The Theatre Awards

This year, The Irish Times Theatre Awards were presented on February 27th in Vicar Street, Dublin.

Best production went to The Rehearsal: Playing the Dane , Pan Pan Theatre's deconstruction of Hamlet, directed by Gavin Quinn, while Marty Rea won best actor for his performance as the procrastinating prince in Second Age Theatre's Hamlet , directed by Alan Stanford.

Olwen Fouéré, who also appeared in The Rehearsal , won best actress for her performance as the woman in her translation of Laurent Gaudé's Sodome, My Love , directed by Lynne Parker.

At the ceremony warm tribute was paid to TP McKenna and Mick Lally, both recently deceased, and to this newspaper's veteran theatre critic David Nowlan, who died last December.

A full list of the winners can be found here »

Highlights

Highlights of this year's ceremony will be shown on TG4 at 10pm on Thursday March 3rd in a special edition of Imeall presented by Cormac de Barra and Catherine Foley. The programme will be repeated on Sunday 6th March at 11.30pm.

History of the Awards

The Awards started in 1997 and have each year continued to reward excellence in Irish theatre, from actors, directors, to production, writing and design.

The awards are open to all new plays performed by professional theatre companies in the Republic and Northern Ireland. Three judges attend all eligible plays and compile a shortlist in each category.

Those selected for the shortlist are profiled in The Irish Times in early January and the winners are announced at an award ceremony in February each year. The Award ceremony is a prestigious, invite only event to celebrate the very best in Irish Theatre.