“Cursed Child” Nominated for South Bank Sky Arts Awards

The nominees have been announced for the 21st South Bank Sky Arts Awards, the only awards in the world that focus on the arts in their entirety, celebrating the best of culture in the UK across ten categories - Comedy, Classical Music, Dance, Film, Literature, Opera, Pop Music, Theatre, TV Drama, and Visual Arts. The 21st ceremony will take place on Sunday, 9th July at the Savoy Hotel and is broadcast on Sky Arts on Wednesday 12th July. Hosted by the South Bank Show's Melvyn Bragg, these prestigious awards remain one of the highlights of the UK arts calendar. They honor the wide and diverse range of British culture with nominees including grime artiest Skepta, for his album "Konnichiwa" and Opera North for their production of "Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle)". David Bowie receives a posthumous recognition for his acclaimed "Blackstar" album, with The 1975's album "I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it" and Skepta making up the Pop Music nominations, while Phoebe Waller-Bridges' "Fleabag" goes up against Julia Davis' "Camping" and the collaborative team behind "People Just Do Nothing" in the nominations for Comedy. "Happy Valley" and "National Treasure" are against the "The Crown" in the TV Drama nominations. Last years' winners in the Dance category, Northern Ballet, receive another nod this time for their touring production of "Jane Eyre", they are joined by the Richard Alston Dance Company's production of "An Italian in Madrid" at Sadlers Wells and the English National Ballet's touring production of Akram Khan's "Giselle". Meanwhile, acclaimed dramatist and screenwriter Jack Thorne receives two nods - in TV Drama for "National Treasure" and in Theater for his stage adaptation of JK Rowlng's "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" at the Palace Theater. The Young Vic's "Yerma" starring Billie Piper and the Donmar Warehouse's all female "The Shakespeare Trilogy" are also nominated in the Theater category. Other nominations include the "Gustav Sonata" by Rose Tremain, Hisham Matar's "The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between" and "Swing Time" by Zadie Smith, celebrated in the Literature category. Film nominations are "I, Daniel Blake", "Under the Shadow", and "American Honey." Opera is reprsented by Glyndebourne Youth Opera's "Nothing" and "4.48 Psychosis" at the Royal Opera House, along with Opera North. John Akomfrah's "Vertigo Sea" George Shaw's "My Back to Nature" and Artangel's "Inside Artists and Writers in Reading Prison" make up the Visual Arts category, while the Philharmonia Orchestra's "Stravinsky: Myth and Rituals", Tom Coult's "Spirit of a Staircase" and Dunedin Consort's "Monteverdi Vespers" complete the Classical nominations. This year's Outstanding Achievement award will be announced on the day of the ceremony. Previous winners include Eddie Izzard, Dame Helen Mirren, Tracey Emin, JK Rowling, and The Who. The Times Breakthrough Award which recognises outstanding new British talent will be decided by a panel of judges from The Times and presented at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards ceremony. This year’s nominees for Times Breakthrough are: Kieran Hodgson (Comedy), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (Classical) Rachel Kneebone (Visual Art), Malachi Kirby (TV Drama), Joseph Knox (Literature), Lewis MacDougall (Film), Kate O’Flynn (Theatre), Vidya Patel (Dance), Natalya Romaniw (Opera) and Sampha (Pop Music). Joining a long line of contemporary artists - from Peter Blake to Anish Kapoor – who have designed previous year’s awards, this trophy has been made by Joe Hill and Samantha Scrase Dickins. They have taken an old -fashioned peep show machine as inspiration. Inside each award is a handpainted,3D, anamorphic illusion, each with a bespoke image to reflect the twelve different award categories. The awards originated in 1997 in association with The South Bank Show and Melvyn Bragg has served as editor and host since their inception. Since then the awards have been at the very forefront of the arts in the last two decades, celebrating the best of culture. Melvyn Bragg said “The South Bank Sky Arts Awards are unique. They are the only major Awards wholly dedicated to the Arts. They cover the spectrum - from Pop Music to Classical Music, from Comedy to Literature… They are focused on the best in the British Arts which over the last couple of generations have steadily moved to the front in world status. Each category has three nominees whittled down via an independent judging panel. The three nominees are invited to the Awards and it is quite a sight to see such a cross-section in one room at the same time, a sort of rainbow effect of the current state of the Arts in Britain” Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts said “The South Bank Sky Arts Awards are the highlight of the Sky Arts year – a summer treat brim full of the finest people, places and things coming together to celebrate all that is brilliant about Arts and Culture across the spectrum in the UK. We are incredibly proud to be the home of this prestigious event” A unique event in the British awards calendar, this year’s ceremony will be held at London’s Savoy Hotel on Sunday 9th July, and is broadcast on Sky Arts on Wednesday 12th July.