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Theatre companies and artists supported by Arts Council England have drawn top accolades from this year’s Edinburgh Festival.

Theatre companies and artists supported by Arts Council England, South East have drawn top awards at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe and will be spreading their wings internationally.

Reviewing the region’s successes at the world’s largest arts festival and showcase, Roger McCann, Theatre Officer for Arts Council England, South East said: "These companies have worked very hard to make a show for Edinburgh, especially as our funding is not towards the costs of appearing there. Edinburgh is not just a festival but is also the world’s largest arts marketplace with companies using their exposure there to secure bookings for the future. The success of so many south east companies in Edinburgh speaks volumes for the quality of the work produced in the region."

Three of the region’s companies won the most prestigious awards at the festival:

Breakfast at Audrey’s, which began life in Brighton with Arts Council funding as In Audrey Hepburn’s Arms, won a Scotsman Fringe First Award. The show was presented in Edinburgh by Clyde Unity Theatre in association with BandBazi.

dreamthinkspeak’s site-specific production of Don’t Look Back - which so wowed Brighton Festival goers in 2003 - won a 'Total Theatre Award'. It was presented amid records of births, deaths and marriages dating from the 16th century in Edinburgh’s General Register House. The production, which was part of the British Council showcase, has drawn interest from Moscow for this and for his latest show, Underground, funded by the Arts Council, which will be in London in October as part of the Barbican’s Young Genius season.

Total Theatre Awards

Tom Crouch’s latest show, An Oak Tree, which also received development funds from the Arts Council, was presented at The Traverse Theatre and received a 'Herald Angel' award, presented by Scottish national daily newspaper, The Herald.

It’s easy to forget the importance of the venue manager when acknowledging the success of theatre performances, but Aurora Nova, one of the Festival’s most exciting venues created by Brighton based Komedia with the German company Fabrik, won The Tap Water Venue Award for 'Outstanding Overall Performance'. Four of the shows nominated for the Total Theatre Awards, presented in association with the University of Winchester, were staged at Aurora Nova.

Other south east highlights included:

Alister O’Loughlin, who was nominated for The Stage 'Best Actor Award' for his portrayal of the 19th century actor Edmund Kean in his highly acclaimed trilogy The Tragedian, which also won the Three Weeks Theatre Award. He has been invited to the 2006 HighFest International Festival of Theatre in Yerevan.

Aerial performer, Matilda Leyser, received a Total Theatre Award nomination for Lifeline, part of a trilogy funded in development by the Arts Council, which was presented to great acclaim at the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio last year. The complete trilogy will be presented over the next year.

Newbury based Plested and Brown’s new show Hot Pursuit, which premiered during the Berkshire venues 'Around the Fringes' festival, has been invited to festivals in New Zealand and Prague. The comedy company also attracted interest from promoters from Berlin and the Netherlands.

All of these companies have been supported by Arts Council England during the development of their work but a successful production requires support from a number of sources and one south east venue is also celebrating Edinburgh success. South Hill Park, one of Arts Council England, South East’s regularly funded organisations in Bracknell, was directly involved in the commissioning of a number of this year’s successful shows including dreamthinkspeak’s Don’t Look Back, Gecko’s The Race (both Total Theatre Award winners) and Walk the Plank’s SWALK, which received a Total theatre award nomination.

Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in England, distributing public money from Government and the National Lottery.

More information available in Festivals, On Stage