Plastic Bag Awards 2025

It's the awards season again so it's time for the Baggies 2025! I've seen lots of things this year but 'good' isn't enough to get a nomination. These awards have been going for 18 years so it's important to maintain standards. The nominees are:

Best Theatre - Drama 

Richard II @ The Bridge Theatre
Dear England @ National Theatre
Mrs Warren's Profession @ Garrick Theatre
In Praise of Love @ Orange Tree Theatre
Bacchae @ National Theatre

It's been an odd year for theatre drama with some big productions just not making the grade for various reasons, such as 'Hamlet' at the National Theatre and Susan Sarandon's 'Mary Page Marlowe' at the Old Vic not being nominated. The nominees are a mixed bag with both old and new shows: an excellent 'Richard II' with Jonathan Bailey, a revival of new play 'Dear England' about Gareth Southgate when he was the England football manager, old plays by Shaw and Rattigan and a startling new version of 'Bacchae'. The winner of the Baggie is 'Dear England' despite it still amazing me that I liked a play about football (which isn't really about football at all)! 

Best Theatre - Musical

Marie & Rosetta @ Rose Theatre

Shucked @ Regents Park Open Air Theatre

Girl from the North Country @ Old Vic

It's also been an odd year for musicals, with only three productions being nominated. 'Marie & Rosetta' was about Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her protege starring Beverley Knight at the Rose Theatre in Kingston and it's going to play again in 2026 in the West End - I loved it and already have tickets for the show at Sohoplace. 'Shucked' was a new musical set in a small town in a hidden valley in the USA and the corn crop is failing... great songs, hilariously funny and rather rude at times! 'Girl from the North Country' was a revival of the show using Bob Dylan songs set in the Depression. The winner is the joyous 'Shucked' and I hope I see it again one day!

Best Theatre - Dance

Ballet to Broadway - Wheeldon Works @ Royal Opera House
Vuela @ Sadlers Wells
Perspectives @ Royal Opera House

Only three nominations this year (although I wanted to include 'Romeo & Juliet', one of my favourite ballets by the Royal Ballet but was over-ruled by the judging panel). Two ballets and one flamenco show and the winner is 'Perspectives', a trio of very different ballets by three choreographers that worked well together.

Best Film - Old

Volver @ BFI
Slade in Flame @ BFI
Bonjour Tristesse @ BFI
Battleship Potemkin @ BFI
7th Heaven @ BFI

'Volver' is a favourite film by Almodovar and who could resist seeing the restored 'Slade in Flame' with three members of the band in the audience? 'Bonjour Tristesse' from the '50s always makes me think of sun-drenched beaches and cellar jazz clubs in Paris with a bored Jean Seberg and David Niven in unfortunate trunks. 'Battleship Potemkin' with it's soundtrack by Pet Shop Boys giving us the disco revolution and '7th Heaven' in old Paris give us the silent film contingent. And the winner is '7th Heaven', a tale of finding love in the streets of Paris and surviving war, a strangely beautiful film.

Best Film - New

Flow @ Garden Cinema
Four Mothers @ BFI
Christmas Karma @ Vue West End
Wicked: For Good @ Curzon Mayfair

The film year opened with 'Flow', a magical tale of a cat waking up in a flooded world, finding friends and being saved by the bestest dog. 'Four Mothers' is a quiet story about mothers and sons, friendships and personal growth. 'Christmas Karma' is a new version of 'A Christmas Carol' with Scrooge played by a Ugandan Asian refugee and full of joyous songs with London looking lovely. And 'Wicked: For Good' is the second part of the 'Wicked' story with Cynthia Erivo singing up a storm. The winner is the quietest and gentlest film, 'Four Mothers'.

Best Exhibition

Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious @ Dulwich Picture Gallery
Leigh Bowery @ Tate Modern
Siena: Rise of Painting @ National Gallery
Radical Harmony @ National Gallery
Beato Angelico @ Museo San Marco & Palazzo Strozzi, Florence

There's always an exhibition in my world and my year started on a high with Tirzah Garwood at Dulwich Picture Gallery. She's been in the shadow of her husband Eric Ravilious but she shined in her own exhibition with delicate and beautiful paintings and creations. The Leigh Bowery exhibition was brash, colourful and loud, exactly as it should be. I've always liked early Sienese painting but this exhibition made me fall in love with it and I saw the exhibition several times. 'Radical Harmony' showed us a great collection of Neo-Impressionist paintings in the Helene Kröller-Müller collection, including artists I've never come across before and want to learn more about. But the Baggie goes to 'Beato Angelico' in Florence for an astonishing exhibition across two sites, bringing together so many masterpieces from around the world and re-creating altarpieces with their original panels, a huge endeavour by the curators.

So there we are, a years' worth of entertainment and learning summed up with the Plastic Bag Awards for 2025. Here's looking ahead to more in 2026!