Weekly Mail Reporter
THE Market Theatre Company’s production of Scenes from an Execution won seven of the FNB Vita PWV theatre awards last week.
The play was named best production of the year. Also honoured were its director, Clare Stopford; Dawid Minnaar and Camilla Waldman, who took the awards for best performance by supporting actors; and the designers of its set (Nadya Cohen), costumes (Sue Stelle) and lighting (Michael Maxwell).
The actors in the two-hander Decadence, Michael Richard and Fiona Ramsay, took the lead acting awards. Best new script was Graham Weir’s Brief Descriptions II, and most promising new actress was Tonya Swanepoel, for Myn Hoop.
The Transvaal awards followed similar honours in other regions. In Cape Town, Capab’s Arcadia was named best production. Best actors in leading roles were Andre Jacobs and Lucinda Hooley in Oleanna; Steven Stead (The Tempest) and Michelle Scott (Mirakel) took the awards for best performance by an actors in a supporting role. Best new script went to Reza de Wet for Mirakel, which also won an award for its director, Marthinus Basson.
In Durban, Napac’s production of Frank ‘n Stein took the best production award and its lead, David Dennis, was named best actor. Gilda Blacher won best new script (for On the Couch) and best actress; and supporting actors awards went to Pamela Perry (Murder Among Friends) and Alfred Nokwe for Master Harold and the Boys, whose director, Murray McGibbon, was also honoured.
In the Orange Free State region, best production was Curl Up and Dye, which won an award for its director, Susan Pam- Grant. Actors honoured for their performance in a leading role were Sandra Prinsloo for ‘n Koffer in die Kas and Pieter Brand for Die Basics van Lepel Le, which won its author Marc Hosten the award for best new script. Supporting actors honoured were Robert Fridjohn for Oklahoma and Nomsa Xaba for Maru.
FNB Vita will make national awards from among the regional winners in September.