THE EMPTY SPACE ... Peter Brook AWARDs founded by Blanche Marvin in 1989
and held at the National Theatre Studio (the awards’ new home), were created
out of a need to raise the profile of the fringe theatre. It is from the fringe
that a creative and experimental energy evolves, acting as a training ground
for all categories of theatre talent: writers, actors, directors, designers,
publicists, production and administration personnel. It is a place open to new
talent.
The Empty Space…Peter Brook Awards are presented annually by Blanche Marvin’s
London TheatReviews with the V and A Theatre Collections and newly added
National Theatre Studio. They are awarded for a body of work and in recognition
of the pioneering concepts/innovations in the spirit of Peter Brook, achieved
by venues that perform in smaller theatre spaces (200 seats or less) and
receive little or no public funding.
The Empty Space…Peter Brook Awards are the only awards that support studio
venues and not the individual.
Award Categories
Established Studio Award and Up-and-Coming Studio Award
There are two categories of studio awards: the established studio and the
up-and-coming studio. Both of these include regional as well as fringe
theatres. The awards are given for a body of work to established studios with
experienced artistic directors and to up-and-coming studios with experienced or
new artistic directors struggling for recognition.
Dan Crawford Pub Theatre Award
This award, named in honor of Dan Crawford who founded the King’s Head Pub
Theatre, is given for a body of work to a ground-breaking pub theatre.
Judges for the Established Studio Award, Up-and Coming Studio Award and the Dan
Crawford Pub Theatre Award are: Lyn Gardner (The Guardian), Fiona Mountford
(Evening Standard), Samantha Marlowe (The Times), Dominic Cavendish (The
Telegraph), Mark Shenton (Sunday Express) and Blanche Marvin (London
TheatReviews).
Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Award
The Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Award has been set up for gifted visiting
companies to present their work in London at a studio theatre that could not
afford to book them. The subsidy assists in paying the weekly theatre rentals,
all too often the principal barrier to London performances. These monies are
given jointly to the visiting company and the London studio theatre.
Peter Brook/Equity Ensemble Award
The Peter Brook/Equity Ensemble Award addresses the need to preserve actors in
relationship to theatre venues. The repertory theatre has died and nothing has
replaced this important training ground. This award is designed to help support
ensemble companies where this fundamental work can be done.
Judges for the Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Award and the Peter Brook/Equity
Ensemble Award are: Thelma Holt (West End Producer), Peter Wilson (West End
Producer), Purni Morell (Head of National Theatre Studio) and Blanche Marvin
(London TheatReviews). The administrator for both of these awards is SOLT.
Consultants to the Empty Space…Peter Brook Awards are: Michael Billington (The
Guardian), Jeremy Kingston (The Times), Paul Taylor (The Independent), Susannah
Clapp (The Observer), Ruth Leon (The Lady) and Kate Bassett (Independent on
Sunday).
| Award |
Prize |
|
Established Studio Award |
£2,000(Each nominee - £350) |
| Up-and-Coming Studio Award |
£1,500 (Each nominee - £350) |
| Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Award |
£1,500
|
| Peter Brook/Equity Ensemble Award |
£2,000
|
| Dan Crawford Pub Theatre Award |
£2,000
|
| emptySPACE AWARD...Peter Brook Award |
| Year |
London Award |
Artistic Director |
Regional Award |
Special Mentions |
| 1990 |
Gate Theatre |
Stephen Daldry |
- |
- |
| 1991 |
Gate Theatre |
Stephen Daldry |
- |
- |
| 1992 |
Bush Theatre |
Mike Bradwell |
Haymarket Leicester |
- |
| 1993 |
Orange Tree |
Sam Walters |
Glasgow Citizen |
- |
| 1994 |
Tricycle and Soho |
Nicholas Kent, Abigail Morris |
Theatr Clwyd |
- |
| 1995 |
Royal Court Theatre Upstairs |
Ian Rickson |
Traverse Theatre |
Southwark and Shared Experience |
| 1996 |
BAC |
Tom Morris |
Stephen Joseph |
Young Vic, Royal Court, Bridewell |
| 1997 |
Bush Theatre |
Mike Bradwell |
Birmingham Rep Studio |
BAC, LIFT, NT Studio |
| 1998 |
Lyric Studio |
Peter James |
Salisbury Playhouse |
Man in the Moon, London New Play Festival |
| 1999 |
Gate Theatre |
David Farr |
Oxford Stage Co |
Bridewell, Bush, Tricycle |
| 2000 |
BAC |
Tom Morris |
Lyric Belfast |
- |
| 2001 |
- |
- |
- |
PUSH 00, Arcola |
| Year |
Established Studio |
Artistic Director |
Up and Coming/Special Mention |
Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Studio Theatre |
PBrook/Equity Ensemble |
Dan Crawford Innovation |
| 2001 |
Watermill |
- |
Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory - Andrew Hilton |
Gutted Film and Theatre + Old Red Lion |
- |
- |
| 2002 |
Crucible |
Michael Grandage |
Union Theatre - Sasha Regan |
Hidden Plot Theatre + Southwark |
- |
- |
| 2003 |
Pit, Barbican |
Graham Sheffield |
Finborough - Neil McPherson |
Slipstream + Union |
- |
- |
| 2004 |
Tricycle |
Nicholas Kent |
Theatre 503 Paul Higgins |
