The Stage

Stage announces Edinburgh Award winners

Published Sunday 28 August 2011 at 21:01 by Alistair Smith

Billy Mack has become the first performer to win for a second time at The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Scottish actor Mack, who was recognised in 2009 for his performance in The Sound of My Voice, has this year won his second best actor award for The Overcoat at the Pleasance Dome.

Stage Awards judge Natasha Tripney commented: “Although he’s the character the play is all about, Billy Mack’s role is not a showy one. He is silent through much of the play, but acting with his face and his eyes, Mack brings us fully within the experience of a man we might otherwise not be able to understand and empathise with.”

There were first-time winners in the awards’ other three categories. Picking up the best actress award was Alessija Lause, who appeared in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, staged at St George’s West.

Judge Lauren Paxman commented on Lause’s performance: “John Philip Shanley’s character is a deeply wounded woman who must peel away several levels of self-protective armour before we can discover her true identity, and Alessija Lause takes us on that journey with subtlety and sympathy. The character is also an Italian-American from New York City, and Croatian-German Lause finds her sound, her stance and her reality.”

Best Ensemble went to Glasgow Citizens Theatre for The Monster in the Hall, staged at the Traverse.

Judge Thom Dibdin said: “Like some of the other nominated shows, The Monster in the Hall features a cast equally adept in both natural and highly stylised acting as well as singing. We were particularly impressed that this imagination, dedication and high quality are in a show that was designed for young audiences and plays so very well to adults.”

Meanwhile, Best Solo Show, which was launched in 2006 in recognition of the growing number of one-person shows on the fringe, went to Gerard Logan for the Rape of Lucrece, which was staged at Zoo Southside.

Judge Gerald Berkowitz explained: “Making poetry come alive is a challenge to any actor, as is making Shakespeare come alive. For a single actor on a bare stage to do both, absorbing us in the psychological drama of one of Shakespeare’s few non-dramatic works, is a true accomplishment. We all commented on how engrossed we were in Gerard Logan’s performance and what a surprise it was to find that the hour was over.”

Now in their 17th year, The Stage Awards are the only honours for professional theatre presented by a national UK publication at the Fringe. Nominations are chosen by the newspaper’s review team which see hundreds of productions before making their choice.

The winners were announced at an invitation-only ceremony at Dance Base in Edinburgh, on the evening of Sunday August 28.

Brian Attwood, the editor of The Stage, added: “There was an unusually strong field in every category this year, any one of whom might have been the winner. That reinforces the sense that the nomination itself is a major achievement, and we hope that all the nominees, not just the eventual winners, will take away a sense of accomplishment.”