A few months ago I received an email notifying me that I’d be nominated in the Technical Theatre Awards (TTAs) in the “Outstanding Achievement for Makeup & Wigs” category http://www.technicaltheatreawards.com/ On Tuesday 7th October I was invited to ExCel, London to find out if I’d won. The award ceremony was being held during PlasaLondon, the world's annual premier pro audio and entertainment lighting event. Founded by PLASA in 1977, the show has been a driving force in the development and promotion of the professional entertainment technology industry for over 35 years. The TTA's, created in 2013, launched an innovative set of awards to highlight outstanding achievement and dedication within the technical theatre industry. The unique awards give credit to dedicated individuals, who are often not recognised for their hard work behind the scenes. They function very simply, giving any individual working within the theatre industry the opportunity to both recognise the excellence of their colleagues, and gain recognition for the time and commitment they dedicate to our industry.
The award I was nominated for was to highlight an individual working within the Makeup & Wigs Department. The four nominees were considered on their extraordinary contributions to one particular show or event, or due to their overall commitment to the industry and the nominations reflected the skill and both creative and practical ability of the individual, as well as the working manner when working within an inter-personal department and their true passion for the art. Thanks to my many loyal followers on social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook who voted for me, I won the Award.
Hosted by Kasper Holten, the Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House the event was exceptionally well attended with an impressive number of sponsors, nominees and supporters from all over the industry. My particular award was sponsored by Pigs Might Fly South (PMFS) http://www.pigsmightfly.co.uk/Blood/Home.html and presented by Company Director, Anthony Davis. PMFS produce a theatrical blood which is an ultra-realistic, fully washable, running non-staining blood, developed by multi-award winning special effects make-up artist, Nick Dudman. http://www.nickdudman.com/Welcome.html With over thirty years’ experience in the industry, Nick has worked as designer / supervisor on a huge range of successful motion pictures, including the entire Harry Potter series and has been, and remains to this day, my one time hero in the makeup industry.
Anthony Davis, MD Pigs Might Fly South sponsors of Technical Theatre Awards
It was a huge privilege, not only to accept the Award from Anthony, but to have been recognised by the Industry for the things I’m passionate about – the ability to be constantly be creative within my work, teaching and inspiring young people, meeting and working with amazingly talented people from backstage crew to hugely talented actors and working in strange and beautiful locations across the UK and further afield.
Since winning the Award, PMFS have chosen to sponsor one of the films I’m working on – Invasion Of The Not Quite Dead, produced and directed by Antony D Lane and the following day 20 litres of blood arrived for our next big horror scene, so it was entirely appropriate that, as a horror and SFX artist, I won an award sponsored by a blood manufacturer!