Shapeshifters + Finborough |
- |
- |
| 2005 |
The Gate |
Thea Sharrock |
Menier Chocolate Factory - David Babani |
Adverse Camber + Union |
- |
Finborough |
| 2006 |
The Orange Tree |
Sam Walters |
Scoop-Phil Wilmott |
Verb Theatre + Hackney Empire Studio |
- |
Old Red Lion Theatre |
| 2007 |
The Drum, Plymouth |
Simon Stokes |
Young Vic-David Lan |
New End Theatre+Pluto Productions |
Paines Plough |
Bush Theatre |
| 2008 |
Royal Court |
Dominic Cooke |
Union Theatre - Sasha Regan |
Hackney Empire Studio + Angle Company |
BAC |
Finborough Theatre |
| 2009 |
Forest Fringe |
Andy Fields/Deborah Pearson |
Not awarded |
Oval Theatre |
Fuel Theatre Co |
Cock Tavern, Kilburn |
| 2010 |
Finborough Theatre |
Neil McPherson |
Tricycle Theatre (Great Game) - Nick Kent |
Third Party and New Diorama Theatre - David Byrne |
dreamthinkspeak - Tristan Sparks |
Royal Court Local Theatre - Dominic Cooke |
| 2011 |
Southwark Playhouse |
Chris Smyrnios |
Tricycle Theatre (Great Game) - Nick Kent |
Bike Shed Theatre and Old Red Lion |
Faction Theatre Company |
National Theatre Wales |
EMPTY SPACE PRIZE SPEECH November 2, 2010
Hello. Rather to my surprise, this is how Peter suggests me to begin:
Nina! I’m going to ask you to put out your left arm, not too far, and bend it across the body. Now, take the right arm and stretch over the left arm towards your audience. Then say loudly ‘Good evening, friends!’ with the right hand warmly clasping and shaking an invisible hand somewhere in front of it.
This was how Maurice Chevalier would night after night make his entrance saying to the audience ‘Bon Soir les amis!’ The whole audience would burst into riotous applause. This was at the height of the war in occupied Paris and the house was packed to the rafters with middle-class French and German SS officers,
caught up in the tide of enthusiasm and laughter, little knowing that a sleeve in French – la Manche – is the same word as the English Channel and the outburst of joy was seeing the enemy joining blindly into a subversive gesture against themselves. Thank you, Nina.
For me, this sums up the power and for all totalitarian regimes, whether then or today, of a simple act of theatre. And why a same movement, like an intonation, can carry in it so many levels of visible and invisible meanings. This is where theatre is a concentration of life.
Last year, these Awards made me define a new category – the Theatre of Outrage – a step far beyond anger and completely justified by the world we live in. But today this is not enough.
All the media swamp us with all the bad news. The theatre is a very small and special form which alone can bring a drop of something positive that is always waiting to be detected. More and more, the question is not only ‘how to survive?’ but ‘why?’ Why? What is there in this poor forked creature, alone and collectively, that suggests that there can be more in existence?
High-grade magazines and Sunday supplements persuasively suggest that there is nothing more to the ideal life than the sum of their shining images.
This has always been the question great theatre has faced and for moments has touched us deeply and opened us to a wider human possibility. Beyond the Theatre of Outrage there is the Theatre of Catharsis.
One of the dreariest words I know is ‘Art’, through ‘Culture’ – even if it has a Minister somewhere – is even worse. They are glossy words to give comfort to those who cannot face mediocrity. Skill, virtuosity, inventions are not enough to break through
the barriers of what cannot be defined. Words, debates, conferences are closed circles. We cannot all be Shakespeare. But we can endlessly return to him as an affirmation that it is possible.
It’s the young people with small resources creating their own empty spaces who still have the wish to reach for something more. In the smallest gesture, in a single line, in intimate or collective relationship there is, in the reflection of our outrageous reality, something purer, finer – invisible until in the shared moment of performing, we suspend disbelief, then we are all touched in the same way.
The age of experimenting with new forms has born its fruits, it no longer asks for our best energies.
To make a hit by hitting hard is too easy.
The new challenge is not to reject the noise, the ferocity, even the frantic joys of our activities. It is to penetrate deeper into the limitless patterns of the unknown.
The Greeks did it, Shakespeare did it. We can’t, but we can’t give up. The harder it is, the more room there is for failure. Here the critics and opinions are more valuable than ever. They can keep alive, again and again, the feeling that we can go further. This is only if there is a freedom from the tyranny of lack of money. Here the subsidies cannot be replaced. They are the life-blood of taking risks.
So, to the prize-winners, and as much to those whose striving is not yet recognised, and to all who are here now sharing the same love for something which we know is there and which the theatre can reveal, I reach out my hand from across the Channel and say ‘Warm greetings, my friends!’
Bon jour mes amis And keep going! © Peter Brook