ON John Venier (00-11) has shared with us his experience of judging the 2020 Olivier Awards, which recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony.
All The Worlds A Stage
Established in 1976, the Olivier Awards celebrate the world-class status of London theatre and are Great Britain’s most prestigious stage honours. For the 2020 awards I was chosen as one of nine public panellists to judge the Theatre category. There are separate panels for Affiliate Theatre, Opera, Dance and Family.
Each panel is comprised of individuals chosen for their knowledge in the selected field. In addition to public panellists there are the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) members who take part in the voting stages. SOLT members work within the industry as theatre owners, publishers, and producers – all of whom share the same passion for London theatre.
In the Theatre category any new production, musical or play, which opened between February 2019 and February 2020 (in a London theatre with SOLT membership) was eligible for consideration by the panel. This included revivals which had been significantly altered since the previous run. I was privileged to watch and review 110 different productions over the year, occasionally seeing 7 shows in a week!
The winner of an Olivier Award for the Theatre category is decided in two stages. Firstly, a long list is compiled by the Theatre panel, which indicates productions or individuals in a category which the panel deem worthy of particular attention. This long list is then submitted to the other panel members to vote upon. The members’ votes are collated with those of the panellists to create a list of nominations which are announced to the press and public. In the second stage, the shortlist of nominees is voted on by both members and panellists to produce the winners.
Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the 2020 Awards Ceremony (normally held at the Royal Albert Hall) was cancelled with the winners announced via a special programme on ITV.
My time on the panel was truly eye-opening, experiencing the very best of British theatre. In addition to the 40+ theatres in ‘Theatreland’ (London’s main theatre district) I was able to see productions at lesser-known theatres such as The Almeida, The Hampstead and The Royal Court which all sit outside of Central London.
After having seen enough theatre to last a lifetime it is truly heart-breaking to see the theatres forced to close their doors due to the epidemic. Theatres and their workforce are now fighting to survive. If you enjoy a night at the theatre and would like to support its future, please consider a donation to your local theatre such as the Norwich Theatre Crisis Appeal or to a UK based theatre charity such as the Theatre Artists Fund and Acting for Others. Thank you.
For more information on the Society of London Theatre head to their website: https://solt.co.uk/
Photo credit: Johan Persson
