Blue Room Award Winners Announced

The Boat Goes Over The MountainA show about one man’s quest to overcome his demons through ingesting a psycho-active brew in Peru has taken out the Best Production and Best Performance awards at The Blue Room Theatre’s annual awards night.

Happy Dagger’s The Boat Goes Over The Mountain and its creator Andrew Hale took out the coveted prizes ahead of Weeping Spoon’s spongepuppet hit Bruce, The Skeletal System’s shark-attack love story Great White and Sally Richardson’s dance-theatre work Standing Bird 2.

It was an impressive year for The Blue Room Theatre that saw over 17,500 people attend performances and 86 per cent average attendance, with critics and audiences alike praising the quality, strength and vitality of the 15 local independent productions.

“It was such an amazing year of performance that I have had the privilege to be a part of,” said Executive Director Kerry O’Sullivan.

“I could not be prouder of all of the shows that The Blue Room Theatre has produced this year and I did not envy the judges having to make the hard decisions. As a body of work, this year has been exceptional.”

The Blue Room Theatre continued to showcase the good health of the independent arts sector in Perth, building on their eight Fringe World Awards with two WA Dance Awards and a number of shows touring nationally and internationally.

“We’re so thrilled for all of our artists proving they are ready to take on other independent sectors, not just nationally, but also internationally,” O’Sullivan said.

Happy Dagger will receive a prize package including a guaranteed season slot and $4000 production fund or free rehearsal space and $2000 to develop their next work.

The Boat Goes Over The Mountain will have an encore season at Fringe World before heading to Adelaide Fringe in early 2014.

For more information, visit: www.fringeworld.com.au for details.

Image: Andrew Hale in The Boat Goes Over The Mountain