It’s gong season. But forget your Tonys and Emmys and Oliviers and what-have-ya. Surely, the only drama awards that really matter are from the country that has given the world William Congreve, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Synge, Sean O’Casey, George Bernard Shaw, Brendan Behan, Brian Friel, Samuel Beckett, Martin McDonagh and Enda Walsh (to name a few)… yes, that’s right, Ireland. And today, the Irish Times Theatre Awards nominations were announced….
I’m particularly happy to see Jim Nolan’s play ‘Dreamland’ nominated for ‘Best New Play’. Jim, one of Ireland’s leading playwrights, has been a great supporter/mentor of mine over the years and has directed all four of my radio plays to date. ‘Dreamland’, which toured nationally in the early spring, also gets a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ nod for veteran Irish stage actor, Des Keogh. ‘Dreamland’ deserves to win, but even the nomination at least is recognition of Jim’s talent and tireless work for theatre, particularly in Waterford. I should mention that another of ‘Dreamland’ s cast is up-and-coming actor Michael Power. No stranger to awards himself (he won the Best Actor at the Portsmouth International Short-Film awards earlier this year), Michael is a core performer of our radio productions having acted in all four. So, to see Jim’s ‘Dreamland’ get two nods today, is very pleasing indeed for all of us.
Also, over in the Best Opera Production category, the Cork Operatic Society’s ‘Der Vampyr’, directed by Michael Barker Craven, is among the nominated – no doubt due in part to the talents of soprano Maire Flavin (yes, I’m biased, she’s my cousin – but she is a stand-out talent).
So, break a leg, my luvvies x
http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/irish-times-irish-theatre-awards-and-the-nominees-are-1.2068589
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About suehealy
From Ireland, Sue Healy is Literary Manager at the Finborough Theatre, London, a full-time Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln. Her book on theatre literary management is published by Routledge, December 2022.
Sue is an award-winning writer for stage, TV, and prose writer.
TV
Her current project, a 6x60minute TV series, is under option. She is under commission with Lone Wolf Media, producers behind PBS’ “Mercy Street”, to co-write the pilot and treatment for a six-part TV series.
Stage
Her most recent stage-play, Imaginationship (2018), enjoyed a sold out, extended run at the Finborough and later showed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Her previous stage productions include Cow (Etcetera Theatre, 2017) and Brazen (King’s Head Theatre, 2016), funded by Arts Council England. Sue’s short plays have been performed at the Criterion (Criterion New Writing Showcase), Arcola (The Miniaturists) and Hackney Attic (Fizzy Sherbet Shorts).
Radio
Her radio work includes nine plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (Opening Lines winner), WLRfm and KCLR96fm.
Prose
Sue has won The Molly Keane Award, HISSAC Prize, Escalator Award, Meridian Prize and has been published in nine literary journals and anthologies including: The Moth, Flight, Tainted Innocence, New Writer, Duality, HISSAC, New European Writers. She has been writer-in-residence on Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, and at the Heinrich Boll Cottage on Achill Island. She has also benefitted from annual artist residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and at Ginestrelle, Assisi in Italy.
An academic with a PhD in modern theatre history, specifically the Royal Court Theatre, Sue has presented her research internationally. She spent eleven years in Budapest, editing Hungary A.M. She has a PhD in modern theatre history (Royal Court Theatre) and is a UEA Creative Writing MA alumnus.
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suehealy 
January 26th, 2015 at 11:59
Thanks for a rich and fascinating blog. I look forward to browsing it in the days ahead 🙂