It’s that time of the year again, where I give out my awards for the Best Amateur Theatre of the Year.

I say give out, but The Paulies don’t have a physical presence, more my final round of applause for some outstanding work. The rules remain unchanged, I do not nominate anything I have been involved in, and I have seen all productions nominated. It was a longlist that I have had to be quite strong in short listing and it strikes me how much range there was in this year’s theatre. So, without further ado, the Nominations for the 2019 Paulies are....

BEST PLAY

Bug (Headgate Theatre Productions); Emma (Dedham Players); Playhouse Creatures (Headgate Theatre Productions); Pressure (Dedham Players); The Vortex (Paper Lantern)

BEST DIRECTOR

Sally Broatch for The Vortex; Kelvin Hastings-Smith for Pressure; Kerry King for Playhouse Creatures; Claire Nicholson for Emma; Will Parrick for Bug.

BEST MUSICAL

A Little Night Music (Platform Musicals); Big Fish (Mad Hatter); Oliver (Colchester Operatic Society); The Addams Family (IODS Theatre); Spring Awakening (Mad Hatter)

BEST DIRECTOR (MUSICAL)

Wade Ablitt for Big Fish; Sally Broatch for The Addams Family; Andrew Hodgson for A Little Night Music; Will Mugford for Spring Awakening

BEST ACTOR

Tom Beattie for The Vortex; Michael Cook for Pressure; Joe Eason for Bug; Matthew Hankin for All My Sons. (Colchester Theatre Group); Malcolm Kimmance for All My Sons.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Aaron Bowater for All My Sons; Kevin Hastings-Smith for Emma; Gary Huggins for Pressure; Will Parrick for The Browning Version (Headgate Productions); Joseph Russell for The Browning Version.

BEST ACTRESS

Rosie Beattie for The Vortex; Laura Hill for The Browning Version; Eleanor Kent-Dyson for Bug; Joanna Peacock, Poppy Borges-Wilby, Charlotte Harknett, Eleanor Kent-Dyson, Charlotte Still for Playhouse Creatures (joint nomination); Danielle Tile for Emma.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Charlotte Curtis for The Vortex; Jenni Horn for Emma; Jessica Miller for Bug; Danielle Tile for Pressure.; Jemma Younger for All My Sons.

BEST MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE.

Archie Ball for Oliver; Tom Beattie for Big Fish; The pairing of Owen Berry and Charlotte Curtis as Gomez and Morticia Addams; Helen McCraw for The Pajama Game, (Platform); The ensemble singing for Spring Awakening.

Winners to be revealed next week.