Empty Space Peter Brook award reveals nominees as Blanche Marvin’s daughter steps in
The Royal Court Upstairs and theatre company Wonder Fools are among the nominees for this year’s Empty Space Peter Brook award, which has been taken over by the daughter of the late theatre critic Blanche Marvin.
Also nominated are London theatre spaces the Other Palace Studio and the Orange Tree Theatre, and Ipswich not-for-profit theatre company Red Rose Chain.
The prize was founded by Marvin in 1989 to honour smaller venues with little or no public funding, and was revived in 2023 by the Critics’ Circle Awards to reward theatres that "embody the spirit" of renowned director Brook.
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Now, shortly after Marvin’s death in January aged 100, her daughter Niki – herself an Oscar-nominated producer – has taken over the running of the award, which has been renamed the Empty Space Peter Brook Award (In Memory of Blanche Marvin).
This year’s nominees have been chosen by a panel of theatre critics handpicked by the Marvin family, including The Stage associate editor Lyn Gardner, the Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish and the i Paper’s Fiona Mountford.
The award, sponsored by producer and theatre owner Nica Burns, will be presented as part of the Critics’ Circle Awards at a ceremony at the National Theatre on 26th March.
Nominations for the other gongs have already been announced, with Ivo van Hove’s All My Sons, Jamie Lloyd’s Evita and Jordan Fein’s Into the Woods leading the way with five nods each.
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