US theatre triumphs at The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence

Published Wednesday 29 August 2007 at 11:45 by Matthew Hemley

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American visitors to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe might have been fewer but US performers scored one of their best results at this year’s prestigious Stage Awards for Acting Excellence.

Performers from New York-based theatre company Shalimar were crowned Best Ensemble for their production of La Femme Est Morte or Why I Should Not F**k My Son at the Pleasance Dome. Compatriot Madi Distefano won Best Solo Performer for her production Popsicle’s Departure 1989 at the Assembly Rooms.

Distefano, who beat competition including Linda Marlowe, Elisabeth Gray, Alexander Campbell, Iris Bahr and Joanna Swain, said: “This is such a major international award. I never planned on touring the piece as I am a full-time Philadelphian actor, director and mother, but now I would be honoured to go to some other festivals.”

The two shows were among only three US productions to reach the shortlist of 23 nominees for the awards, now in their 13th year, which celebrate the best theatre at the fringe.

Shalimar artistic director Shoshona Currier said: “It’s a really great honour to win the award. It’s been a slow festival and we’ve struggled with audiences but it’s an amazing honour to be recognised by a group of critics and our peers.”

Other winners at this year’s event include Garry Cooper, who won Best Actor for his role in Long Time Dead at the Traverse, beating competition from James Baxter in Scarborough, Daniel Pirrie in Sting for Nolte and Merryn Owen for World’s End.

Colleagues Eugenia Caruso and Janet Bamford walked away with a rare joint award for Best Actress for their performances in Truckstop at the Zoo, beating competition from the likes of Stage columnist Dillie Keane, who appeared in Frank and Dolly at the Gilded Balloon Teviot.

Nominees are selected by The Stage’s team of critics, who review more than 300 professional shows.

Jeremy Austin, who heads the reviews team, said: “It’s been a great year for drama. None of us has seen a bad play.”

He warned the programme for this year’s festival had been “bigger than ever” and said: “There are not enough audiences to sustain something this size.”