The ''Stage'' Awards for Acting Excellence are a set of Scottish

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

awards which were established in 1995 to recognise outstanding theatre performances by individuals and companies on the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. Organised by the theatrical newspaper ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'', the initial award categories of Best Actor and Best Actress were joined by a Best Ensemble award in 1998. In 2006, an award for Best Solo Show was given for the first time.{{cite web, url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/edinburgh/features/feature.php/13304/prize-war-stage-awards , title=Prize War , accessdate=2006-08-03 , author=Katie Phillips , publisher=The Stage , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925235950/http://www.thestage.co.uk/edinburgh/features/feature.php/13304/prize-war-stage-awards , archivedate=September 25, 2006 Award winners are chosen by a panel consisting of the newspaper's principal Fringe reviewers and are usually announced in a ceremony on the last Sunday of the Fringe Festival. There have been only two Joint Winners awarded, in 1998 and 1999.

Award winners

Best Actor

* 1995: Mark Pinkosh for ''Road Movie'' * 1996: Edward Halstead for ''Bartleby'' * 1997: John Stahl for ''Anna Weiss'' * 1998: Chris Pickles for ''

Love! Valour! Compassion! ''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play opened Off-Broadway in 1994 and transferred to Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in pr ...

'' * 1999: Tony Cownie for ''A Madman Sings to the Moon'' * 2000: Greig Coetzee for ''White Men with Weapons'' * 2001:

Guy Masterson Guy Alexander Masterson (''Mastroianni''; born 10 August 1961) is a British actor, writer, theatre director, producer and playwright widely known for his solo theatre performances of ''Under Milk Wood'', ''Animal Farm'', and ''Shylock'' by Ga ...

for ''Fern Hill and Other Dylan Thomas'' * 2002: David Calvitto for ''Horse Country'' * 2003: Richard Dormer for ''Hurricane'' * 2004:

James Urbaniak James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American character actor. He is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: '' Henry Fool'' (1997), '' Fay Grim'' (2006) and '' Ned Rifle'' (2014), Robert Crumb in ...

for '' Thom Pain (based on nothing)'' * 2005:

Phil Nichol Phil Nichol is a Canadian comedian, singer-songwriter and actor. Early life and career Comedy Nichol was born in Scotland to a Scottish mother, but raised in Canada. He first found fame as a member of the musical comedy trio Corky and the Juice ...

for ''Edward Albee's The Zoo Story'' * 2006:

Paul Sparks Paul Sparks (born October 16, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as gangster Mickey Doyle in the HBO period drama series ''Boardwalk Empire'', writer Thomas Yates in the Netflix political drama series ''House of Cards (Americ ...

for ''Finer Noble Gases'' * 2007: Garry Cooper for "Long Time Dead" * 2008: Ciaran McIntyre for "

Deep Cut ''Deep Cut'' is a play to date performed by Cardiff theatre company Sherman Cymru and written by Philip Ralph. It premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 and won the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award in the same year as well ...

" * 2009: Billy Mack for ''The Sound of My Voice'' * 2010: Scott Kyle for ''Singin' I'm No a Billy He's a Tim'' * 2011: Billy Mack for ''The Overcoat'' * 2012: Bill Patterson for ''And No More Shall We Part'' * 2013: * 2014: * 2015: * 2016: * 2017:

Best Actress

* 1995: Lynn Ferguson for ''Heart and Sole'' * 1996: Beth Fitzgerald for ''The House of Correction'' * 1997: Eileen Walsh for ''Disco Pig'' * 1998:

Siobhan Redmond Siobhan Redmond, ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles. Early life Siobhan Redmond was born on 27 July 1959 in the Tollcross area of ...

for ''Perfect Days'' + Alison Jean Baker for ''The Glace Bay Miner's Museum'' - Joint Winners * 1999: Jacqueline Linke for ''Often I Find That I Am Naked'' * 2000: Paola Dionisotti for ''Further Than the Furthest Thing'' * 2001:

