Hetty Hughes-
Eight o’clock on Wednesday evening saw Players front of house heaving with dedicated members, actors, friends of the society and nominees who had all gathered to watch the Players Awards 2011. With two extra rows added in the theatre to seat the overflow, the awards got underway with the customary old Chair (Matthew Smyth) /new Chair (Marc Atkinson) duet.
This year we were treated to a medley of songs whose titles could be adapted to become some of the plays put on in Players over the last year (Oh Happy Days became Oh Happy Prince, You Make Me Wanna’ Shout became You Make Me Wanna’ Doubt, Electric Avenue became Mundus Avenue etc.).
The ceremony lasted just under an hour with a variety of awards ranging from the ‘serious’ to the…not so serious; best society couple, best on stage kiss, best back flip and best transvestite, to name a few. Before entering the theatre, ceremony goers were given voting slips to have their say on who should receive the more coveted rewards and the token bottle of wine. Rachel Gleeson and Eimear O’Riordan walked away with best directors for ‘Happy Prince’, Aaron Heffernan got best comic performance for his role as Algernon in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and Co-op 2011 ‘The Sweet Life of the Bassets Allsorts Man’ won best production.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening of light hearted entertainment and a promising precursor of the year to come in Players.
