Irish Times Theatre Awards

Yeah, that’s my professor in that picture ... holding the award ... with his face all projected on a screen ...

The lovely Michael West just won the Best New Play award at the equivalent of the Tony’s over here in the Eire for his play Freefall. AND his wife, Annie, won for Best Director! Good craic, eh? I’m not going to lie -- we are all pretty excited about it over here! It’s not every day that an Award-Winning writer happens to be your professor ...

-E

Lies Susanne Told Me Number 512: “Michael West is very good.”

Here’s just a little excerpt from the Irish Times write up about the whole shebang ...

Yet the true stars of the evening were winners like director Annie Ryan, who used her acceptance speech on receipt of the award for best director for the Corn Exchange Theatre production of Freefall , to call for some kind of truce between those angered by the cuts in funding for so many theatre companies and the Arts Council members behind those decisions.

“Change is inevitable. There’s nothing we can do about that,” said Ryan, who said the Arts Council and Ireland’s theatre community must work together to find new solutions. “The question is, how do you harness the enormous energy that is released when something falls apart, and use it to create something better?”

Her husband Michael West, who received the Best New Play award for Freefall , also acknowledged the shake-up in Irish theatre that included a 48 per cent cut in the funding for Corn Exchange. “If the last few weeks have taught us anything, it’s how surprising theatre can be and what a privilege it is to work with it,” said West.

“The risk-taking that goes with making theatre is part of what we are and what we do.”