Nichola McAuliffe Nichola McAuliffe (born 1955) is an English television and stage actress and writer, best known for her role as Sheila Sabatini in the ITV hospital sitcom '' Surgical Spirit'' (1989–1995). She has also starred in several stage musicals and won ...

for ''Bed Among the Lentils'' * 2002:

Sandy McDade Sandra Isobel McDade (born in February 1964), professionally known as Sandy McDade, is a Scottish actress, known for her part as Margaret Brown (née Ellison) in the television series ''Lark Rise to Candleford'', Miss Scatcherd in the 2011 film ' ...

for ''Iron'' * 2003: Cait Davis for ''Those Eyes, That Mouth'' * 2004: Pauline Goldsmith for

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's ''Not I'' * 2005: Saskia Schuck for ''Cage'' * 2006: Caroline O'Connor for ''Over The Rainbow'' * 2007:

Eugenia Caruso Eugenia Caruso is an Italian actress and screenwriter. Early life Caruso was born in Rome and completed her studies in the United Kingdom at East 15 Acting School. Career Caruso played the character of Mrs Santorelli in the television series ada ...

and Janet Bamford for ''Truckstop'' * 2008: Rhian Blythe for ''Deep Cut'' * 2009:

Cora Bissett Cora Bissett (born 1974) is a Scottish theatre director, playwright, actor and musician. As a director she has created ''Amada'', ''Roadkill'', ''Grit: The Martyn Bennett Story'', ''Glasgow Girls'' and ''Room''. As an actor she had regular appea ...

for ''Midsummer (A Play With Songs)'' * 2011: Alessija Lause for ''Danny And The Deep Blue Sea'' * 2012:

for ''Maurice’s Jubilee'' * 2013: * 2014: * 2015: * 2016: * 2017:

Best Ensemble

* 1998: Theatre 28 for ''

'' * 1999: The East company for Steven Berkoff's ''

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

'' (the 25th anniversary production) + Kaos Theatre UK for ''The Kaos Importance of Being Earnest'' - Joint Winners * 2000: Grid Iron Theatre Company for ''Decky Does a Bronco'' * 2001: Theatre O for ''3 Dark Tales'' * 2002: Bomb-itty International for ''

The Bomb-itty of Errors ''The Bomb-itty of Errors'' is a hip hop theatre retelling of Shakespeare's ''The Comedy of Errors''. Written and performed by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, GQ, and Erik Weiner, the show has been performed in New York City (Off-Broadway), ...

'' * 2003: 78th Street Theatre Lab and Paper Hat Productions for ''Boy Steals Train'' * 2004: Grid Iron Theatre Company for ''Fierce: An Urban Myth'' * 2005: The Corn Exchange, Ireland for ''Dublin by Lamplight'' * 2006:

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

for ''

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

'' * 2007: The Shalimar for ''La Femme Est Morte or Why I Should Not F%!# My Son'' * 2008: Live Theatre for ''Motherland'' * 2009: Green Shoot Productions for ''Chronicles of Long Kesh'' * 2010: * 2011: * 2012: Caroline Horton Company for ''Mess'' * 2013: * 2014:

& Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre Company for ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to crea ...

'' * 2015: * 2016: * 2017:

Best Solo Show

* 2006:

Daniel Kitson Daniel John Kitson (born 2 July 1977) is an English comedian and writer. Early life Daniel John Kitson was born in Denby Dale on 2 July 1977, the son of a primary school headteacher mother and a lecturer father. He was a pupil at Scissett Midd ...

for ''C-90'' * 2007: Madi Distefano for ''Popsicle’s Departure 1989'' * 2008: Matthew Zajac for ''The Tailor of Inverness'' * 2009: George Mann for ''Odyssey'' * 2010: * 2011: Gerard Logan for ''The Rape Of Lucrece'' * 2012: Silvia Gallerano for ''The Sh*t/La Merda'' * 2013: * 2014: * 2015: * 2016: * 2017:

References

British theatre awards Scottish awards