The Broadway

The Broadway nominated for The Stage Award for Special Achievement

Friday 29th October

The Broadway, the vibrant performance venue at the heart of Barking, is delighted to have been nominated for The Stage Award for Special Achievement in Regional Theatre.

The award for which the Broadway has been nominated is “in recognition of the important contribution they have made to theatre regions over the last year”.

The nomination was made by Van Badham, literary manager at the Finborough Theatre, for the Broadway’s staging of the play “A Day at the Racists” by Andres Lustgarten. Van Badham described the decision to stage a play in Barking about the insidious growth of the British National Party as ‘theatre with cojones’.

Staging the play in a borough that at the time had six BNP councilors, which was anticipating even more success in the imminent local elections and in which its national leader was standing for parliament in the general election, was recognized by many commentators as a very brave decision.
The BNP was the official opposition to the council which was so why the play was so controversial.

But the award nomination has come as a complete surprise to the Broadway’s CEO/Artistic Director, Karena Johnson, whose decision it was to stage “A Day at the Racists”.

“I really wasn’t expecting this” she said, “although of course I am delighted. There was quite a reaction to the play when we presented it here in April, from national media and local politicians as you would expect. But the best reaction was from the audience, mostly people from Barking & Dagenham, who thoroughly enjoyed a piece of theatre that was as highly entertaining as it was timely and provocative. Their universally positive response was all the vindication I needed”.
 

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