Sydney Theatre Awards
January 20, 2013

At a star-studded ceremony on January 20, 2014, the winners of the 2013 Sydney Theatre Awards were announced. Over 340 members of the Sydney theatre community packed the auditorium at Paddington RSL to celebrate the best of Sydney theatre throughout 2013.

Best Mainstage Production was awarded to Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Waiting for Godot, which also won Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Mainstage Production (Luke Mullins). Best Independent Production went to Cyrano de Bergerac, produced by Sport for Jove, which also garnered Best Director of an Independent Production (Damien Ryan) and Best Actor in a Leading Role in an Independent Production (Yalin Ozucelik). Best Direction of a Mainstage Production went to Sam Strong for Griffin’s The Floating World, for which Peter Kowitz was awarded Best Actor in a Leading Role of a Mainstage Production.

Harriet Dyer won Best Actress in a Leading Role of a Mainstage Production for her role in STC’s Machinal, which was also awarded Best Lighting Design (Verity Hampson). Toni Scanlan won Best Actress in a Leading Role in an Independent Production for All My Sons, while Susan Prior won Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Mainstage Production for Small and Tired. Best New Australian Work was awarded to The Secret River by Andrew Bovell, based on the novel by Kate Grenville, and the Best Newcomer Award was given to Elizabeth Debicki (The Maids).

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels scooped the pool in the musical awards, winning Best Production of a Musical, the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical (Matt Hetherington) and the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical (Katrina Retallick).

The 2013 Sydney Theatre Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to one of Australia’s greatest political playwrights, John Romeril, writer of over 80 plays as well as works for television and film, and one of the creators of the New Wave that revitalised Australian theatre in the 1970’s.

A special award was presented to the creators of the iconic annual Sydney theatre “institution” The Wharf Revue, Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott, for “services to laughter, satire and sanity, above and beyond the call of duty”.

The theme of the Awards ceremony was “the theatre community is a family” and this was reflected in the choice of presenters and performances. The Sydney Theatre Awards are run by a group of leading theatre critics to celebrate the strength, quality and diversity of theatre in Sydney. The Sydney Theatre Reviewers are Elissa Blake (Sun Herald), Jason Blake (Sydney Morning Herald), Deborah Jones (The Australian), Jo Litson (Sunday Telegraph), John McCallum (The Australian), John Shand (Sydney Morning Herald), Diana Simmonds (Stagenoise website). Polly Simons (Daily Telegraph) and Brad Syke (Crikey).

The Sydney Theatre Awards gratefully thank sponsors Seaborn, Broughton and Walford Foundation, Industrie, Showcast, Currency Press, William Fletcher Foundation, Ticketmaster, Bellbird Cottages, stagenoise, Hayes Theatre Co, ACMN and Blueprint Studios.

NOMINATIONS AND WINNERS

BEST MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION

Angels In America (Belvoir)
The Floating World (Griffin)
The Secret River (Sydney Theatre Company and Sydney Festival)
Waiting for Godot (Sydney Theatre Company)

BEST INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Cyrano de Bergerac (Sport for Jove)
Jerusalem (New Theatre)
The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Workhorse Theatre Company)
Penelope (Siren Theatre Company)

BEST DIRECTION OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION

Neil Armfield (The Secret River)
Eamon Flack (Angels in America)
Sam Strong (The Floating World)
Andrew Upton (Waiting for Godot)

BEST DIRECTION OF AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Kate Gaul (Penelope)
Damien Ryan (Cyrano de Bergerac)
Iain Sinclair (All My Sons)
Helen Tonkin (Jerusalem)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION

Valerie Bader (The Floating World)
Cate Blanchett (The Maids)
Harriet Dyer (Machinal)
Sharon Millerchip (Bombshells)
Helen Thomson (Mrs Warren’s Profession)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION

Paul Blackwell (Vere)
Lee Jones (Frankenstein)
Peter Kowitz (The Floating World)
Luke Mullins (Small and Tired)
Richard Roxburgh (Waiting for Godot)
Hugo Weaving (Waiting for Godot)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Abigail Austin (Twelfth Night)
Diana McLean (4000 Miles)
Toni Scanlan (All My Sons)
Zoe Trilsbach (The Motherf**ker with the Hat)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Laurence Coy (The Removalists)
Nicholas Eadie (Jerusalem)
Marshall Napier (All My Sons)
Yalin Ozucelik (Cyrano de Bergerac)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION

Lynette Curran (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
Elizabeth Debicki (The Maids)
Amber McMahon (Angels in America)
Susan Prior (Small and Tired)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION

