Representatives of the Island theatre community gathered at Northwood House, Cowes, for the Isle of Wight Amateur Theatre Awards 2026 earlier this month.
The evening celebrated the fantastic productions our Island enjoyed throughout 2025.
Continuing the legacy of the late John Hannam, IW Theatre, for many years known for reviewing and celebrating Island theatre, revived the idea of amateur theatre awards a few years ago by recruiting an experienced team of judges, culminating in the first (online) awards in 2023.
Last year they held the first Awards Evening, and following consultation with the Island theatre groups, it was agreed to repeat this success with an even bigger capacity this year.
In 2025, our judges attended more than 40 plays, musicals and pantomimes and the Awards Evening celebrated the best of those wonderful productions and our thriving theatre community! The full list of nominations and awards is available on the IW Theatre website. (IWtheatre)
Highlights are: Best Play: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Apollo Players; Best Musical: Annie – Island Savoyards; Best Pantomime: Cinderella – Amy White Theatre; Best Lead Actor in a Play – Emily Scotcher as Coriolanus in Coriolanus, Ad Lib Theatre Company; Best Lead Actor in a Musical: Enid Rees as Scaramouche in We Will Rock You, Curtain Call Creative; Best Lead Actor in a Pantomime: George Sales as Mani in Sinbad Saves the Day, CAODS at Trinity Theatre.
Two very special awards completed the evening: The Raymond Allen Award was supported by a special, moving video message from Michael Crawford, who of course worked with the late Ray Allen; it was presented by Nancy Allen to the wonderful John Woodford for his long career in musicals and pantomimes, often in a comedy role.
Caroline Hannam presented The John Hannam Award, in recognition of dedication and contribution to Island Theatre: its recipient this year was the amazing Libby Pike who has for so long worked consistently, quietly and tirelessly onstage and behind the scenes in just about every role amateur theatre has to offer, to support many different Island theatre groups.
The IW Theatre would like to thank Northwood House for hosting the awards again; Verity McCormick for design; Isle of Wight Printing and Wight Productions, who very kindly sponsored the printing of programmes and certificates; Paul Bird for capturing the memories; Simon Dabell, our MC and especially thank you to all Island amateur theatre groups for their enthusiasm and continued support of these awards.
And of course, congratulations to all nominees and winners!
Maureen Sullivan is a regular contributor to Island Echo’s coverage of the Arts on the Isle of Wight. Maureen has been actively involved in the Island’s amateur dramatics scene for several years, appearing in many different roles and guises with several theatre companies. In her free time, Maureen also writes and reviews at iwtheatre.org.
Catch Maureen’s column each month for the latest theatre and art happenings...
