Julian Bird, Chief Executive of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) & UK Theatre, and Executive Producer of the Olivier Awards with Mastercard, recently gave The Covent Gardener magazine a sneak preview of theatre’s biggest night.
Sunday 8 April will see the 42nd Olivier Awards with Mastercard being held in London, an evening celebrating the best theatre productions to grace our stages in the last year.
The event is produced by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) at our offices on Rose Street, the base to the west of Covent Garden that we are proud to call home. SOLT represents all the London theatres themselves, as well as the producers of the shows and the people that manage them day-to-day. As well as running the main website for London Theatre, OfficialLondonTheatre.com, and producing the major events for the industry (such as the Oliviers and June’s West End Live free festival in Trafalgar Square), we run the TKTS discount ticket booth in Leicester Square, and the national Theatre Tokens Scheme.
But it is April’s Olivier Awards that provide a real focal point for the year. Broadcast variously on ITV, Magic Radio and Facebook Live, it is the largest awards show now in the UK, with around 500 performers on stage throughout the evening. This year we will be celebrating musicals that have opened in the last 12 months, such as Hamilton, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, 42nd Street and Follies, to name but a few, as well as a wealth of new plays and talent both on- and off-stage.
Julian Bird of the Olivier Awards with Mastercard (Illustration: Ross Tudor)
Over 15 million people saw a show at an SOLT theatre last year, and we are proud of our world-leading industry. Anyone can come and join in the excitement on 8 April as well – outside the Royal Albert Hall we will be building a magnificent red carpet so you can come and watch the stars arriving. We will also be broadcasting a special “Live from the Red Carpet” show that night from 4pm on Facebook – details of all of this are on the Olivier Awards website.
Covent Garden is the home of some of our most historic theatres, and we look forward to showcasing them on 8 April.
The Covent Gardener is a luxury lifestyle magazine, published 4 times a year and packed with beautiful commissioned illustrations and photography, shining a light on the area’s culture and history to promote its businesses and to champion its people.
You can pick up the latest issue through The Covent Gardener website.