Entertainment lighting specialist White Light sponsored the Best Lighting Designer award once again; this year it was presented to James Farncombe for his design for Ghost Stories at the Lyric Hammersmith and then at the Duke of York's theatre, where the show continues to surprise and scare audiences nightly. His fellow nominees in the category were Neil Austin for The Prince of Homburg and Women Beware Women, Paul Keogan for Novecento, Paule Constable for Blasted, Posh and Love Never Dies, Peter Mumford for Sucker Punch and Rick Fisher for Tribes.
In the other design category, Joanna Scotcher was named Best Set Designer for The Railway Children presented in the disused Eurostar terminal at Waterloo Station; the category's other nominees were Bunny Christie for Men Should Weep, Miriam Buether for Sucker Punch and Earthquakes, Morgan Large for Flashdance, Soutra Gilmour for Into The Woods and Stephen Brimson-Lewis for An Ideal Husband.
The other awards were distributed across a wide range of shows, reflecting the range and diversity of productions to play in London over the last 12 months. Howard Brenton's Anne Boleyn was named Best New Play, Yes Prime Minister Best New Comedy, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Best Play Revival, Legally Blonde Best New Musical, the 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables Best Musical Revival and the National's Hamlet Best Shakespearean Production.
"As always, we were delighted to support the Whatsonstage.com Awards," comments White Light's managing director, Bryan Raven. "Congratulations to James, to all of the other lighting nominees and to everyone else, winner, nominee or otherwise, who has been involved in shows in London over the last year. We've been happy to help with those shows where we can, and look forward to doing so throughout 2011."
(Jim Evans)
