The awards ceremony will take place on the 11th February 2024, with the West End Theatre for the ceremony to be unveiled soon.
WhatsOnStage have confirmed that its annual awards celebrating theatre will return in February next year, with nominations now being accepted.
Co-produced by with creative directors Alex Parker and Damian Sandys the awards remain the only major theatre awards decided by audiences themselves, with nominations closing on the 23rd November. As well as the awards themselves, the evening also features a range of performances from stage talent.
The shortlist of nominations will then be announced Thursday 7th December 2023. Voting will then open at the same time, closing on Thursday 11th January 2024, with the winners being announced at the ceremony on Sunday 11th February 2024.
Meanwhile, the awards categories will continue as before. Performance categories will be gender-free and, for each of the following, readers will be able to nominate and vote for one individual:
• Best Performer in a Play
• Best Performer in a Musical
• Best Supporting Performer in a Play
• Best Supporting Performer in a Musical
The additional audience-nominated categories include Best New Play, Best New Musical, Best Play Revival, Best Musical Revival, Best Regional Production, Best Takeover Performance, Best Professional Debut, Best Concert Event, Best West End Show and Best Off West End Production.
In order to be eligible for nomination, all live, original UK professional productions – and performers within these productions, whose performances began between 22 November 2022 and 23 November 2023 are eligible in almost all the categories. Productions that have been eligible in previous years, plus any performers that have appeared in these productions between 22 November 2022 and 23 November 2023 are not eligible in almost all categories.
The exemptions for this include Best West End Show, Best Takeover Performance and Best Professional Debut Performance. Additional rules apply for the following categories:
Best Off-West End Production
Any professional production whose performances began in an Off-West End venue (in London) between 22 November 2022 and 23 November 2023 is eligible.
• Best Regional Production
Any professional production whose performances began in a venue outside of Greater London between 22 November 2022 and 23 November 2023 is eligible.
• Best West End Show
The award recognises the most popular show currently running in a West End theatre that will have played for at least 12 months up to 10 January 2023. This includes shows that began performances before 22 November 2022.
• Best Concert Event.
The award is open to any new self-described concert event that ran for a maximum of three performances.
Meanwhile, the shortlist for the technical categories (Choreography, Costume Design, Direction, Graphic Design, Lighting Design, Musical Direction/Supervision, Set Design, Sound Design, Casting Direction and Video Design) will be decided once again by an independent panel of industry experts from across the UK appointed by WhatsOnStage, taking the total number of categories to 24. Shortlists will then be voted on by the general public.
WhatsOnStage’s Alex Wood and Darius Thompson-Smith said today: “The WhatsOnStage Awards have been going from strength-to-strength every year, and we’re excited to keep that momentum going into 2024. The last 12 months has seen some revelatory productions that have both enchanted audiences and brought new theatre fans into the fold. We can’t wait to both see who our readers nominate and celebrate together in our sparkling West End concert ceremony next February!”
To make a nomination visit: https://awards.whatsonstage.com/