SINGAPORE - For the first time in the 15-year history of the M1-The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, there has been a tie for the top honour of Production of the Year.

The award jointly went to: Wild Rice's Monkey Goes West, a humorous musical spin on the Chinese classic Journey To The West; and Nine Years Theatre's Art, a Mandarin translation of French playwright Yasmina Reza's play about three friends debating over what makes art.

At the ceremony, which took place on Monday afternoon at the Esplanade Recital Studio, the two theatre companies were also winners in other categories.

Art's Nelson Chia and Peter Sau won Best Director and Best Actor respectively, while Monkey Goes West won Best Costume Design and Production of the Year (Readers' Choice), which is decided by public voting.

Jo Kukathas also picked up a Best Supporting Actress gong for her performance in the Wild Rice production The House Of Bernarda Alba, while Best Supporting Actor went to Remesh Panicker for his turn as Shylock in Singapore Repertory Theatre's The Merchant Of Venice.

The Best Actress accolade went to Mina Kaye, for her versatile vocal powerhouse Little Voice in Pangdemonium's The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.

This year's awards were judged by a six-member panel comprising Lasalle College of the Arts provost Venka Purushothaman; online arts journal The Flying Inkpot co-editors Kenneth Kwok and Matthew Lyon; as well as arts reviewers from The Business Times, Lianhe Zaobao and The Straits Times, Helmi Yusof, Tang Hwa Kwee and Corrie Tan.