Victoria's Angels in Edinburgh
Two Victorians have received awards at the Edinburgh International Festival - one of the world's most prestigious arts festivals.
Comedian and actor Frank Woodley and curator Juliana Engberg were honoured with Herald Angel Awards, which pay tribute to the best performers, venues and backstage crew at Edinburgh each year.
Woodley took the gong for his performance in Optimism (a production commissioned by Malthouse Theatre, Edinburgh International Festival, Sydney Festival and Sydney Theatre Company), which debuted in Melbourne before travelling to Edinburgh for a sold out season.
Directed by Michael Kantor, Optimism is based on Voltaire's whimsical novel Candide. Critically acclaimed during its Melbourne run, the production was equally well-received in Edinburgh, culminating in the prestigious award for Woodley. This is the second time Woodley has been honoured at Edinburgh; he also took the Edinburgh Fringe Festival's Perrier Award in 1994 as part of the comic duo Lano & Woodley.
For the Malthouse Theatre Company, this success follows their triumphant Broadway season of Exit the King, which received four Tony Award nominations in New York and a win for lead actor Geoffrey Rush for his role as King Berenger.
Juliana Engberg received her "Angel" for her successful visual arts program. The artistic director of the Melbourne's Australian Centre for Contemporary Art was invited to Edinburgh to curate a program called The Enlightenments, which investigated the concept of enlightenment in the modern world, using Edinburgh's grand history and distinctive architecture as a backdrop.
The program won the heart of several Scottish commentators.
"Engberg's presence in Edinburgh has been a breath of fresh air this last week," wrote an arts critic from The Scotsman, "Brisk, direct and ever-present, her curating and institutional style (is) so different to her rather more reticent hosts at the National Galleries."
Both Woodley and Engberg appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival with the support of the Victorian Government, as part of the three-year Melbourne-Edinburgh Cultural Exchange Initiative.
The memorandum of understanding between these two vibrant, creative cities provides a fantastic platform for Victorian artists as well as Scottish artists who travel to Victoria.
With the Herald Angel Award proudly under its belt, Optimism returned to Australia to open at the Sydney Festival in early 2010.
Check out what Juliana Engberg is working on at ACCA by visiting the ACCA website.