Oh, the drama! With another stacked year of theatricality already in full swing, almost 500 members of the Sydney theatre community gathered tonight (January 29, 2024) to celebrate the best we’ve seen on the city’s stages in the past year at the 2023 Sydney Theatre Awards. The winners were announced at a star-studded ceremony in the Seymour Centre’s York Theatre, with 30 awards shared between 15 productions.
Presented annually, the Sydney Theatre Awards celebrate the strength, quality and diversity of theatre in Sydney. The judging panels are made up of a dedicated cohort of local theatre critics and industry professionals (who can be spotted in a foyer somewhere most evenings!). You can see a full list of all the winners and nominees below – but the most hotly anticipated announcements each year are the winners of Best Mainstage Production, Best Independent Production and Best Musical.
This year, Best Mainstage Production was awarded to The Visitors. A co-production from Sydney Theatre Company and Moogahlin Performing Arts, this provocative play directed by the legendary Wesley Enoch also won Best Ensemble Cast. Opening at the Sydney Opera House before touring, The Visitors is a “fantastically critical and speculative historical fiction” set in pre-colonial Sydney at a meeting of Indigenous Elders discussing the imminent arrival of the First Fleet. (You can read our five-star review here.)
Best Independent Production went to A Streetcar Named Desire from Red Line Productions, which also took home Best Direction of an Independent Production (Alexander Berlage), Best Performance in a Leading Role in an Independent Production (Sheridan Harbridge) and Best Performance in a Supporting Role in an Independent Production (Catherine Văn-Davies). This modern reimagining of Tennessee Williams's 1948 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama at the Old Fitz Theatre was one of the most talked about shows on the Sydney stage last year, and the new guard at Red Line Productions has plenty more exciting shows coming to Australia’s last-standing pub theatre in 2024.
Best Musical was awarded to A Little Night Music from Hayes Theatre Company, whose director Dean Bryant was awarded Best Direction of a Musical. The magnificent Nancye Hayes (for whom the Hayes Theatre was named) also took out Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for her turn as the withering matriarch Madame Armfeldt. (You can read our four-star review of this enduring Stephen Sondheim classic over here.) The Hayes (aka, the beating heart of Sydney’s musical theatre scene) has loads of exciting new shows and classic musicals coming to the stage in 2024, read all about it.
Meanwhile, the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Musical went to Ruva Ngwenya for Tina - The Tina Turner Musical, which just closed its Sydney season after a record-breaking run of 301 performances. Abigail Adriano took home Best Newcomer for her breakout role in Miss Saigon; and Best New Australian Work was awarded to Lewis Treston for STC’s memorable hit from the Sydney WorldPride program, Hubris & Humiliation, a fabulous farce set in post-plebiscite Sydney.
Two Awards for Lifetime Achievement were also presented, one to Jane Seldon, an unsung heroine of Australian theatre and longtime wardrobe mistress for Sydney Theatre Company and countless productions on Sydney stages over the past four decades; and the other to beloved director, actor, writer, composer and educator Terence Clarke AM. Terence has directed over 120 productions including the premieres of several Australian plays, and he was the founding artistic director of the first regional professional theatre company in Australia, the Hunter Valley Theatre Company.
We're sending out a great big round of applause (and heck, maybe even some standing ovations!) to all of the winners, nominees and everyone else who contributes to Sydney's diverse theatre landscape. Chookas!
2023 SYDNEY THEATRE AWARDS: ALL THE WINNERS AND NOMINEES
BEST MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
The Visitors (Sydney Theatre Company) - WINNER
Constellations (Sydney Theatre Company)
Fences (Sydney Theatre Company)
The Master and Margarita (Belvoir)
The Poison of Polygamy (Sydney Theatre Company)
BEST INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
A Streetcar Named Desire (Red Line Productions) - WINNER
Consent (Outhouse Theatre Co and Seymour Centre)
Dumb Kids (Legit Theatre Co in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company)
The Face of Jizo (OMUSUBI Productions in association with Red Line Productions)
BEST DIRECTION OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Shari Sebbens (Fences) - WINNER
Eamon Flack (The Master and Margarita)
Ian Michael (Constellations)
Courtney Stewart (The Poison of Polygamy)
BEST DIRECTION OF AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Alexander Berlage (A Streetcar Named Desire) - WINNER
Craig Baldwin (Consent)
Amelia Burke (All His Beloved Children)
Shingo Usami and David Lynch (The Face of Jizo)
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Catherine Văn-Davies (Constellations) - WINNER
Justine Clarke (Girls & Boys)
Bert LaBonté (Fences)
Zahra Newman (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill)
Shan-Ree Tan (The Poison of Polygamy)
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Sheridan Harbridge (A Streetcar Named Desire) - WINNER