Marcus Graham (Angels in America)
Ewen Leslie (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)
Luke Mullins (Waiting for Godot)
Philip Quast (Waiting for Godot)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Megan O’Connell (The Motherf**ker with the Hat)
Eloise Snape (4000 Miles)
Eloise Winestock (The Comedy of Errors)
Lizzie Schebesta (Cyrano de Bergerac)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Justin Stewart Cotta (The Removalists)
Andrew Henry (All My Sons)
Damien Ryan (Othello)
Jeremy Waters (Jerusalem)

BEST STAGE DESIGN IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION

Alice Babidge with Sean Bacon (The Maids)
Stephen Curtis (The Secret River)
Michael Hankin (Angels in America)
Gabriela Tylesova (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION

Renee Mulder (Mrs Warren’s Profession)
Teresa Negroponte (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Tess Schofield (The Secret River)
Gabriela Tylesova (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN

Verity Hampson (Machinal)
Nicholas Higgins (Frankenstein)
Mark Howett (The Secret River)
Nick Schlieper (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)

BEST SCORE OR SOUND DESIGN IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION

Steve Francis and Iain Grandage (The Secret River)
Elena Kats-Chernin and Daryl Wallis (Frankenstein)
Kelly Ryall (The Floating World)
Luke Smiles (School Dance)

BEST STAGE DESIGN IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Tom Bannerman (Jerusalem)
Tom Bannerman and Kate Gaul (Penelope)
Marg Horwell (Summertime in the Garden of Eden)
Ally Mansell (The Removalists)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Rita Carmody (The Removalists)
Anna Gardiner (Cyrano de Bergerac)
Marg Horwell (Summertime in the Garden of Eden)
Jennifer Ham (Jerusalem)

BEST SCORE OR SOUND DESIGN IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION

Benny Davis and Alister Mew (Delectable Shelter)
Jed Silver (The Removalists)
Alistair Wallace (Jerusalem)
Darryl Wallis (Penelope)

BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK

Andrew Bovell, adapted from the novel by Kate Grenville (The Secret River)
Kit Brookman (Small and Tired)
John Doyle (Vere)
Matthew Whittet (School Dance)

BEST NEWCOMER

Elizabeth Debicki (The Maids)
Taylor Ferguson (Miss Julie)
Harry Greenwood (Fury)
Elizabeth Nabben (Dance Better at Parties)

BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
Carrie the Musical
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Lion King

JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Hilary Cole (Carrie the Musical)
Amy Lehpamer (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Lucy Maunder (Grease)
Katrina Retallick (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Russell Dykstra (The Lion King)
Matt Hetherington (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Tim Minchin (Jesus Christ Superstar)
Tony Sheldon (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN

Compass (atyp)
The Listies in 6D (Sydney Opera House)
Random Musical (Spontaneous Broadway and Sydney Opera House)
The 13-Storey Treehouse (CDP)

BEST PRODUCTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Peter Pan (Belvoir)
School Dance (Windmill Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company in association with Sydney Festival)
Spur of the Moment (atyp)
Storm Boy (Sydney Theatre Company and Barking Gecko Theatre Company)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

John Romeril

SPECIAL AWARD

The Wharf Revue – Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott
For services to laughter, satire and sanity, above and beyond the call of duty

Honour Roll

Chrissy Amphlett – singer and actress
Jean Carroll – milliner
Eric Duckworth – producer and theatre manager
Freddie Gibson – theatre manager and administrator
Penne Hackforth-Jones – actor
Hazel Hawke – arts patron
Malcolm Leech – stage manager and theatre manager
Johnny Lockwood – actor
John Milson – director
Elke Neidhardt – opera and theatre director and teacher
David Penfold – producer and theatre manager
Don Reid – actor, playwright
Jamie Robertson – actor
Martin Sharp – designer and artist
John Sumner – director
Enzo Toppano – musician and performer
Tommy Tycho – musical director

Performers
Catherine Alcorn, Stephen Anderson, James Lee, Peter Meredith, Lara Mulcahy, Katrina Retallick
Jonathan Biggins, Amanda Bishop, Drew Forsythe, Garry Scale, Phil Scott, Andrew Worboys
Kerrie Anne Greenland
Musical Director Michael Tyack
Director of musical performances Jason Langley

Presenters
Blazey Best, Ron Blair, Richard Cottrell, Anni Finsterer, Jack Finsterer, Jennifer Hagan, Verity Hunt-Ballard, Scott Johnson, Luke McGettigan, Ned Manning, Meredith Penman, Marion Potts, Iain Sinclair, John Turnbull