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Sally Burton Award Winners

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

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  • 2017 Sally Burton Award winners announced

    2017 Sally Burton Award winners announced

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3rd Year Acting students Stephanie Somerville and Mitchell Bourke have won the 2017 Sally Burton Awards.

Nurturing young artistic talent

Nurturing young artistic talent has long been a passion for Sally Burton, the widow of the great Welsh actor Richard Burton.  All students in 3rd Year Acting at WAAPA are invited to perform for the annual prizes – one for males and one for a female – worth $2,000 each.

The students are required to perform a Shakespearean text monologue or duologue.  The judging is based on the ability to speak the verse, connect to the text, interpret the content and present the finished work.

Stephanie Somerville played Queen Margaret in a powerful scene from Henry VI and Mitchell Bourke gave a poignant and touching portrayal of Richard II.

This year’s judges were Artistic Director of Black Swan State Theatre Company, Clare Watson, director/designer Lawrie Cullen-Tait and writer/director Will O’Mahoney who were unanimous in their decision.

Past winners

Many of the past recipients of the Sally Burton Award have gone to greater success in film, television and theatre.

Past winners include James Mackay and Matthew Levett who both went on to win the prestigious Heath Ledger Scholarship; Abby Earl is enjoying a long-running role in the hit TV series A Place To Call Home; 2015’s winners Ben Kindon, who stepped out of drama school into a lead role in Barracuda, and Megan Wilding, who is the 2017 winner of the Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwrights Award; and Claire Lovering, who scored a lead role in the Nine Network’s 2016 television drama series, Hyde & Seek.

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