Yorkshire theatres sweep the board at the UK Theatre Awards

Over three weeks I managed to see the West End production of To Kill a Mockingbird starring Richard Coyle and written by Aaron Sorkin; the astounding Simon Russel Beale in John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre, The Crucible and Blues for an Alabama Sky at the National Theatre and, for a third time, Hamilton.

At the time I was going to tweet that the productions were great, but what struck me was that I could see work that could easily hold its own against any of what I saw in London, on Yorkshire stages. I didn’t bother tweeting that – art is anything but a competition – but had I done so, I would have been proven right this week by the UK Theatre Awards. As a region Yorkshire had one of its strongest showings in years at the award ceremony which celebrates the achievements of UK regional theatre. Held at London’s historic Guildhall, it felt like a Yorkshire takeover as I watched the results come in over social media.

Leeds Playhouse led the charge with three prizes, making the theatre the evening’s most successful. The award that perhaps meant most to the people who run the venue was that of the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre. Coming just three years after a £15m total redesign – three years which included closure as a result of the pandemic, to win the Most Welcoming Theatre was a testament to the work, vision and determination it took to get the redesign over the finishing line.

Of course the UK Theatre Awards celebrate mainly what goes on on the stages of our theatres and again, Leeds was no slouch. Divina de Campo won the Best Performance in a Musical for the title role in the theatre’s production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by Jamie Fletcher earlier this year and the Playhouse’s co-production with Imitating the Dog of Dracula: The Untold Story won the Best Design Award for designers Laura Hopkins and Simon Wainwright. The Yorkshire success just kept coming.

In Sheffield the Best Director award was split three ways between Sheffield Theatres artistic director Robert Hastie, his associate Anthony Lau and Elin Schofield. The three were the team behind what was arguably one of the theatre events of the year, Rock/Paper/Scissors, a production of three plays sharing a single cast which ran simultaneously between the three venues that make up Sheffield Theatres, the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Studio.

Since taking over at Sheffield relatively recently, Hastie has shown himself to be an innovative and impressive leader. Commissioning the idea of having three plays running simultaneously was a bold – and some even said foolhardy – idea. The award this weekend will have served as further proof that he’s on the right track and his innovation is recognised in the industry. He said: “We’re delighted to be recognised for this 50th anniversary production and the most ambitious project we could have imagined doing. It’s testament both to the talent of everyone who works at Sheffield Theatres and to the adventurousness of our audiences, who are always inspiring us to push ourselves further.”

The good news for Yorkshire just kept coming. York Theatre Royal was a co-producer along with English Touring Theatre of Mugabe, My Dad and Me, which won Best New Play. Written by Tonderai Munyevu, it was directed by John R Wilkinson (who cut his teeth at Leeds Playhouse). Wilkinson, associate director at York Theatre Royal, says: “This play was made of our core values, Yorkshire values: determination, courage and kindness. It was achieved through community and collaboration, vital more than ever now.”

The peerless Richard Mantle, who has done extraordinary work as general manager of Opera North for over 30 years, received the award for Achievement in Opera. Coming shortly after the announcement of his retirement next year, it was well deserved and rounded off a seriously impressive day for Yorkshire at the UK Theatre Awards – at least, officially, it did.

There was also the award for Best Musical which went to Billy Elliot at Leicester Curve (directed by Yorkshire born and trained Nikolai Foster and choreographed by Yorkshire’s Lucy Hind) and the award for Best Supporting Performance which went to Nishla Smith at Octagon Theatre. The Yorkshire connection? The play was Kes.