PAUL Mercier's Dublin Trilogy has won the Best Irish Production Award in the Evening Herald/ Dublin Theatre Festival Awards. Speaking yesterday, Mr Mercier said it was particularly important for the company to be recognised in its own city, "because the company is an expression of the city".
The Trilogy comprises his new play, Native City, which weaves a tale of generations of inner-city Dublin life, and Kitchensink and Buddleia, both of which were performed at previous theatre festivals. Native City is set in the area close to the SFX Hall, where Passion Machine first made its mark, bringing theatre about working-class Dublin life to a new audience. Although they rehearsed the play in the SFX, the hall is now scheduled to be replaced by 28 apartments, a sign of the changing times which are chronicled in Mr Mercier's play.
John Kavanagh won the Best Irish Male Actor Award, for his part as Astrov in Brian Friel's version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Mr Niall Buggy, who plays Vanya himself, was singled out for special praise during the awards ceremony. The Best Actress Award went to Ms Olwen Fouere for her part as Hester Swaine in Marina Carr's By The Bog of Cats at the Abbey.
Ms Patricia LowBedard, first secretary of the Canadian embassy, won two awards, as Canadian shows won two categories: Ronnie Burkett's Theatre of Marionettes won the Best International Production Award for Tinka's New Dress, inspired by the illegal puppet shows performed during the Nazi occupation of the puppeteer's Czech homeland; and Mr Tomas Kubinek's Certified Lunatic and Master of the Impossible won the Best Children's Production Award.
Fringe awards were handed out in Renard's night-club on Sunday night. The Culture Ireland Inspiration Award was shared by Corn Exchange's Car Show, which was staged in four cars in Meetinghouse Square, and Compagnie Yun Chane from the Reunion Islands, whose dance show was called Couleurs de Femme.
The Best Production Award went to Mojo Mickybo from the Belfast Kabosh company, and the Best Male Actor Award was shared by two actors in this show, Niall Shanahan and Fergal McElherron. The Best Actress Award went to Lisa Turner in the UK company, Box Clever's production of Sixteen - A Sort Of Love Story.