MEET THE THEATRE JUDGES
DAVID BENEDICT (Chair)
Variety
David Benedict is a culture critic and broadcaster. After reading drama at Hull University he worked as an actor and director before becoming daily columnist, theatre editor and associate arts editor of The Independent. He was arts editor of The Observer and in 2006 he joined Variety as chief London critic. He has written extensively for the Financial Times, Evening Standard, The Guardian and Wall Street Journal Europe and is joint lead columnist for The Stage where he also reviews theatre and opera. A regular guest on BBC’s Front Row and other TV and radio arts programmes, he also plays Tristram Hawkshaw on The Archers.
SARAH CROMPTON
The Observer and Whatsonstage, Dance and Theatre
Sarah Crompton is one of Britain’s most respected writers and broadcasters, commentating on all aspects of culture. She reviews theatre for WhatsOnStage and dance for the Observer. Her work appears in the Guardian, the Sunday Times, The Times, and British and American Vogue. She produces a weekly theatre podcast “As the Actress Said to the Critic” with the actress Nancy Carroll. A regular contributor to the BBC’s Front Row, she was previously the Arts Editor in Chief of the Daily Telegraph, where she wrote a regular sports column for a decade.
DAVE FARGNOLI
The Stage, Regional Theatre
Dave Fargnoli is a freelance theatre critic, playwright, and associate writer for The Stage, as well as a regular member of The Stage Debut Awards judging panel. His own award-nominated plays have seen production in London and Edinburgh, and have toured to rural venues across Scotland. With almost two decades’ experience as a critic, Dave has reviewed shows all over the UK and internationally, from grand spectacles with cutting-edge effects to fringe productions with lo-fi aesthetics, and he strongly believes in championing challenging, inventive and inspiring work wherever it is found.
MARK FISHER
The Guardian, Scottish Theatre
Mark Fisher is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a contributor to publications all over the world. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.
LOUISE LEVENE
Financial Times, Dance
Louise Levene is a novelist, critic and printmaker. She was a dance writer for the Independent and Independent on Sunday 1988-1998, dance critic for The Sunday Telegraph 19 98-2014 and has written on dance for the Financial Times since 2014. She has a degree in English from Oxford and a PhD in English Language from University College, London. She taught dance history as Adjunct Professor of the University of Notre Dame. The first of her four published novels, A Vision of Loveliness, was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, was a BBC radio Book at Bedtime and was televised by BBC4 in 2023.
FIONA MADDOCKS
The Observer, Opera
Fiona Maddocks is the classical music critic of The Observer. She has written the books Hildegard of Bingen – The Woman of Her Age, Harrison Birtwistle – Wild Tracks, and most recently, Goodbye Russia – Rachmaninoff in Exile, all published by Faber. She was founder editor of BBC Music Magazine.
DOMINIC MAXWELL
The Sunday Times & the Times, Theatre
Dominic Maxwell is a theatre and comedy critic for The Sunday Times and The Times. He studied philosophy at the University of Sussex, which gave him the edge on the pointlessness of all things. That done, and with a letter from the dole office telling he was about to get an extra fiver a week because he was turning 25, he got his act together, did a journalism course, and (eventually) got a job at The Times. Previous jobs include writing for Time Out, the Sunday Telegraph and Metro, where he was briefly arts editor until the call came from The Times.
MARK VALENCIA
Freelance, Opera
Mark Valencia is an opera critic who draws on a long career in theatre and drama education as well as an enduring passion for lyric theatre. For 12 years he reviewed theatre, musical theatre and opera for WhatsOnStage, and since 2018 he has been a critic for Opera magazine. In his spare time he covers classical music, plus yet more opera, for Bachtrack and Musical America.
