Arti Shah and James Hameed – The Olivier Awards; Atri Banerjee; Period Parrrty – The Offies; and The Authenticator – Theatre Bird Bites
Amazing achievements and a new play exploring Britain Colonialism and slavery – bite sized!
Oliviers – Paddington The Musical’s unusual Best Musical Actor award
CREATIVE pair Arti Shah and James Hameed were uniquely recognised at The Oliviers – one of the country’s main theatre awards – picking up the Best Actor in a Musical prize for their joint portrayal of the character of Paddington in ‘Paddington The Musical’.
Based on both the film and the original books by Michael Bond (1926-2017), this new show scooped a historic seven awards on the evening at the ceremony on Sunday (April 12) at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
It’s also been announced that the show will now run until February 2028! There’s good availability from Winter 2026, we are being told. Read our **** review and look out for more on ‘Paddington The Musical’ soon.
Paddington The Musical – Savoy Theatre, Savoy Court, The Strand, London WC2R 0ET, UK Booking now until February 13 2028
https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/paddington-the-musical/savoy-theatre/
Atri Banerjee, Period Parrrty win at The Offies and Nikesh Patel presents an award
ALSO winning recognition for work in the theatre is director Atri Banerjee whose Gate Theatre production of ‘Scenes from The Climate Era’ won a Best Production Award at The Offies – which recognises fringe theatre shows around the UK.
Banerjee told www.asianculturevulture.com the win – shared with several other productions as is the way of The Offies (off West End) – should give it a boost to return, following its near month long run at the Playground Theatre in west London, in September of last year. It was a European premiere for a work by Australian writer David Finnigan.
“We’re all really proud of the win – it’s a small group and we tried to work ethically and professionally, so it’s a real tribute to the whole team behind it and we would love for it to be seen by more people,” Banerjee told www.asianculturevulture.com shortly after winning.
The play doesn’t have a conventional narrative structure and is told in a series of vignettes by a range of different characters.
“There is a lot of context and humour in it, as well as the cataclysmic aspects – but it isn’t preachy and audiences had a good time,” explained Banerjee.
There were nine other winners in the Production category.
The Gate, which was founded in 1979, specialises in plays that exist to challenge convention and tradition and has an international agenda.
Also recognised at The Offies was the production, ‘Period Parrrty’ at Soho Theatre – it won a set design award with Katie Scott, Eve Oakley picking up on the evening. Set around a non-binary Tamil teenager Krish (Elizabeth Green), it was well reviewed.
(https://asianculturevulture.com/period-parrrty-tamil-queerness-and-non-binary-come-centre-stage/)
Actor Nikesh Patel, the star of the BBC comedy drama ‘Starstruck’ was one of the presenters of The Offies.
He was also nominated in the Best Actor category for his role in ‘Speed’ at The Bush in April 2025.
The ceremony featured live performances from host Divina De Campo, Ilan Evans, Martin Kaspar Orkestar, Gerel Falconer, Jordan Luke Gage and Daniel Krikler, as well as nominees from A Brief Case of Crazy, showcasing the eclectic talent and originality that define the sector.
The Offies have been running since 2010 and since 2025 have operated a broad range of categories, recognising more productions than single specific category winners – more than 50 awards were handed out across 10 categories and recognising more than 30 productions this year.
More on Atri Banerjee on acv – https://asianculturevulture.com/?s=Atri+Banerjee
Period Parrrty review – https://asianculturevulture.com/period-parrrty-tamil-queerness-and-non-binary-come-centre-stage/
Nikesh Patel and Speed – https://asianculturevulture.com/speed-director-milli-bhatia-on-a-new-play-that-is-probing-and-funny/
More here on The Offies – https://new.offwestend.com/2026-116
‘The Authenticator’: Slavery and colonial legacy entertainingly and sensitively unpicked
By Suman Bhuchar
EVERY stately home has its own secret.
According to the author Corinne Fowler in her marvellous book – ‘Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain’ – most of them are built from the profits of slavery and ‘The Authenticator’, a new play by Winsome Pinnock, sets out to explore this.
Fenella Harford or ‘Fen’ (Sylvestra Le Touzel), a jolly eccentric, no nonsense type of English woman discovers some old ledgers dating from 1756 when she’s clearing out her stately home, Harford Hall that she has recently inherited. These accounts date from the time when one of her ancestors ran a plantation in Jamaica.
So, she invites academics, Professor Ade (Rakie Ayola) and her mentee Marva (Cherrelle Skeete) to take a look at these ledgers in order to “authenticate” and validate their origins.
The women walk into a study with a table piled with leather bound books and are initially impressed. They get the gig and so, begins the story.
They are given a tour of the various sections of the house: some funny, some dark.
Ade is a little upset that Fen doesn’t remember how they knew each other at Oxford and is a well-mannered middle class African woman, while Marwa is a bit more working class – with her Brummie tinge and is feistier.
The set, designed by Jon Bausor, is the interior of a stately home and is deceptive.
It becomes a study with a table/chair with a door on left and fireplace on stage right. There are empty picture frames and a hidden door behind a bookshelf.
Harford Hall is as much a character, as the three women. At one point, while they are on tour they enter an underground dungeon and as they open a trap door to go downstairs -stairs appear on stage.
The lighting design and effects by Aideen Malone along with the violin and cello soundscape give the house an eerie and haunted look.
In the cellar, we discover a statue of a small blackamoor — a young boy who is named Melvin which is also name of Marva’s grandfather. And she has her own ulterior motive for being there.
Directed by Miranda Cromwell, the play has a lot of humour and the arguments around who is responsible for the slave trade and restitution are complex.
As they investigate the journals, they spot a missing page and have to conjecture a history until something happens and suddenly the whole plot turns.
www.asianculturevulture.com would hate to ruin your fun but from this point onwards the story takes a twist around the complicity of the slave trade.
It’s a smart play with a myriad of arguments around our contested narratives around slavery and Empire history.
It makes for an enjoyable and entertaining evening, despite the heavy and intense subject.
ACV rating: ****
‘The Authenticator’ until May 9 at The National Theatre (Dorfman), London SE1 9PX
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/the-authenticator/
