Brisbane Theatre Matilda Award Winners 2014

Artists working behind the scenes have stepped into the spotlight to dominate the Matilda Awards’ highest honours for outstanding theatrical achievement in 2014.

For their bodies of work over the year, director and designer Steven Mitchell Wright, Harvest Rain artistic director and CEO Tim O'Connor, video designers and producers optikal bloc, set and costume designer Simone Romaniuk (below) and writer/co-producer Sven Swenson – whose citation also recognised his on-stage contribution to his works – received the five prestigious Gold Matildas bestowed upon the industry’s 'best of the best'.

A capacity audience of 450 public, industry members and dignitaries – the highest turnout in the awards’ 27-year history – packed QUT Gardens Theatre for the ceremony, which featured director of the acclaimed hit film The Sapphires and QUT graduate Wayne Blair as special guest presenter.

The Matilda Awards’ 10-member committee of critics, arts administrators and aficionados named Queensland Theatre Company’s Gloria Best Mainstage Production.

But it was La Boite Theatre Company and Brisbane Festival’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s 135-year-old yet still contemporary examination of gender politics, A Doll’s House, which figured most prominently among the 12 Silver Matilda category awards.

While additionally acclaimed in his Gold citation for directing and designing Caligula, Mitchell Wright took home the Best Director gong for A Doll’s House, with acting honours going to Helen Christinson and Cienda McNamara in the female leading and supporting categories respectively, and Damien Cassidy for best supporting male.

In addition to Swenson's Gold Matilda for creating and appearing in the duumvirate Angel Gear and Dangerfield Park – his third such accolade, which places him in the Matildas’ Hall of Fame established in 2011 (and exempts him from future Gold eligibility) – he was voted Best Male Actor in a Leading Role for his outstanding performance in Angel Gear.

Angel Gear also won Best Independent Production, with cast member Casey Woods claiming the Bille Brown Award for Best Emerging Artist.

Lauded with a Gold for her work on Macbeth and Australia Day – both for QTC – it was the former that earned Romaniuk the Best Design (Set & Costumes) trophy.

Similarly, of optikal bloc’s prolific projection and video contributions to Pale Blue Dot, The Mountaintop, Wuthering Heights, Gasp! and 1984 cited in its Gold Matilda commendation, its work on Pale Blue Dot was deemed the year’s standout technical design (lighting, multimedia or sound).

The success of Tim O'Connor’s vision for Harvest Rain Theatre Company, credited in his Gold Matilda, was further affirmed by the troupe’s win in the Best Musical or Cabaret category for Spamalot.

2014 GOLD MATILDA AWARD WINNERS

Steven Mitchell Wright
Tim O’Connor
optikal bloc
Simone Romaniuk
Sven Swenson

2014 SILVER MATILDA AWARD WINNERS

Best Mainstage Production:
Gloria, Queensland Theatre Company

Best New Australian Work:
Machina, written by Richard Jordan, La Boite Indie & MadCat Creative Connections with the support of QPAC
Best Independent Production:
Angel Gear, La Boite Indie & Pentimento Productions with the support of QPAC

Best Male Actor in a Leading Role:
Sven Swenson, Angel Gear
Best Female Actor in a Leading Role:
Helen Christinson, A Doll’s House, La Boite Theatre Company & Brisbane Festival
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role:
Damien Cassidy, A Doll’s House
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role:
Cienda McNamara, A Doll’s House
Best Director:
Steven Mitchell Wright, A Doll’s House
Best Design (Set and Costumes):
Simone Romaniuk, Macbeth, Queensland Theatre Company in association with Grin and Tonic Theatre Troupe
Best Technical Design (Lighting, Multimedia or Sound):
optikal bloc, Pale Blue Dot, La Boite Theatre Company
Bille Brown Award for Best Emerging Artist:
Casey Woods, Angel Gear
Best Musical or Cabaret:
Spamalot, Harvest Rain Theatre Company