Theatre Productions

Horniman Award

Annie Horniman is rightly regarded as the founder of the British repertory theatre movement, and it all began right here in Manchester. Using £25,000 of her family’s packet tea fortune, in 1908 she bought Manchester’s Gaiety Theatre, intent on bringing classics and new locally written plays to working class audiences.

 

One hundred years before this award was presented to Feelgood, Annie Horniman changed the face of British theatre, establishing the first-ever repertory theatre company in this country at the Midland Hotel, where the tea heiress would hold court in the bar, smoking like a chimney and generally outraging the good folk of Manchester. Out of the repertory theatre movement has emerged many of this country's finest actors and actresses, which is why the Theatre Awards panel decided to name this special award for people or institutions who have made a unique contribution to theatre in this area. This year's recipient of the Horniman Award, then, is Caroline Clegg (pictured left) whose Feelgood Theatre Productions have put a new spin on the rep. tradition and have certainly established a wonderful new precedent, with their marvellous outdoor shows in Heaton Park. 

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More about Annie Horniman