Irish Times Theatre Award nominations announced

We were delighted once again this year to be recognized amongst the nominees, particularly in the field of design. This year’s judges – Sara Keating, Ian Kilroy and Bernadette Madden – remarked that the nominations were a ‘reflection of what was most memorable and what was of the highest artistic standard’ in theatre in 2009.
Amongst the productions most admired by the judges was Tom Murphy’s The Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant which scooped three nominations for design. Ben Omerod was nominated as Best Designer: Lighting, Joan O’Clery received a nomination for Best Designer: Costume, and Ben Delaney and Conor Linehan were jointly nominated as Best Designer: Sound.
We are also thrilled for Malcolm Adams who this year received his third nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actor. This nomination was awarded for his role as Sheridan in Tom Mac Intyre’s Only an Apple, which premiered on the Peacock stage last April.
Among the nominees for the Judge’s Special Award was Tania Banotti of Theatre Forum, for her leadership in the National Campaign for the Arts. We joined the campaign when it was launched last year to raise community and government awareness of the vital role that Irish arts play in economic recovery. Acknowledging the challenging year gone by, Ian Kilroy wrote that “It’s changing type of theatre culture in Ireland, but it’s a very vibrant culture and it’s one to be proud of”.
We would like to congratulate all our nominees, and wish them the best of luck at the awards ceremony which takes place on Sunday, 28 February.