MUSIC THEATRE WALES WINS PRESTIGIOUS UK THEATRE AWARD

FOR ITS PRODUCTION OF TURNAGE'S GREEK

Music Theatre Wales wins Outstanding Achievement in Opera award, beating off opera's big hitters.

Music Theatre Wales has won a prestigious Theatre Award UK for its production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera, Greek, currently on tour.

Michael McCarthy's visceral production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's precocious first opera – a raunchy re-write of the Oedipus myth set in the East End – received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, where it faced formidable competition from two of opera's big hitters – Opera North and Canadian baritone Gerald Finley for his performance in Wagner's Meistersinger at Glyndebourne.

Music Theatre Wales, based in Cardiff, is a pioneering force in contemporary opera in Britain, with an established international reputation.

The winners of Theatre Awards UK were announced at a lunchtime ceremony at the Banqueting House in Whitehall on Sunday, October 30. The re-launched annual Theatre and Theatre Management Awards are given to honour creative excellence and the outstanding work seen on stages throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Produced in association with Brecon's Theatr Brycheiniog, where it opened earlier this year, MTW's production of Greek, Turnage's contemporary classic, has collected unanimously glowing reviews throughout its countrywide tour. The Observer's critic commented: "This brilliant chamber opera...still retains all its excoriating force in Music Theatre Wales's compact new staging", while The Guardian's critic declared: "it's a compliment to say it sometimes feels like an operatic Eastenders special."