Yesterday was one of the most historic in Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s history, as the Theatre achieved record breaking success at the 13th Annual Off West End Awards, held in front of 700 guests at Alexandra Palace.
Five awards in, and QTH started their winning streak, picking up the People’s Vote Award for Most Comfortable theatre, quickly followed by the award for Best Online Info & Booking. Collected by Sarah Soliman, Head of Marketing & Press and Peter Thorne, Head of Customer Services & Facilities at QTH. Mathew Russell, Executive Director of QTH said: “It’s fabulous to see our venue and team recognised in this way.”
The first half of the ceremony closed with QTH winning a surprise special OneOff Award for Blueprint Festival 2022, complete with a wonderful onstage citation. The award was collected by David Shearing, Deputy Chair of the Theatre’s Board, and members of the Theatre’s Creative Leadership Team: Kate Lovell, Britny Virginia and Danielle Kassaraté.
The Off West End Awards tweeted that “The programming is a testament to QTH and we applaud their drive, creativity and ambition.” David Shearing, who was also one of the leading artists who created work for this new festival said, “It has been amazing to be part of the conception of Blueprint Festival. A platform designed to open up QTH spaces and invest in local talent. Honoured to be part of this.”
In the second half, things kept getting better as QTH picked up the hotly contested award for Best Panto, with ‘Sleeping Beauty’ the first of QTH’s pantos to be nominated, let alone a finalist and the overall winner!
Tom Self, who wrote the original music and lyrics for the panto, collected the award with Caroline Leslie, the director of ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ Tom said: “It really is a celebration of the entire workforce at QTH and it’s continuing efforts to produce an original pantomime each year. I want to thank QTH, Off West End and the wonderfully supportive audiences at the Queen’s for continuing to support and believe in this work.”
The icing on the cake was Oliver Hembrough winning ‘Supporting Performance in a Play’ for QTH’s production of ‘All My Sons’. Douglas Rintoul, who directed the play, said that he’s “So thrilled!” and that it’s “Well deserved”.
Mathew Russell, Executive Director, reflected that it was “an extraordinary day for QTH” and that he is “so very proud of everyone involved.”