Most awards are controversial especially in the film industry where the shenanigans over how producers manipulate the nominations lists are well known but up to now theatre award have seemed relatively sedate. Until this year.
A few months ago several high profile judges for the Evening Standard Awards walked out over the way procedures were manipulated to allow Helen Mirren to win best actress and now the whatsonstage awards, allegedly voted for by the public and announced recently, are raising a few eye brows.
No one in the industry had ever given them much credibility. The idea that theatre goers would vote is terrific, and who cares if the vested interest it seems to give them means big ticket sales for the award ceremony but in fact its seldom just about how Mr and Mrs Blogs in the stalls vote.
It's also about how successful PR companies are at getting their employees and audiences to vote for the shows they promote.
I've been in a West End theatres where ushers have handed out leaflets at the end of the show encouraging people to vote for the production they've just seen. It stands to reason that the winner might go to those with the most successfully orchestrated campaign.
On a smaller scale the vote for best off-west end production is hotly contested with friends and family of the cast busily voting multiple times. A friend of mine once managed to bag a top award by logging on and voting for herself over and over again for weeks, inspiring us all!
Any little credibility the whatsonstage award folk may hope for in regards to their best actor awards tends to crumble when Harry Potter stars win out over world class classical actors. Even a moderator on whatsonstage's own discussion forum recently felt inclined to post "didn't see the Dream but I am amazed it rated more highly than the NT Othello"
The Midsummer Nights Dream she's referring to starred David Walliams and was part of the Michael Grandage Season which also triumphed in a number of other categories including Daniel Radcliffe's award for best actor. However another post on the forum rather sensible points out "A three-month Michael Grandage show in a large West End theatre has a significant advantage over Lesley Manville in Ghosts at the Almeida and Trafalgar, and a whopping natural advantage over Linda Bassett in Roots for two months at the tiny Donmar. It makes sense that a popular vote favours theatre seen by bigger audiences with the most popular performers!"
I hope the winners savour their whatsonstage award victories and the theatre industry as a whole benefits if they increases ticket sales, just don't assume they're awarded on merit.
