hanging (Sydney Theatre Company)

BEST DIRECTION

Leticia Caceres (The Drover’s Wife)

Lee Lewis (Gloria)

Janice Muller (Lake Disappointment)

Kip Williams (All My Sons)

BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Ana Maria Belo (Tribes)

Marta Dusseldorp (Gloria)

Robyn Nevin (All My Sons)

Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife)

BEST MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Colin Friels (Faith Healer)

John Howard (All My Sons)

Luke Mullins (Lake Disappointment)

David Woods (A Flea In Her Ear)

BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Tracy Mann (Relatively Speaking)

Eryn Jean Norvill (All My Sons)

Sarah Peirse (The Golden Age)

Alison Whyte (Faith Healer)

BEST MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Benedict Hardie (The Drover’s Wife)

Pip Miller (Faith Healer)

Jamie Oxenbould (The Literati)

Chris Ryan (All My Sons)

BEST STAGE DESIGN

Alicia Clements (Hay Fever)

Owen Phillips (Little Shop of Horrors)

Brian Thomson (Faith Healer)

Gabriela Tylesova (A Flea In Her Ear)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Tim Chappel (Little Shop of Horrors)

Alicia Clements (Hay Fever)

Tess Schofield (The Drover’s Wife)

Gabriela Tylesova (A Flea In Her Ear)

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN

Damien Cooper (The Golden Age)

Matt Cox (Lake Disappointment)

Ross Graham (Little Shop of Horrors)

Nicholas Rayment (The Hanging)

Nick Schlieper (A Flea In Her Ear)

BEST SCORE OR SOUND DESIGN

James Brown (Broken)

James Brown (Lake Disappointment)

Nate Edmondson (Savages)

The Sweats (The Drover’s Wife)

INDEPENDENT

BEST INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Antigone (Sport for Jove)

The Block Universe (Cross Pollinate Productions and Old 505 Theatre)

Hurt (White Box Theatre and The Old 505)

Inner Voices (Don’t Look Away in association with Red Line Productions)

The Whale (Red Line Productions)

BEST DIRECTION

Shane Anthony (The Whale)

Kate Gaul (Good With Maps)

Philip Rouse (Inner Voices)

Damien Ryan and Terry Karabelas (Antigone)

BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Andrea Demetriades (Antigone)

Paige Gardiner (Three Sisters)

Danielle King (4 Minutes 12 Secs)

Meredith Penman (Hurt)

BEST MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Keith Agius (The Whale)

Damien Strouthos (Inner Voices)

Jacob Warner (The Block Universe)

William Zappa (Antigone)

BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Deborah Galanos (Antigone)

Meredith Penman (The Whale)

Ella Prince (The Shadow Box)

Matilda Ridgway (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant)

BEST MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alex Beauman (The Whale)

Thomas Campbell (Three Sisters)

Anthony Gooley (Inner Voices)

Sam O’Sullivan (Journey’s End)

BEST STAGE DESIGN

Charlie Davis (The Whale)

Anna Gardiner (Inner Voices)

Georgia Hopkins (Three Sisters)

Melanie Liertz (Antigone)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Martelle Hunt (Inner Voices)

Melanie Liertz (Antigone)

Emma Vine (Three Sisters)

Angela White (Side Show)

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN

Alexander Berlage (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant)

Alexander Berlage (The Whale)

Matt Cox (Antigone)

Sian James-Holland (Inner Voices)

BEST SCORE OR SOUND DESIGN

Nate Edmonson (Good With Maps)

Bryce Halliday with Thomas Royce-Hampton (Antigone)

Basil Hogios/Katelyn Shaw (The Whale)

Hamish Michael and Hue Blanes (80 Minutes No Interval)

OTHER NOMINATIONS

BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK

Benedict Andrews (Gloria)

Angela Betzien (The Hanging)

Kate Mulvany (Jasper Jones)

Lachlan Philpott and Luke Mullins (Lake Disappointment)

Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife)

BEST NEWCOMER

Jonny Hawkins (Relatively Speaking)

James Raggatt (Spring Awakening)

Jessica Rookeward (Spring Awakening)

Mia Rorris (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant)

Elijah Williams (Black Jesus)

BEST ENSEMBLE

Broken (Darlinghurst Theatre Company)

Savages (Darlinghurst Theatre Company)

Slut (Edgeware Forum and Rue de la Rocket)

Swallow (National Theatre of Parramatta)

BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL

Fiddler on the Roof (The Works Entertainment)

Little Shop of Horrors (Luckiest Productions and Tinderbox Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co)

My Fair Lady (Opera Australia and John Frost)

Spring Awakening (atyp)

You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (Hayes Theatre Co)

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Dean Bryant (Little Shop of Horrors)

Mitchell Butel (Spring Awakening)

Roger Hodgman (Fiddler on the Roof)

Shaun Rennie (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Laura Bunting (Side Show)

Kerrie Anne Greenland (Side Show)

Esther Hannaford (Little Shop of Horrors)

Anna O’Byrne (My Fair Lady)

Jessica Rookeward (Spring Awakening)

JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

David Campbell (Dream Lover)

Brent Hill (Little Shop of Horrors)

James Raggatt (Spring Awakening)

Anthony Warlow (Fiddler on the Roof)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

Kate Cheel (Spring Awakening)

Hannah Fredericksen (Dream Lover)

Sheridan Harbridge (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

Laura Murphy (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

Blake Bowden (Fiddler on the Roof)

Scott Johnson (Little Shop of Horrors)

Reg Livermore (My Fair Lady)

Mark Mitchell (Fiddler on the Roof)

MUSICAL DIRECTION

Lucy Bermingham (Spring Awakening)

Daniel Edmonds (Dream Lover)

Michael Tyack (The Detective’s Handbook)

Andrew Worboys (Little Shop of Horrors)

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY IN A MUSICAL

Amy Campbell (Spring Awakening)

Andrew Hallsworth (Dream Lover)

Andrew Hallsworth (Little Shop of Horrors)

Cameron Mitchell (Mack and Mabel)

BEST CABARET PRODUCTION

Cathartic (Cath Alcorn)

Liza’s Back (is broken) (Trevor Ashley)

Working Class Boy: An Evening of Stories and Songs (Jimmy Barnes)

To the Moon and Back (Gillian Cosgriff)

BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN

Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark (Sydney Theatre Company and The Listies)

Mr Stink (CDP)

The Peasant Prince (Monkey Baa)

BEST PRODUCTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

The Big Dry (atyp and Ensemble Theatre)

Girl Asleep (Belvoir)

Jasper Jones (Belvoir)

Spring Awakening (atyp)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

To be announced at the Awards ceremony