Janet Anderson (Collapsible)
Challito Browne (Beyond the Break)
Anna Samson (Consent)
Shingo Usami (The Face of Jizo)
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Andrew McFarlane (Hubris & Humiliation) - WINNER
Charles Allen (Clyde’s)
Dorian Nkono (Fences)
Toby Schmitz (The Seagull)
Helen Thomson (The Importance of Being Earnest)
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Catherine Văn-Davies (A Streetcar Named Desire) - WINNER
Tel Benjamin (All His Beloved Children)
Martelle Hammer (The Turn of the Screw)
Josh Price (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Jack Richardson (The Turn of the Screw)
BEST STAGE DESIGN OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Isabel Hudson (Constellations) - WINNER
Jeremy Allen (Fences)
Michael Hankin (On the Beach)
Isabel Hudson (Hubris & Humiliation)
BEST STAGE DESIGN OF AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Nick Fry (Metropolis) - WINNER
Adrienne Andrews (All His Beloved Children)
Soham Apte (Consent)
Angus Callander and Solomon Thomas (UFO)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Isabel Hudson (Hubris & Humiliation) - WINNER
Elizabeth Gadsby (The Visitors)
Renée Mulder (The Importance of Being Earnest)
Nicol & Ford (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Grace Deacon (An ox stand on my tongue) - WINNER
Soham Apte (Consent)
Angela Doherty (The Turn of the Screw)
Michael Hankin and Bella Rose Saltearn (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever)
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Benjamin Brockman (Constellations) - WINNER
Damien Cooper (Macbeth)
Verity Hampson (Fences)
Karen Norris (The Visitors)
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Morgan Moroney (Collapsible) - WINNER
Frankie Clarke (All His Beloved Children)
Ryan McDonald (Metropolis)
Ryan McDonald (The Turn of the Screw)
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
James Brown (Constellations) - WINNER
Brendon Boney (Fences)
Danni A. Esposito (Sex Magick)
Kelly Ryall (Suddenly Last Summer)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Grace Ferguson (On the Beach) - WINNER
Mathew Frank (Hubris & Humiliation)
Stefan Gregory (The Master and Margarita)
Matt Hsu (The Poison of Polygamy)
BEST SOUND DESIGN OR COMPOSITION OF AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Zara Stanton (Metropolis) - WINNER
Me-Lee Hay and Zachary Saric (The Face of Jizo)
Chrysoulla Markoulli (The Turn of the Screw)
Zachary Saric (A Streetcar Named Desire)
BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK
Hubris & Humiliation (Lewis Treston) - WINNER
An ox stand on my tongue (Jane Montgomery Griffiths)
The Poison of Polygamy (Anchuli Felicia King)
Pony (Eloise Snape)
Sex Magick (Nicholas Brown)
The Turn of the Screw (Richard Hilliar)
BEST NEWCOMER
Abigail Adriano (Miss Saigon) - WINNER
Roman Delo (Hubris & Humiliation)
Ryan Panizza (Hubris & Humiliation)
Carmel Rodrigues (Hairspray)
Theo Williams (Choir Boy)
BEST ENSEMBLE
The Visitors (Sydney Theatre Company) - WINNER
Choir Boy (National Theatre of Parramatta)
The Lucky Country (Hayes Theatre Co)
The Master and Margarita (Belvoir)
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Hayes Theatre Co)
BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
A Little Night Music (Hayes Theatre Co) - WINNER
Miss Saigon (Cameron Macintosh and Opera Australia)
Murder for Two (Hayes Theatre Co)
Sweeney Todd (Sydney Opera House, Victorian Opera and New Zealand Opera)
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Dean Bryant (A Little Night Music) - WINNER
Richard Carroll (Murder for Two)
Dash Kruck (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee)
Stuart Maunder (Sweeney Todd)
JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Ruva Ngwenya (Tina - The Tina Turner Musical) - WINNER
Abigail Adriano (Miss Saigon)
Courtney Monsma (Wicked)
Seann Miley Moore (Miss Saigon)
Maverick Newman (Murder for Two)
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Nancye Hayes (A Little Night Music) - WINNER
Rohan Browne (Beauty and the Beast)
Shannen Alyce Quan (Metropolis)
Henry Rollo (The Rocky Horror Show)
Mat Verevis (Tina - The Tina Turner Musical)
BEST MUSICAL DIRECTION
Zara Stanton (Metropolis) - WINNER
Natalya Aynsley (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever)
Claire Healy (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812)
Abi McCunn and Damon Wade (City of Angels)
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY IN A MUSICAL
Vi Lam (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) - WINNER
Sam Hooper (City of Angels)
Cameron Mitchell (Urinetown)
Brendan Yeates (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812)
BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN
Waru (Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Festival) - WINNER
Are We There Yet? (CDP Kids and Sydney Opera House)
Hide the Dog (Performing Lines and Sydney Festival)
The Story of Mr B (Shake Shake Theatre and Riverside)
BEST PRODUCTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
The Lies We Were Told (Shopfront Arts in association with Monkey Baa) - WINNER
Choir Boy (Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta)
The Resistance (ATYP)
Soul Trading (ATYP)
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Terence Clarke and Jane Seldon