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An Award Too Far?Dateline: 14th February, 1999 This week we have the announcement of the winners of the Olivier Awards. Last week there was the announcement of the Critics' Circle Awards. Back in December we had the Evening Standard Awards, and a month before that the Peggy Ramsay Play Award and the Vivian Ellis Awards. Then there were the National Television Awards, the BAFTA Awards, the Ken Hill Awards, the Allied Domecq Playwright Award, and, of course, the Tonys and the Oscars. And we mustn't forget the Golden Globe Awards! Or the Playwright of the Year Award. Or the Writers' Guild Awards. Am I alone in thinking that this is an award too far? Or perhaps more than one? We seem to have gone over the top on awards, and, frankly, I'm not sure how edifying a spectacle it is to people outside the business. I get the impression that, to many, it's simply luvvies slapping each other on the back and cooing, "Darling, you were wonderful"! That is, of course, if any ordinary member of the public takes any heed at all. I rather suspect that the man on the Clapham omnibus has some interest in the Oscars and, to a rather more limited extent, in the BAFTAs, but I doubt he deigns even to notice the others! And who would blame him? The National Flange Welders Association Award Is there such a thing? It's quite possible, but I doubt that anyone outside of the flange welding fraternity has ever heard of it. If, of course, there is such a thing as flange welding. Which I doubt, because I just made it up two minutes ago. But even if there is, would any non-flange welder really want to know anything about it? There is a natural human need for recognition by one's peers. People want the approval and approbation of others, particularly others within their own sphere. In that wonderful TV programme Have I Got News For You, there is a running joke about a "guest publication" - Toolmakers' Magazine, Sanitation Operatives' Monthly, or even Flange Welders' Gazette. It's funny, because the quotations from these publications (mine are all invented, but those on the programme actually exist) seem to suggest that the the journal's topic is somehow of major importance. Of course, to the magazine's readership it is, because that is how they make their living, and they would feel very proud if their names were mentioned in Drains Today. We all want to have our fifteen minutes (or, preferably, much more) of fame. The real problem Accepting this as fact, I still have a major problem with many of these theatre-related awards. The trouble with the majority of them is that they are not British theatre awards but London theatre awards. Look at the Oliviers: four for Oklahoma! at the National, two for Kat and the King at the Vaudeville, two for The Iceman Cometh at the Almeida. Only one went to a show which has toured outside of the capital, Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick (Best New Comedy). Oklahoma! is a revival of an American show, and the best Supporting Performance in a Musical went to an American, Shuler Hensley. The Best Actor award went to another American, Kevin Spacey, who was appearing in another revival of an American play (Iceman). And the Best Actress award went to someone who was appearing in a French play, Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man! And there are no plans for any of them to be seen outside of London. Oklahoma! was going to Broadway but American Equity has - for the moment, at any rate - put a stop to that. A theatrical desert One would be forgiven for thinking that the provinces are a theatrical desert! In the last couple of years Newcastle's Northern Stage have produced exciting and highly regarded versions of Animal Farm and A Clockwork Orange, whilst Jude Kelly has been doing superb things at the West Yorks Playhouse in Leeds, particulary with the current rep company which includes Sir Ian McKellen. I was most impressed by their Seagull, and the current production of The Tempest looks to be very exciting, judging by the reviews I've seen. If we go even further north, to the frozen mountains where hairy men in skirts hunt the wild haggis, to Edinburgh's Traverse or Glasgow's Tron or Citizens' Theatre, we'll find new and experimental work, or versions of classic, established plays, to compare with the best anywhere in London, or anywhere else for that matter. The Oscars and the BAFTAs create interest because the vast majority of people have the chance to see the films or TV programmes which are nominated and win: the Oliviers and the Evening Standard and all the other theatre awards, on the other hand, only deal with plays and shows which have been seen in London and, usually, nowhere else. I'm unhappy with the plethora of awards because they give the impression that the only good things that happen in theatre are in the capital. I get a lot of emails from Americans who are coming to the UK asking what is on in the West End and I feel very tempted to say to them, "Don't! You're not going to see the best of British theatre in the West End, just the most glamorous. Get along to some of the London fringe venues. Go to the provinces. See real theatre, not fodder for the tourists. And what it will cost you in train-fares, you'll save on not having to pay West End prices!" Distortion The problem with these awards is that they distort the picture of British theatre. They suggest that what is happening outside the capital is not worthwhile, exciting, innovative. And that, my firends, is simply not true! Articles Indices: |
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