Craig Griffen, Vanessa Jensen and Alan Kennedy with their trophies from the Robert Finley Awards.
Camera IconCraig Griffen, Vanessa Jensen and Alan Kennedy with their trophies from the Robert Finley Awards. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Melville Theatre Company cleans up at Robert Finley Awards

Aaron CorlettMelville Gazette

THE Melville Theatre Company (MTC) has enjoyed its best ever performance at the annual Robert Finley Awards, winning a swag of trophies.

The awards were held on January 19 and recognise the best in community theatre in WA, with three Melville shows listed in the top 10 plays of 2018: Venus in Fur, Mr Bailey’s Minder and Wonderful World, while Urinetown was listed in the top five musicals of 2018.

Urinetown won six awards in the musical categories, which included Best Musical, Best Set of a Musical, Best Actress (Shanee Osborne), Best Supporting Actress (Erin Craddock), Best Music Director (Taui Pinker), Best Director of a Musical (Taui Pinker) and Best Director of a Musical (Craig Griffen).

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Mr Bailey’s Minder took home three awards in the play categories, Best Actor to Alan Kennedy, Best Director to Vanessa Jensen and Best Play while Jethrro Pidd won Best Supporting Actor in a play for his role in Wonderful World.

MTC president Vanessa Jensen said it was “definitely” the best awards ever for the organisation.

“It was the first time in 12 years that any company has won the Best Play and Best Musical awards,” she said.

“We’ve done quite well over the past eight or nine years and we are a thriving company.

“The company has developed a strong relationship with people who want to do shows and we are known as being supportive to people coming in.”