UK Theatre Awards 2022: Liverpool playwright makes shortlist with show ‘Cherry Jezebel’ - full list of nominees

The play was dubbed ‘not to be missed, high-velocity comedy’ about growing up in Liverpool as an LGBTQ person
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The nominees for this year’s UK Theatre awards have been announced, with a Liverpool playwright landing a spot among the shortlist.

Cherry Jezebel is vying for the ‘Best Play of the Year,’ up against the likes of Belfast’s How to Bury a Dead Mule and Mugabe, My Dad & Me in Brixton, London.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The play, written by Liverpudlian Jonathan Larkin, made its debut at the city’s Everyman and Playhouse in March this year and was dubbed a ‘not to be missed, high-velocity comedy’ about growing up as a LGBTQ person in Liverpool.

The winners will be announced on Sunday, October 23 at London’s Guildhall.

UK Theatre Joint Presidents, Stephanie Sirr and Jon Gilchrist said:“Following an incredibly challenging few years due to the pandemic, theatres across the UK have had to work harder than ever to continue to provide for their local communities: to keep their doors open and to keep making the inspiring work they present.

Cherry Jezebel made its debut at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre in March.Cherry Jezebel made its debut at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre in March.
Cherry Jezebel made its debut at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre in March.

“Theatres provide so much more than just entertainment. In towns across the UK they are often a central hub; a space for people to feel welcome and included.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“That’s why it’s more important than ever that we come together on the 23rd

October to recognise and celebrate everything that they do.”

Here’s a full list of this year’s nominees in the UK Theatre Awards 2022:

Best Design

● Dracula: The Untold Story – Leeds Playhouse – Design by Laura Hopkins, Projection and Video Design by Simon Wainwright

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

● Into The Woods – Theatre Royal Bath - Design by Jon Bausor, Video Design by Will Duke, Costume Design by Antony McDonald

● Life is a Dream – Edinburgh Lyceum – Design by Georgia McGuinness

Best Director

● Jessica Daniels – The Mozart Question - A Barn Theatre production in association with Bob & Marianne for Anthology Theatre and The Everyman Theatre Cheltenham

● Robert Hastie, Anthony Lau, Elin Schofield – Rock/Paper/Scissors - The Crucible, Studio and Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

● Natalie Ibu – The White Card - A Birmingham Rep, Leeds Playhouse, Northern Stage & Soho Theatre co-production in association with HOME Manchester

● Róisín McBrinn - Typical Girls – The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

Best Musical Production

● Billy Elliot – Leicester Curve

● Now is Good – Storyhouse, Chester

● Whistle Down the Wind – The Watermill Theatre

Best New Play

● Cherry Jezebel – Liverpool Everyman

● How to Bury a Dead Mule – Lyric Theatre, Belfast

● Mugabe, My Dad & Me - A co-production by ETT, Brixton House & York Theatre

Royal in association with Alison Holder

Best Performance in a Musical

● Charlie Stemp – Crazy for You – Chichester Festival Theatre

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

● Divina de Campo – Hedwig and the Angry Inch - A Leeds Playhouse and HOME

co-production

● Nicole & Kyla Fox, Emme & Eden Patrick, Sienna & Savannah Robinson – Identical – A

Nottingham Playhouse and Kenny Wax Ltd co-production

Best Performance in a Play

● Eithne Browne – Maggie May – Leeds Playhouse

● Henry Goodman – Murder on the Orient Express – Chichester Festival Theatre

● Leah St Luce – Black Love - A Paines Plough and Belgrade Theatre Coventry production, in association with tiata fahodzi

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

● Giles Terera – The Meaning of Zong – A Bristol Old Vic Production

Best Play Revival

● Jitney - A Headlong, Leeds Playhouse and Old Vic co-production

● The Mountaintop – A Royal Exchange Theatre Production

● Translations - An Abbey Theatre and Lyric Theatre Belfast Co-Production

Best Show for Children and Young People

● Beauty and the Beast – A New Vic Production

● Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World - Kenny Wax Family Entertainment in association with MAST Mayflower Studios

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

● Petula – A National Theatre Wales, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and August012 co-production

Best Supporting Performance (in a musical or play)

● Nicola Hughes – Into The Woods – A Theatre Royal Bath Production

● Robert Jackson – Brief Encounter – A Stephen Joseph Theatre, Octagon Theatre and Theatre By The Lake co-production

● Nishla Smith – Kes – An Octagon Theatre and Theatre By The Lake co-production

UK Theatre – Achievement in Opera

● Scottish Opera for Candide

● Glyndebourne for the Poulenc Double Bill

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

● Richard Mantle for the last year at Opera North, which epitomises the work Richard has achieved over his tenure

● Music Theatre Wales and Britten Pears Arts production of Violet at Buxton International Festival at Buxton Opera

UK Theatre – Achievement in Dance

● William Tuckett’s Then or Now for Ballet Black, exquisitely melding poetry, dance, light and sound into an intimate work that gently touches big themes of our times

● The dancers of Rambert for their ability to inhabit any choreographer’s vision, as a company of unique, versatile, incredibly skilled performers

● Dan Daw for The Dan Daw Show, a kinky, joyful, unapologetic and vulnerable celebration of oneself and one’s body.

Related topics: