Finley Awards

It is the nature of things, that all events eventually become stale, usually through nothing sinister, purely repetition and it’s only natural that there are highlight years in any annual event, which of course, leads to comments such as, “It’s never been as good as 1997 …etc, etc.” In fact it’s quite often the people who attend who have become bored, rather than the event becoming boring. It’s a bit like car design and marketing, no matter how good the car is, it always needs to be replaced with something new and different looking, even if under the skin, it’s the same beast.

I feel everyone should now take a step back and consider the various thoughts, reactions and responses that have been posted, for there is an unfair and no doubt unintended danger, that those people who give so much to try and make the Finley Awards work, will feel they are personally under attack.

It would appear there is consensus that the Finleys as a concept, has nearly everyones approval and as others have rightly pointed out, you canÂ’t please everybody with judgments and awards, as all our tastes are different.

The subtext of most comment, appears to be that many would like to see more awards, as they feel their particular interest has not been covered and there may well be age group differences in taste, which is completely normal.

There is no doubt this website is a superb tool and wonderful gift for anyone involved in amateur / community theatre and I realise my next statement may add considerably to the burden for Grant Watson, who really does deserve an award for his input into WA theatre, as indeed does Norma Davis, who has the thankless task of getting the printed newsletter out to everyone.

Some thought could be given to running a broad, serious poll on this site, and in the ITA Newsletter, asking people what direction they would like to see the Finley Award system take. For example:
Best Actor: (male and female)
Best Musical Performance: (Male and Female)
Venue: Stay at Kalamunda Move Closer to the City
This could be done in a Yes / No format and perhaps include an indication of age group eg: 10 -15 15 – 20 etc.

I suspect the three main problems in altering and adding to the format, in terms of a different venue and other awards – best Actor – male, female etc, are those of manpower … sorry … person power, money and time. Therefore people need to take these problems into consideration when making suggestions.

Cheers
Greg Ross