Theatr Iolo's Early Years' Director has been selected as the UK’s sole nominee for a prestigious international theatre award, in recognition of her commitment to and creation of theatre for the very youngest audiences.

Sarah Argent has been shortlisted for the highest honour that ASSITEJ (the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People) can bestow: the Honorary President’s Award for Innovation.

Since 2001, Sarah has pioneered Theatr Iolo’s theatre for nurseries. Her productions for this company have delighted audiences in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, have toured throughout Wales, and have also been performed in theatres and at festivals in Scotland, England, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland and South Korea.

In 2007, Sarah won a coveted Creative Wales Award to explore Theatre for Babies and Toddlers. This award, presented by the Arts Council of Wales, funded her to visit, work with and learn from European pioneers in this specialist area of theatre, still in its infancy here in the UK. As a result of this research, she was one of only 8 artists to receive funding from the European network, Small Size, to create a production, ‘Out of the Blue/Allan o Nunlle’, for babies aged 6-18 months, which has been seen in Wales, England and Ireland.
Her production of the popular children’s book ‘The Night Pirates’ for Theatre Hullabaloo in Darlington is charming audiences the length and breadth of the UK, playing to full houses and critical acclaim. Sarah is currently back home in Cardiff and is mid-way through rehearsals of ‘Snow Child/Plentyn yr Eira’, a co-production between Theatr Iolo and Sherman Cymru, a production for 3-7 year olds (with separate performances in English and Welsh) which she is creating and directing with Dafydd James (writer of Llwyth) and Kevin Lewis (Artistic Director, Theatr Iolo). This production will be touring across South Wales in November and December and then in residency in the Weston Studio of the Wales Millennium Centre during the festive season.
One of her nominees for the Honorary President’s award (Miranda Thain, Creative Producer of Theatre Hullabaloo) describes Sarah as,

“thorough, deeply committed and highly talented, and it’s no surprise that she’s sustaining a busy freelance career, whilst becoming renowned as a director with particular perspective and experience in the area of early years.”

Sarah says of her nomination,

“Simply being nominated for this award is incredibly flattering, as former nominees include many of the artists worldwide whose work I most respect and admire.”

The award-winner will be announced next May in Copenhagen/Malmo as part of the 17th ASSITEJ World Congress and Performing Arts Festival for Young Audiences.