TBTL Wins Prestigious UK Theatre Award Ahead of CumbriaFest
Theatre by the Lake (TBTL) is celebrating national recognition this week, having won the Excellence in Touring Award for Steel: Regional & National Tour at the UK Theatre Awards 2025 on Sunday 12 October.
Hosted by Faye Tozer at London’s 8 Northumberland Avenue, the ceremony celebrated creative excellence across the performing arts sector in the UK’s regional and national theatres. TBTL triumphed in a strong category alongside Emma Rice Company and National Theatre of Scotland. Accepting the award were Liz Stevenson (Director of Steel and Artistic Director & Joint CEO), Simon Stephens (Executive Director & Joint CEO), and Julia Samuels (Artistic Director, Maternity Cover).
Simon Stephens said: “Steel represents our vision of creating theatre that is locally inspired and nationally relevant. We’re passionate about artist-led projects that reflect our communities, and Steel is a shining example of that. This recognition celebrates not only the work of our creative team but also the people of West Cumbria whose stories inspired it.”
Steel, a bold and exhilarating new play by Lee Mattinson, takes audiences on a town-wide treasure hunt for a million pounds of “lost railway” in post-industrial Workington. The play explores themes of resilience, identity and belonging in a community once bound by its steel-making heritage.
Written by Workington-born playwright Lee Mattinson (Me & Cilla, Fist), Steel is inspired by his experiences growing up gay and creative in the town, with a father who worked in the steel industry. Directed by Liz Stevenson, the production was commissioned and produced by TBTL in 2024, and opened CumbriaFest, their flagship festival that supports creativity and access across Cumbria, before heading out on a Cumbria-wide tour. The show was then remounted in Spring 2025 and embarked on a national tour supported by an Arts Council England Project Grant, performing in venues across the UK, including Port Talbot, home to Europe’s largest steel complex, which closed down last year.
The two-hander starred Cumbrian-born Jordan Tweddle as James and Suraj Shah in his stage debut as Kamran, with music and sound design by Maryport-born composer Mark Melville, who collaborated with Mattinson and a new community choir in Workington to create the play’s original soundtrack.
The award comes just as TBTL prepares for CumbriaFest, an energised week of creativity from 29 October to 2 November, celebrating new ideas, emerging artists and Cumbrian storytelling. The festival offers new plays, scratch performances, workshops and food-led events bringing people together in creativity and conversation, a festival rooted in Cumbria, created for everyone. CumbriaFest is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.