To celebrate the end of term, our theatre class created our own ‘ballot’ of the plays we’ve seen. The first four nominations for each category were taken, provided someone would second them. (This isn’t the case for Best Musical, where only three shows were nominated.) Here are the results:
Best Actor:
Ben Miles as Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies
Simon Russell Beale as Lear in King Lear
Brian Cox as Jack in The Weir
Tom Hiddleston as Cauis Martius Coriolanus in Coriolanus
Best Actress:
Lesley Manville as Helene in Ghosts
Gemma Arterton as the Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi
Dervla Kerwan as Valerie in The Weir
Pauline McLynn as the Citizen’s Wife in The Knight of the Burning Pestle
Best Supporting Actor/Actress:
David Dawson as Ferdinand in The Duchess of Malfi
Birgitte Hjort Sorensen as Virgilia in Coriolanus
Jack Lowden as Oswald in Ghosts
Nathanial Parker as Henry VIII in Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies
Best Musical:
The Book of Mormon
Matilda
Oh What a Lovely War
Best Actor/Actress in a Musical:
Alex Gaumond as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda
Anna-Jane Casey as Mrs. Wilkinson in Billy Elliot
Jared Gertner as Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon
Lollie McKenzie as Matilda in Matilda
Best Revival:
The Duchess of Malfi
Coriolanus
Ghosts
Henry V
Best New Play:
Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies
The Drowned Man
The Weir
1984
Best Design:
The Drowned Man
Ghosts
Matilda
Richard II
Most Memorable Moment:
The coronation/beheading bait and switch in Bring Up the Bodies
Merrythought’s dance in The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The song “Everything is Changing” from The Light Princess
The massive set change to Room 101 in 1984
Worst Show Overall:
The Mistress Contract
Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby (The Beckett Plays)
Oh What a Lovely War
Versailles
Reading over the list, I’ll add a few more that relate specifically to our votes:
Closest tie: Book of Mormon vs. Matilda, which started out at 11:10 before someone changed their vote.
Biggest ???: The fact that Oh What a Lovely War is nominated both for Best Musical and Worst Show, although I don’t believe it got any votes for either. Shows how our experiences of these plays really differed from person to person!
Why Weren’t You Nominated: For me, Richard II and Knight of the Burning Pestle in the Best Revival Category, and David Tennant as Richard II for Best Actor. I know that others also had different Worst Show picks (The Commitments, according to some of the people who saw it), and more Memorable Moments.
This has been an amazing term full of amazing shows, and we’re incredibly lucky to have seen all of them. The above ‘winners’ are only a fraction of the wonderful performances, designs, and productions we’ve gotten to experience, and I can’t thank Carleton enough for providing us with this opportunity.