The Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio Theatre will be the venue for the presentation of the 2002 Barclays Theatre Awards, presented by the Theatrical Management Association.

The awards are for excellence in all aspects of regional theatre, and more than 1,000 productions have been seen in the run up to the nominations.

The categories and nominees include:

Best Actress
Amanda Donohoe for Hedda Gabler (Royal Exchange Theatre Company)
Kathryn Howden for Victory (Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh)
Diana Quick for Ghosts (English Touring Theatre) Best Actor
Adrian Dunbar for Conversations on a Homecoming (Lyric Theatre, Belfast)
Pete Postlethwaite for Scaramouche Jones (Rebbeck Penny and Bristol Old Vic on tour)
Corin Redgrave for The Browning Version (Derby Playhouse)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Dorothy Atkinson for Eden End ( West Yorkshire Playhouse)
Mairead McKinley for The Clearing (Shared Experience Theatre on tour)
Una McLean for Perfect Days (Borderline Theatre, Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow and tour)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Richard Attlee for The Clearing (Shared Experience Theatre tour)
Michael Begley for Hobson's Choice (The Touring Consortium, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Theatre Royal, Plymouth on tour)
Jimmy Chisholm for Amadeus (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)

Best Director
Lucy Bailey for Starirs to the Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre production at the Minerva Theatre)
Sean Holmes for Comedians (Oxford Stage Company with ACT Productions and Northcott Theatre, Exeter)
Emma Rice for The Red Shoes (Knee High Theatre tour)

Best Designer
Imogen Clöet for Noir (Northern Stage Ensemble and Live Theatre at Newcastle Playhouse)
Simon Higlett for Elizabeth Rex (Birmingham Repertory Theatre with Duncan C. Weldon and Paul Elliott for Triumph Entertainment Ltd, and Three Sisters (Nuffield Theatre with Theatre Royal Bath Productions tour)
Philip Whitcomb for Love in a Maze ( Watermill, West Berkshire Playhouse)

Best New Play
Gagarin Way by Gregory Burke, Traverse Theatre Company in association with the National Theatre Studio on tour
Mother Clap's Molly House, a play with songs by Mark Ravenhill with music by Matthew Scott, National Theatre on tour
Tiny Dynamite by Abi Morgan Paines Plough and Frantic Assembly with Contact, Manchester on tour

Barclays Award For Best Touring Entertainment
Rose Rage adapted from Shakespeare's Henry VI plays by Edward Hall and Roger Warren, a Watermill West Berkshire Playhouse production
Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, translated by Ronald Hingley, presented by Nuffield Theater Southhampton, in association with Theatre Royal Bath Productions
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, English version by Tom Stoppard, Dundee Rep Theatre Company on tour

Best Musical
Fiddler on the Roof: book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, produced on the New York stage by Harold Prince, original New York stage production directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, a Watermill, West Berkshire Playhouse production
High Society: music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Arthur Kopit, additional lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, based on the play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry, also based on The Turner Entertainment Co. Motion Picture "High Society." Original Broadway production produced by Lauren Mitchell and Robert Gailus, Hal Luftig and Richard Samson, Dodger Endemol Theatricals in Association with Bill Haber. Originally produced by American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco CA. Carey Perloff, Artistic Director, Heather Kirchen, Managing Director at the Crucible
On Your Toes: music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, book by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and George Abbott presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd on behalf of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatre Library of New York at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre

—By Paul Webb http://www.theatrenow.com/">Theatrenow