The 2018 edition of the Naledi Awards was held at the Montecasino Theatro, on the evening of 18 June. The prestigious awards evening, organised by the indomitable patrons of the performing arts, Des and Dawn Lindberg, recognised a wide array of performers, artists, and technical professionals who have contributed to keeping theatre alive in South Africa during the 2017 period.
The award for Best Lighting Design, sponsored by Splitbeam, was presented to Joshua Cutts for his work on the Fugard’s production of West Side Story. Cutts quickly handed over the reins at front of house, where he was operating the lighting rig for the awards show to accept his award. “I started in theatre lighting and after a long absence from the theatre environment, thoroughly enjoyed working on this production,” Cutts states. He thanked the West Side Story team and his family for his achievement.
Gladman Balintulo was awarded for his work on Sarafina in the category of Best Sound Design, sponsored by Splitbeam. Balintulo acknowledged Mbongeni Ngema, who wrote the award-winning score for the Broadway musical production which enjoyed a two year run on Broadway and was later adapted into a feature film. He also thanked Mark Malherbe, one of South Africa’s most prolific sound engineers in the theatre environment, for his support.
In the category of Best Set Design, Conor Murphy was announced the winner for his work on the Fugard’s production of West Side Story. Murphy was unable to attend the award ceremony in person but was represented by West Side Story director, Mathew Wild who read Murphy’s acceptance speech. According to Murphy, Wild had initially been working with internationally renowned South African set designer, Johan Engels before his untimely death in 2014.
“Johan and Mathew had a number of very creative days together, during which they almost completely designed the set for The Fugard’s production of West Side Story. When I came to the production as set designer, I felt that it would be right to continue with Johan’s ideas, and tried to realise them for the Artscape stage,” Murphy explained. Murphy went on to thank the team that worked alongside him to bring the West Side Story to South African audiences and accepted the award on behalf of the late Johan Engels.
Dawn Lindberg acknowledged all of the technical suppliers that kindly sponsored the equipment and resources required to make the award ceremony possible, particularly noting the three-year partnership between the Naledi Awards and Splitbeam, a part of the Gearhouse Group.
