Stage Critic Search Announces 2015 Finalists

Alistair Smith, Editor of The Stage newspaper, today announces the finalists of The Stage Critic Search 2015, in association with TheatrePeople.com.

The finalists are:

East Midlands: Rachel Elderkin from Nottingham

East of England: Lee Anderson from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire

North East: Imelda Says from Hartlepool

North West: Nigel Smith from Bootle, Merseyside

Scotland: Christine Irvine from Glasgow

Wales: Jafar Iqbal from Cardiff

West Midlands: Katharine Kavanagh from Dudley, Black Country

Yorkshire: Henry Malbrook from Pontefract

Greater London: Pauline Flannery from Putney

South East: Dave Fargnoli from Brighton

South West: Philly Byrde from Camborne, Cornwall

Alistair Smith said: "We were delighted with the hundreds of entries we received to our open call for submissions to The Stage Critic Search. The entrants came from the length and breadth of the Britain, with a range of ages and backgrounds. Our 11 chosen finalists all showed huge promise and the judging panel will, I'm sure, have a difficult task in choosing a final three following the second round of submissions. The sheer volume of entries we received demonstrated just what an appetite there is to engage critically with theatre, and the quality of the entrants bodes very well for the future of theatre criticism across the country."

The finalists have been chosen by a panel of industry experts. Joining Alistair Smith, Mark Shenton (The Stage lead critic and Associate Editor), andNatasha Tripney (The Stage lead critic), are Cush Jumbo (actor / playwright), Daniel Evans (Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres) and Stephanie Street (actor / playwright).

Finalists have been shortlisted as the best from each region within the UK*, and each are being invited to review one theatre production at a theatre local to them. Their reviews will then be published in The Stage, both in print and on-line. From this point in the process they will be mentored by the team at The Stage and critics including Lyn Gardner (The Guardian), Henry Hitchings (London's Evening Standard) and Andrew Haydon (Postcards from the Gods blog).

At a time when many UK publications are cutting back on their reviews coverage - especially outside London and Off-West End - The Stage Critic Search is a nationwide competition to discover and promote talented theatre critics. For full details, please go to: www.thestage.co.uk/criticsearch.

From these shortlisted finalists, the judging panel will choose a final winner who will receive £1,000 and an opportunity to write for The Stage regularly. The final winner will be announced in August.

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