SheSeesStars: ★★★★☆
I won’t lie, I was pretty pleased to get tickets for this. Perhaps fittingly, to make it as democratic as possible, The Donmar allocated all tickets through a public ballot, so I know how lucky I was to be amongst the chosen few. The chance to see a cast including Judi Dench, Mark Gatiss, Catherine Tate and Timothy West in a show with a very limited run doesn’t come around all that often. A bit like general elections.
In this, the third of my trilogy of blogs about the 2015 Olivier Awards, I explain a bit about how I became a panellist, the frequent highs and occasional lows of the experience, and how I went about tackling the task of seeing every major London theatre show that opened between 26 February 2014 and 25 February 2015.
The Olivier Awards 2015 are done and dusted. The votes (including my own) were cast and counted in March, the winners were announced on 12 April at a [insert clichéd epithet of choice – glittering, perhaps, or star-studded] ceremony at the Royal Opera House, and the other nominees can put away their ‘gracious in defeat’ faces for another year. But what of those who could rightfully feel a bit miffed that they didn’t even get a nomination? In this post, I give my two-penneth on the ones that got away.
At 4pm on Sunday 12 April 2015, rushing around my flat desperately trying to get ready in time for my cab to the Olivier Awards ceremony at the Royal Opera House, I had to pinch myself to remember why I found myself in a position where I had to don a long frock and fancy heels – not things I often do. I’d spent the past year seeing every major West End opening in my very privileged capacity as a member of the theatre panel for the 2015 Oliviers, and tickets to the ceremony were the last in a very long line of treats – and occasional trials – I’d enjoyed over the last 12 months.
I’ll describe my panellist experience in a separate blog post, but this first one is about the night itself, and my thoughts on some of the winners. My views on ‘the ones that got away’ will also get an airing in another post…
SheSeesShows 