Celebrating talent in the Welsh arts - Wales Theatre Awards 2015

The talented winners of the Wales Theatre Awards 2015

Oh what a night! On Saturday, January 31st the grand ceremony for the Wales Theatre Awards 2015 took place at Sherman Cymru in Cardiff - and what a fantastic evening it was!

The awards aim to both recognise and promote the impressive talent that Wales had to offer in the world of the arts - and in particular theatre, opera and dance - over the preceding 12 months. In December I'd been asked very kindly by organiser Mike Smith to be a nominating critic for the awards' long-list, and apart from the fact I was very honoured and flattered to be invited, I also thought it was important to make sure North Wales was properly represented in the nominations. A lot goes on in South Wales, and in particular Cardiff, in the sphere of arts and culture, but there's also plenty going on "oop north" too which I believe does not get the recognition or praise it should.

After nominating for the long-list I was then asked if I would go down to Cardiff to take part in the round-table discussions to whittle the long-lists down to a short-list in each of the 17 categories. I was more than happy to go along and have my say on behalf of North Wales!

The judging process was understandably tough - there genuinely is an awful lot of good, strong, high quality performance going on across the whole of Wales - from Cardiff to Newport, from Caernarfon to Mold - and it is so difficult to make sure everything and everyone is considered. But rest assured the judges were nothing but professional and very determined in their work to make sure the right nominations were short-listed for the right reasons.

The passion for the arts - for live theatre, opera and dance - was evident among everybody. Different judges had different expertise - those who knew their opera inside out, and those who knew most about live theatre, or dance. So each judge played - and opined - to their strengths until it was obvious, via a Quaker-like process of discussion rather than hands-up voting, which nominees deserved which awards.

And I think we got it right. The joy and excitement was palpable on the night of the awards on Saturday and every time a winner was announced and they went down to the stage to receive their award, the rounds of applause were loud and clear from everybody - it was so nice to see so many representatives together in one room celebrating what's good about the arts in Wales. In many ways it wasn't important who won the categories, it was the being there, the being nominated, the taking part and the fact such awards exist - a celebration of the arts in Wales is so badly needed.

I was particularly pleased that Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold got some heavy duty recognition this year. The entire theatre was awarded the Special Achievement award for all the work it does both in-house on its own productions, and on the road when it takes the occasional production on tour around Wales. Retiring artistic director Terry Hands was especially praised for how he has led the theatre over the last 18 years, coming out with some astonishing productions which has put the Mold theatre on a level playing field with any other, better-funded playhouse in the United Kingdom. I truly believe that what they achieve at Clwyd Theatr Cymru is astounding - North Wales is so lucky to have it and it needs to be supported as much as possible, by theatre-goers from all walks of life.

Owain Gwynn (left) and Daniel
Llewelyn-Williams in Not About
Heroes at Clwyd Theatr Cymru

And so I was also pleased to see the Best Male Actor (English Language) award go to Daniel Llewelyn-Williams who, back in November, played Siegfried Sassoon so movingly and powerfully in Stephen MacDonald's play Not About Heroes at Clwyd Theatr Cymru. Daniel is a real shining talent on the Welsh scene, and deserved the recognition, especially for his role in this North Wales play, but also in his own show A Regular Little Houdini and other Clwyd Theatr Cymru productions such as Arms and the Man, The Winslow Boy and the forthcoming Hamlet, the final production to be directed by Terry Hands at the venue this February. Daniel touchingly thanked his wife for allowing him to pursue his acting career ("this silly thing that I do") and it's to the acting scene's benefit that his wife supports him so well.

Theatr Bara Caws were big winners
on the night

The biggest winners of the night were Theatr Bara Caws from Caernarfon, who scooped four awards for Best Male and Female Actors (Welsh Language), Best Production in the Welsh Language and Best Playwright in the Welsh Language - all for Garw. Not being a Welsh speaker I did not see the production, but plenty of people did and the quality of the production was reflected in the number of nominations and wins on the night. Those from Theatr Bara Caws who attended the awards were over the moon with their wins, which I suspect came as a surprise to them but which demonstrates that the Wales Theatre Awards are determined to represent and recognise talent from across the spectrum, from the smallest production houses to the largest ensembles.

The awards night was also punctuated with some fabulous entertainment, first from Daniel Ovel, Jacob Smart and Tom Tindall from the Cardiff-based Harnisch-Lacey Dance who performed an extract from their new production TÂN (on tour through February and March - see a 50 second clip at the foot of this blog entry), and later by Adam Gilbert and Trystan Llyr Griffiths (accompanied by Sian Davies) performing Bizet's The Pearl Fishers Duet. And it was a fantastic surprise to end the night with a performance from the Welsh National Opera Chorus, winners of the Best Ensemble award. Just these three performances alone demonstrated to everybody just how lucky we are in Wales to have such strong, innovative and world class talent among us.

It shows that it is important, especially in times of austerity, to support the arts. Theatre, dance and opera are too often sidelined or overlooked because it isn't saving lives or overthrowing terrorist regimes. But in its own way, the arts does have the power to entertain, educate, empower and engage everybody from little children to teenagers, from adults to the elderly. It brings everybody together in the common enjoyment of being entertained, being amazed and astounded by what people can do on a stage with their voice, their body or their wit.

Here's to the Wales Theatre Awards, recognising what Wales can achieve in the arts. And those achievements can only strengthen.

The stats
For a full list of nominations in each of the categories, as well as who won in each category, see the Wales Theatre Awards website.

Links
Sherman Cymru
Clwyd Theatr Cymru
Daniel Llewelyn-Williams
Theatr Bara Caws
Harnisch-Lacey
Trystan Llyr Griffiths
Adam Gilbert
Welsh National Opera Chorus