Total Theatre Network are delighted to announce today the shortlist for the Total Theatre Awards 2019. From the list announced today, a total of seven awards will be awarded across five categories: “Physical & Visual Theatre”; “Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form”; “Emerging”; “Circus”; and “Dance” at a ceremony to be held on 23rd August. 

Following a shortlisting meeting on 14 August, a total of 27 productions from 8 countries have been selected as the 2019 Shortlist for the Awards across the five categories outlined above.

The Total Theatre Awards are a peer-to-peer assessment process of dialogue and debate to recognise excellence and artists pushing the boundaries of independent performance.  In order to produce this shortlist, a total of 403 eligible shows have been assessed over the first 11 days of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. These shows have been viewed between two and four times by a curated panel of 26 peer assessors, comprising artists, producers, programmers, curators, critics and academics, alongside a number of senior industry supporters and advisors.  Meeting every two days, the Total Theatre Awards Producing and Assessment team have engaged in 36 hours of collective discussion of all eligible productions in depth, across specialism and across discipline.  

Following the shortlisting process, the selected shows will now move to a judging panel where shows are seen by leading arts industry figures including critics, academics, artists and programmers. Seven awards will be given across five categories and the judging panel will announce their decisions at an awards ceremony on Friday 23 August. The judges for the Total Theatre Awards reserve the right to award further productions that open at the festival after the shortlisting has taken place.

The full shortlist for the 2019 Total Theatre Awards is below:

Shows by an Emerging Company / Artist
This Award is supported by Theatre Deli

 Burgerz by Travis Alabanza

Hackney Showroom (England)

Traverse

 Life is No Laughing Matter

Demi Nandhra (England)

Summerhall

 Sex Education
Harry Clayton-Wright (England) 
Summerhall

 STYX

Second Body (England)

Zoo

 YUCK Circus

Underbelly and YUCK Circus (Australia)

Underbelly

 

Total Theatre & Jacksons Lane Award for Circus

Contra

Laura Murphy (England)

Summerhall

 

Jelly or Jam

Ampersand (Australia)

Underbelly

 

Knot

Nikki & JD / Jacksons Lane (England)

Assembly

 

Raven

Chamaleon Productions in association with Aurora Nova (Germany)

Assembly

 

Super Sunday

Underbelly and Race Horse Company (Finland)

Underbelly

 

Staged

Circumference (England)

Zoo

 

Total Theatre & The Place Award for Dance

 

Ensemble

Robbie Synge and Lucy Boyes (Scotland)

Dance Base

 

For now we see through a mirror, darkly

Ultimate Dancer (Scotland)

Greenside

 

Seeking Unicorns

Chiara Bersani / Associazione Culturale Corpoceleste (Italy)

Dance Base

 

Six Feet, Three Shoes

Slanjayvah Danza (Scotland)

Dance Base

 

Steve Reich Project

Isabella Soupart / MP4 Quartet (Belgium)

Dance Base

 

Total Theatre & Theatre in Mill Award for Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form

& 

Total Theatre & Rose Bruford College Award for Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form

 

 Are we not drawn onward to new erA – Ontroerend Goed

Theatre Royal Plymouth, Vooruit, Richard Jordan Productions, BiB with Zoo

Zoo (Belgium)

 

Below the Blanket

Cryptic (Scotland)

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

 

Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster

Battersea Arts Centre and BAC Beatbox Academy (England)

Traverse

 

Louder Is Not Always Clearer

Mr and Mrs Clark featuring Jonny Costen (Wales)

Summerhall

 

Nightclubbing

Rachael Young

Summerhall

 

The Canary and the Crow

Daniel Ward and Middle Child (England)

ROUNDABOUT@ Summerhall

 

The Accident Did Not Take Place

YESYESNONO (England)

Pleasance

 

Tricky Second Album

In Bed with My Brother (England)

Pleasance

 

Total Theatre & Cambridge Junction Award for Physical / Visual Theatre

 

Die! Die! Die! Old People Die!

Ridiculusmus (England)

Summerhall

 

Limb(e)s

Ci Co (Canada)

Assembly

 

Working On My Night Moves

Julia Croft and Nisha Madhan with Zanetti Productions (New Zealand)

Summerhall

 

Featured image (top) FK Alexander, previous Total Theatre Award winner, and an assessor at the Awards 2019.

Please note Total Theatre Awards and Total Theatre Network operate independently to Total Theatre Magazine. See https://www.totaltheatrenetwork.org/

Jo Crowley, Co-Director: +44 (0)7843 274 684 / crowley.jo@gmail.com

Becki Haines, Co-Director: +44 (0)7732 818401/ haines.becki@gmail.com

Total Theatre Awards: totaltheatrewards@gmail.com