By Mikayla van Loon
They graced the stage together for the first time earlier this year and now the mother and son duo have continued their joint achievements both taking out awards in the Victorian Drama League.
Angela and Lachlan Glennie were presented with best actress in a drama and best actor in a minor role in a drama respectively for the Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre’s production of The Deep Blue Sea.
It came as a complete surprise for both Angela and Lachlan, with Lachlan not even able to make it on the night to accept his award.
“You go there knowing that your show has been entered but beyond that you know nothing so it’s a great chance to catch up with lots of theatre friends that you haven’t seen for a while and then the awards start and that’s when you find out if you’ve been nominated and then obviously if you’ve been successful,” Angela said.
Accepting the award on behalf of her son, Angela said it was a proud moment but one Lachlan didn’t quite believe when she messaged him on the night.
As a whole Lilydale Theatre was up for at least 10 awards for The Deep Blue Sea in categories like lighting, sound, direction and best production.
Angela said given the subject matter of the play, it’s something that’s not often attempted and was possibly a factor in the number of nominations it collected.
“The fact that The Deep Blue Sea is not often done, it hasn’t been done for many years, certainly in Victoria, because it is quite a challenging piece,” she said.
“So there’s a fair bit of kudos that goes even to a theatre company for attempting to do a play like this and I think that had a lot to do with it as well but the fact that audiences certainly wouldn’t see it very often and theatres don’t very often tackle it.”
Describing themselves as the “lucky ones”, Angela said it was entirely a team effort in getting these awards.
“It really is a team effort, especially when you know that one show has been entered and to get a nomination is a thrill in itself and this was just the icing on the cake really.”
For Angela this is her second best actress award in 15 years and Lachlan’s second supporting actor award, the first a Lyrebird Award in 2018.
“This year there were 27 theatre companies from across Victoria represented so there were 27 shows entered and having seen quite a number of the shows, the quality is always top notch and the competition is fairly fierce…we were thrilled to come away with what we did.”
Not only was Angela recognised at a Victorian level for her acting ability but was inducted as a life member, alongside Fiona Carter, at the Lilydale Theatre’s end of year celebration on 11 December.
“We’ve been involved there, both her and I, for 26 years and we were given that lovely honour on Sunday.”
