The Kiss and DUS in final stage award nominations

The Utrecht Games (DUS), with its successful production August Oklahoma, immediately wins three nominations for the theatre awards to be handed out in September: Ria Eimers for the best female lead, and Peter Bolhuis and Tjitsjke Reidinga compete for the prizes for best supporting actress. Percentage-wise, however, much more successful than DUS is De Kus, a production by Hummelinck Stuurman, because there the entire cast was nominated: Huub Stapel and Carine Crutzen are both up for the prize for best leading role, competing within the jury with such luminaries as Gijs Scholten van Aschat and Elsie de Brauw.

We quote the press release:

Today, the Dutch Drama Jury announced the final nominations for the VSCD Drama Awards. The jury will award the prizes at the Gala van het Nederlands Theater. This gala will take place on the last day of the Dutch Theatre Festival, on Sunday 11 September 2011 in Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. Earlier, the jury already nominated Gijs Scholten van Aschat and Jacob Derwig for the Louis d'Or and Elsie de Brauw for the Theo d'Or. Rick Paul van Mulligen received a nomination for the Arlecchino and Lies Pauwels for the Colombina.

The Dutch Drama Jury announced today:

Nominated Louis d'Or (most impressive male supporting role):

- Huub Stapel in The Kiss by Hummelinck Stuurman Theatre Productions

Jury comment: "The audience comes to this performance basically for the actor, but is touched by his staggering vulnerability. Stack switches gears lightly, and manages to maintain that lightness, forcing the audience and his antagonist to stay with him."

Nominated Theo d'Or (most impressive female supporting role):

- Carine Crutzen in The Kiss by Hummelinck Stuurman Theatre Productions

Jury comment: "Carine Crutzen manages to play many registers within her characters in this haunting chamber play. She is unkind, uncomfortable, uncertain and full of anxiety, and tries to mask all that. Her acting and her strength enforce a self-evident silence, and a lack of self-confidence rings through in everything, unwillingly."

- Ria Eimers in August: Oklahoma from The Utrecht Games

Jury comment: "Ria Eimers is taming, seducing, schmoozing and, above all, convincingly lord and master on stage for four hours in this magisterial role. She shamelessly and without any embarrassment uses every means at her disposal, with her credibility constantly developing."

Nominated Arlecchino (most impressive male contributing role):

- Joris Smit in Alice in Wonderland by Noord Nederlands Toneel

Jury comment: "Joris Smit manages to switch back and forth effortlessly between the wide variety of roles he plays here. He shows physically strong acting, building up his part, culminating in a beautiful final monologue, which becomes the highlight of the performance due to his energetic playing."

- Peter Bolhuis in August: Oklahoma from The Utrecht Games

Jury comment: "With small, nuanced and quiet acting, Peter Bolhuis achieves particular impact. After all, his character's own personal tragedy represents the overall tragedy that applies to all the characters in this performance. Bolhuis has fine acting moments in his role that make a great impression."

Nominated Colombina (most impressive female contributing role):

- Tjitske Reidinga In August: Oklahoma from The Utrecht Games

Jury comment: "Tjitske Reidinga is made weak by fate in this play and accepts the role assigned by fate. She shows her choice of resignation extremely subtly, and has particularly strong moments in the interplay with the actresses playing her sisters."

- Tamar van den Dop in Emilia Galotti of the National Theatre

Jury comment: "Tamar van den Dop phenomenally disappears into her role. She embodies the highly conceptual approach of this play. She plays this alienating character with minute means but with maximum power of expression and gives it a feminine menace of its own."