The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

bite theatre Hedley II at Theatre Royal Stratford East; and Michelle Greenidge for Nine Night at the National Theatre, with the award going to Michelle Greenidge. The nominees for Best Female Actor in a Play were Rakie Ayola for The Half God of Rainfall at Kiln Theatre; Gloria Williams for Bullet Hole at Park Theatre; and Sharon D. Clarke for Death of a Salesman at The Young Vic; the award went to Gloria Williams. The following categories were Best Supporting Male Actor in a Play and Best Male Actor in a Play. The nominees consisted of Lenny Henry for King Hedley II , Osy Ikhile for SWEAT , and Sule Rimi for All My Sons at The Old Vic for the former award and Aaron Pierre for King Hedley II , Kwami Odoom for The Half God of Rainfall, and Arinzé Kene for Misty for the latter. The two awards were won by Lenny Henry and Arinzé Kene respectively. Lenny Henry was una- ble to attend but sent his appreciation via a video recording. The last category in the Plays section was for Best Production for a Play with The Half God of Rainfall at Kiln Theatre; Small Island and Nine Night at the National Theatre. The Half God of Rainfall picked up this award. Completing the first section of the BBTAs award cer- emony, we were treated to a beautiful performance by ENO Hare- wood Artist Nadine Benjamin who sang ‘Summertime’ from Porgy & Bess that deeply touched my soul with her phenomenal operatic pitch. After the 15 minutes interval, we returned to our table for the second half of the awards ceremony. The Musicals section was presented by actress Martina Laird and singer and actor Matt Henry MBE. You may recognise the gorgeous Martina from TV series like Casualty, London Burning, Doctors, The Bill, and Peak Practice . Matt Henry MBE won Laurence Olivier Award for playing Lola in the musical Kinky Boots and has also appeared in The Lion King and Avenue Q. The award for Best Supporting Male Actor in a Musical went to Cavin Cornwall for Jesus Christ Superstar at Barbican Theatre who beat Jason Pennycooke for Hamilton at Victoria Palace Theatre and Arun Blair-Mangat for Leave to Remain at Lyric Hammersmith. Lay- ton Williams received the award for Best Male Actor in a Musical for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Apollo Theatre who beat Jay Per- ry for Motown: The Musica l and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith for TINA: The Tina Turner Musical at Aldwych Theatre. The wonderful Beverly Knight won the award for Best Supporting Female Actor in a Musical for her part in Sylvia at The Old Vic, beating three other nominees: Madeline Appiah for TINA: The Tina Turner Musica l, Amara Okereke for Les Misérables at Queens Thea- tre, and Kelly Agbowu for Waitress at Adelphi Theatre. Beverly also couldn’t attend the award ceremony so sent an appreciation speech “It’s fantastic to celebrate the breadth and depth of Black British talent making theatre for our na- tions’ stages, and I hope these new awards will help to inspire the next generation too” - Rufus Norris, Di- rector of the National Theatre. Omar F. Okai - Director BBTAs Solange Urdang - Director BBTAs