Adelaide Critics Circle Awards 2011
by Jane
The 2011 Nominees for the Adelaide Critics Circle Awards. Recipients in bold 5.12.11
Individual Award
- Guy Barrett for the RBS Morgans International Piano Series
- Tamara Lee, actor, That Face (five.point.one)
- David Mealor, director, Buried Child (State Theatre Company of SA)
Group Award
- five.point.one, The Eisteddfod
- Soundstream Collective
- State Opera of South Australia, Moby Dick
- State Theatre Company of SA, Holding the Man
Emerging Artist of the Year
- Robert Bell, actor, The Pillowman (University of Adelaide Theatre Guild)
- Charles Sanders, artistic director, Early Worx
- Nigel Tripodi, actor, A View from the Bridge (University of Adelaide Theatre Guild)
- Alex Vickery-Howe, playwright, Molly’s Shoes (Accidental Productions)
Independent Arts Foundation Award for Innovation
- Chris More, video and set designer, The Girl Who Cried Wolf (Windmill Theatre)
- Jason Sweeney, sound designer, Three Sisters, The Eisteddfod
- Adam Synott, animation and sound, Side To One (Craig Bary and Lisa Griffiths)
Visual Arts Award: Amy Joy Watson
Individual Award – Amateur Theatre
- Megan Dansie, director, The Pillowman (University of Adelaide Theatre Guild)
- David Roach, actor, Red (Independent Theatre)
- Russell Starke OAM, actor, Breaker Morant (Therry Dramatic Society)
Group Award – Amateur Theatre
- Therry Dramatic Society, Breaker Morant
- University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, A View from the Bridge
- University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, The Pillowman
Lifetime Achievement Award: Barbara West
Some quick questions: why are two amateur actors nominated in the “professional” categories? What exactly was innovative about More’s video/set and Sweeney’s sound? (I didn’t see Synott’s work.) Are there not enough visual artists in Adelaide to make a nomination list? Why is the State Opera credited with Moby Dick, but not co-creators the Dallas Opera, the San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera and Calgary Opera? Why is Windmill credited with The Girl Who Cried Wolf, but not original production company, the Arena Theatre Company?
No Plain Jane 
What a pompous website!
(theirs, not yours)
really no plain?! really?!
funny that your self-proclaimed professionalism warrants such questions.
Really. Would you like to offer an explanation or defence, or just proclaim indignanty? The floor is open.
As to my questions: I think it is incredibly valid to ask why, when the awards are clearly delineated into “professional” and “amateur”, that line blurs (if the professional critics should be giving awards to amateur artists is a whole debate in and of itself). I think it is incredibly valid to ask that when something is classified as “innovative” that classification is justified – there might be a fantastic explanation, so I would like to hear it. I think it is incredibly valid to ask why the critics pick and choose which companies are acknowledged in the nominations – surely, much of the success of Moby Dick was due to the large scale co-commission and co-collaboration, working internationally was a huge thing for Opera SA and I find it rather reductionist to their role to insinuate they were the only people involved. Similarly, Rose Myers specifically brought The Girl Who Cried Wolf to Adelaide because of its success in Melbourne – are we supposed to ignore this? Claiming something as wholly Adelaidian ignores the great work that companies put into to collaborate and buy in productions, and ignores the fact that many smaller companies aren’t making these connections, so isn’t it good they can be seen on the same scale?
The questions I asked were purely towards the semantics of the nominations. I could have quite easily gone into a conversation about my opinion of the validity of each of the nominees.
Well said, Jane. I think it’s important to publicly question nominations – especially because of grey areas of definition. Unfortunately, I don’t expect the Adelaide Critics Circle will answer your questions, but maybe some theatre professionals can enlighten you on why particular things were considered innovative?
Finally the voice of reason. My opinion about this lot is well known. Your questions are what everyones been thinking for a long time but yet gutless artists still plod along and pick up their award for mediocraty (sic) and perpetuate the bullshit…..
Wow, what a pathetic & underwhelming list! It’s all a bit small town and cringeworthy – not downplaying individual success (good luck to everyone), but it’s pointless when ALL the critics DON’T SEE everything on offer. And they don’t. The Adelaide arts scene is still very much divided into critic’s darlings and the untouchables. Several years ago a certain high-profile show that set the town alight & received glowing praise from all critics was scuttled at the first ballot – all because a certain critic “hadn’t seen it” – despite the fact he was given every opportunity to by the company in question, but more or less pleaded disinterest or less. It’s not about the artists – it’s nothing more than a self congratulatory piranha gala for the reviewers.
i don’t care who they nominate, that’s up to the them, but what’s the point of putting a definition of the difference between professional and amateur on your website if you aren’t going to honour it in the nominations?