Nominations announced for 20th Empty Space… Peter Brook Awards

Published Tuesday 6 October 2009 at 15:10 by Lalayn Baluch

Regional theatre venues the Minerva at Chichester, Glasgow’s Arches and Forest Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are to compete with London’s Battersea Arts Centre, Soho and Bush theatres for the top prize at the 20th annual Empty Space… Peter Brook Awards.

The award, named after renowned theatre director Peter Brook, will be given “in recognition of pioneering concepts and innovations” to a company that performs in smaller theatre spaces and receives little or no public funding. The winner will be awarded with £2,000, while the other five nominees will receive £350.

Four companies have been nominated for the Peter Brook/Equity Ensemble Award, which offers a cash prize of £2,000, and three London organisations are in the running for the £1,500 Mark Marvin Rent Award.

This year, there are no nominations for the Dan Crawford Pub Theatre Award, and a sole winner will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will take place at the National Theatre Studio on November 3 and be attended by Brook.

The format of the 2009 awards has been changed, and will not feature the Established Studio, Up and Coming Studio and Theatre Without Walls categories.

The nominations in full:

The Peter Brook Award:

- Minerva at Chichester

- Battersea Arts Centre

- Soho Theatre

- Bush Theatre

- The Arches, Glasgow

- Forest Fringe

Peter Brook/Equity Ensemble Award:

- Suspense at the Little Angel Theatre

- Grimeborn at the Arcola Theatre

- Filter Theatre at regional, national and London venues

- Fuel Theatre at the Roundhouse, and regional, national and London venues

Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Award:

- Crazy Love and Burnt Up Love by Che Walker at the Oval House

- The Garden Room Girls by James Graham at the Finborough Theatre

- My Real War 1914-?, based on a series of letters by a young officer killed in World War I, adapted by Tricia Thorns at the Trafalgar Studio 2