A fringe play that played at a venue with seating for 71 during the Eircom/ Dublin Theatre Festival, took two of the five Evening Herald Theatre Festival awards yesterday.
Bedbound, written and directed by young Irish playwright Enda Walsh, which ran at the New Theatre, Essex Street, won the Best Actor and Best Actress awards for its two actors, Peter Gowen and Norma Sheahan.
Other nominees for Best Actor were Gareth Keogh of Barbaric Comedies at the Abbey and John Kavanagh of Dublin Carol at the Gate.
Ms Sheahan was the only nominee for the Best Actress award as, according to the Evening Herald's chief theatre critic Luke Clancy, the judges felt "there was a paucity of substantial roles for women" in the festival. The Best Irish Production award went to Macnas for The Lost Days of Ollie Deasy, which was staged at the Mansion House. Other nominees for that award were Dublin Carol and Barbaric Comedies.
The Best International Production award went to Genesi from the Socrates Raffaello Sanzio company of Italy. Other nominees were Hamlet by the Royal National Theatre UK, The Small Poppies by Company B from Australia, and The Librarian's Fantasy from Theatre Granit & Scene National de Belfort, of France.
Winner of the Best Children's Production was Aquarium, presented at the Ark by Teattro Settimo from Italy. Other nominees were Mur Mur (The Wall) by the Dynamo Theatre group from Quebec and Masked Marvels and Wondertales by Michael Cooper of the US.
Each winner was presented with a sculpture on a Beckett theme by John Coll.
Mr Enda Walsh expressed delight at the success of Bedbound, which had also received positive reviews. He felt generally, though, that the standard of theatre reviewing in Ireland was "absolutely atrocious".
