Hundreds of nominations for performers, creatives and productions were received for the 2023 Birthday Honour Awards, the third of our Awards Seasons.

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to let us know their favourites.

Those votes have now been combined with those of our expert panel and we are delighted to announce the finalists in this year’s Awards.

Best Supporting Performer
Mike Corsale Tussy
Richard Curnow Naming the View
Enow Bismarck Sanctuary
Natalia Ponomarova The Birthday Party

Best Director 
Bernie C Byrnes The Quality of Mercy
Daphna Attias & Terry O’Donovan Odds On
Andres Velasquez The Return
John Knowles Caliban’s Codex
Frédérique Michel Department of Dreams
Stephen Smith Notre Dame

Best Play
Last Little Girl by Mama Quilla Productions
Sell Me: I Am From North Korea by North Korea Theater
The Quality of Mercy by Nailed Productions
Planet Speranta by Finborough Theatre
Spitting in the Face of the Devil by JMTC Theatre

Best Playwright
Bob Brader Spitting in the Face of the Devil
Edwin Flay Quality of Mercy
Hamza Adam Rafique Skin Deep
Nina Zakhozhenko Red Lipstick
Kay Adshead The Last Little Girl

Best Lead Performer
Emily Carding Caliban’s Codex
Bob Brader Spitting in the Face of the Devil
Edwin Flay The Quality of Mercy
Sora Baek Sell Me: I Am From North Korea
Rhiannon Llewellyn Mrs Pack
Gavin O’Neill Punched
Andrew Bate The King in Yellow 
Yulia Sosnovska The Birthday Party

Congratulations to all our finalists. Winners will be announced on Sunday 28th May at 7pm.