Chester Theatre Club Wins Again

Chester Theatre Club are proud to announce that for the second year running they have won the Best Overall Production Award at the Cheshire Theatre Guild awards. They also scooped up the Best Supporting Actress Award.

The honours go to A Doll’s House, directed by Delyse Rostrun, which was judged to be the Best Overall Production presented throughout the whole of Cheshire in the 2009 – 2010 season. This is the second year running that a play directed by Delyse has won this prestigious award. The Best Supporting Actress award was given to Zoë Lambrakis, who played Kristine Linde in the same production, with considerable aplomb.

Last year Chester Theatre Club gained nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Best Presentation and Best Director, along with winning the Best Overall Production Award for Hay Fever, and Best Actress, which went to Jane Barth for her marvellous performance as Judith in Hay Fever. However, this year, in addition to the awards they won, Chester Theatre Club were honoured to receive a total of 5 other nominations:

Most Promising Youngster - Kimmy Yates as Eva Schlesinger in Kindertransport

Best Supporting Actress - Zoë Lambrakis as Monica in Daisy Pulls It Off

Best Actor - Simon Price as Torvald Helmer in A Doll’s House

Best Actress - Sophie Lund as Nora Helmer in A Doll's House

Best Director - Delyse Rostrun for A Doll's House

Delyse Rostron promised the Guild adjudicators that her production of A Doll’s House, Ibsen’s intimate look at marriage, “won’t be boring!” - and it wasn’t! It showed a lively young woman trapped in a stifling marriage to a well-meaning but conservative, straitlaced man whose main preoccupation was keeping up appearances, even to the point of losing his wife. The winning production brought the emotions of the couple right up-to-date: it could easily have shown an incompatible couple of today. But it avoided the clichés of heroines and villains; the audience could empathise both with the young wife, Nora, and her husband, Torvald.

Delyse Rostron said of the play: “I had a wonderful cast who worked extremely hard, and great support from my production team. I am so pleased that they have been acknowledged by the Theatre Guild.”

Chester Theatre Club is Chester's biggest drama club. Since1944, they have generally staged 5 or 6 plays each year, and currently own the city’s only fully operational theatre space. They have a dedicated audience of supporter members and the general public, and are always looking for new members to act, build scenery, do lighting, build sets, make coffee, work the bar, and do anything else necessary to help this well-loved club. More information is available online at www.chestertheatreclub.co.uk