The Sydney Theatre Awards returns to the Seymour Centre, Chippendale on Monday 23 January 2023. The 18th edition of the annual ceremony will dispense 28 awards in mainstage theatre, independent theatre and musical theatre categories, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. Fifty-five productions have received nominations.

The Sydney Theatre Awards in their current iteration date back to 2005. Originally, they were judged by a panel of critics working for Sydney’s newspaper mastheads and the nationally published The Australian.

“Back then, we held the ceremony in the Statement Bar under the State Theatre in Market Street,” recalls Ian Phipps, who has produced the event since its inception. “Cate Blanchett was one of three presenters that first year and we were all huddled in there, not much room to move. But it was a lovely feeling in the room. We’ve managed to keep that ever since.”

The ceremony quickly became a standing room only affair and moved to the Paddington RSL. It eventually outgrew that space, too, and since 2018 the event has been hosted in the Seymour Centre’s 750-seat York Theatre, which allows for a fully seated audience and more expansive intra-presentation performances,...