We look ahead to the inaugural Off West End Theatre Awards ceremony in February and show you how to get involved beforehand.
The Off West End Theatre Awards ceremony to be held in February 2011, is set to be one of the biggest theatre events of the year with downright national treasure Sir Simon Callow hosting. The Offies celebrate the best of London Fringe Theatre and the people that make it.
So yes, while Wicked breaks box office records yet again and Les Mis wins another award for just being fab, the smaller shows we love now get some much deserved recognition. The idea behind The Offies, as well as to reward new talent, is to raise the profile of independent venues and empower them to promote themselves. As Sir Ian McKellen put it (yes massive name drop but OMG Gandalf!): "Awards for success in Off West End theatres would bring welcome attention to their vital and inspiring work."
The bigger shows have bigger budgets to fit and so can afford to get the national critics in to review, hire hot shot PR companies and put money into marketing campaigns as well as the show production. Independent venues, after putting money into the creation of their shows, often find there's not much left for raising its profile which makes it difficult to get bums on seats and get critics down to the show.
To combat this, the folks behind OffWestEnd.com have unleashed an army of assessors to every off west end venue that qualified to take part and sent them a press night invitation. The shows assessed include cabaret theatre, musicals, comedy and political productions. The assessors will continue to hand in their nominations until the end of the year before a panel of critics deliberate over the winners.
Alongside the critics choice, there'll also be a public vote for the people's choice. Until the winners are announced, you can vote for your favourite venues, productions, actors and actresses.
Public voting closes on 31st December. Check out the list of nominations here, scroll to the bottom, subscribe and cast your votes!
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