Nottingham Playhouse is celebrating not one but two major award nominations in recognition of its excellence in caring for the public. Just announced are the nominations for the 2007 TMA Management Awards, in which Nottingham Playhouse has made the shortlist for Most Welcoming Theatre against a nationwide field. At the same time, the theatre’s customer service staff are nominated as Team of the Year in Experience Nottinghamshire’s STARS awards, ranking them among the best in the whole of the county’s leisure industry. By coincidence, the winners of both awards are to be announced on Thursday 17 May.
The Theatrical Management Association (TMA) hosts its awards ceremony every year to recognise the very best in British theatre, opera and dance, and its Management Awards number just five categories. The new nomination continues Nottingham Playhouse’s run of success in these awards: the venue was previously nominated as Most Welcoming Theatre in 2005, narrowly losing out to Bradford Theatres, and just last year carried off the Eclipse Award, supported by Arts Council England, given to the theatre which has done most to promote cultural diversity in the performing arts. The Playhouse has high hopes that this success will be repeated next Thursday, when it competes with Oxford Playhouse and the Unicorn Theatre for the coveted title of the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre.
It might just prove a double coronation, with the Nottinghamshire STARS award for Team of the Year to be presented on the same day. Experience Nottinghamshire has sought to promote good practice throughout the county’s leisure and culture sector by presenting the STARS awards, so named because they reward Skills, Training, Attitude, Retention and Service. This year, the number of entrants for the twelve categories was in three figures, so it is a significant achievement for the Playhouse’s Customer Service Team to gain a nomination. Its fellow nominees are the Guest Services Team at the Center Parcs Information Centre, the Full Circle Catering Relief Chef Team from Mansfield, and last year’s winner, the D.H. Lawrence Heritage Team from Eastwood.
Nottingham Playhouse has long prided itself on providing a warm welcome to theatregoers, but the theatre has not rested on its laurels. In recent years, Customer Service Manager Richard Surgay has led a programme named Platinum Playhouse to constantly refresh and improve the way the Box Office and Front of House staff look after members of the public. This work has borne fruit in the current award nominations, but most importantly in providing a smooth and enjoyable experience for anyone attending the theatre. All the customer service staff will be on tenterhooks for the next week as they await the final results, but the joint nominations are cause for celebration in themselves.
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