London’s Evening Standard has today revealed the host of actors, directors and productions in contention for its 2009 Theatre Awards, which will be handed out at the end of this month.
The long list, which will be whittled down to a more manageable short list next week, highlights the strength of London theatre over the last 12 months, with international superstars sitting alongside less well known names in the collection of commended performers and practitioners.
David Tennant, whose Hamlet caused a storm last winter, but who rarely performed in the role due to a back injury, appears alongside Mark Rylance, Simon Russell Beale, Kevin Spacey and Ian McKellen, who is included for Waiting For Godot though his co-star Patrick Stewart is not.
Rachel Weisz’s performance in the Donmar Warehouse production of A Streetcar Named Desire sees the Hollywood star named alongside actresses including Samantha Bond, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Juliet Stevenson, while Gillian Anderson, who appeared in A Doll’s House does not make the list.
The National Theatre and Royal Court dominate the category of Best New Play, and among the emerging names on the Outstanding Newcomer list, that of Lenny Henry, the comedian turned stage Othello, stands out.
The annual awards, which will be presented on 23 November at a ceremony at the Royal Opera House, are chosen by a panel of theatre critics including the Standard’s Henry Hitchins, The Observer’s Susannah Clapp, the International Herald Tribune’s Matt Wolf, The Mail On Sunday’s Georgina Brown and the Daily Telegraph’s Charles Spencer. This year, the Best Actress award has been renamed the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress, in honour of the performer who lost her life in a tragic skiing accident earlier this year.
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards mark the start of London theatre’s awards season, which includes the Theatregoers’ Choice Awards and Critics’ Circle Awards before building towards the Laurence Olivier Awards, Theatreland’s most prestigious accolades, which will be announced in March 2010.
MA
Full Evening Standard Theatre Awards long list:
Best Actor
Bertie Carvel for The Pride (Royal Court)
Michael Feast for Plague Over England (Duchess theatre)
Henry Goodman for Duet For One (Almeida theatre/Vaudeville theatre)
David Harewood for The Mountaintop (Theatre 503/Trafalgar Studios)
Matthew Kelly for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (Trafalgar Studios) and Troilus And Cressida (Shakespeare’s Globe)
Ian McKellen for Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
Simon Russell Beale for The Winter’s Tale (Old Vic)
Mark Rylance for Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Kevin Spacey for Inherit The Wind (Old Vic)
Ken Stott for A View From The Bridge (Duke of York’s theatre)
David Tennant for Hamlet (RSC Stratford/Novello theatre)
David Troughton for Enjoy (Gielgud theatre) and Inherit The Wind (Old Vic)
Samuel West for Enron (Royal Court)
The Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress
Samantha Bond for Arcadia (Duke of York’s theatre)
Deanna Dunagan for August: Osage County (Steppenwolf/National Theatre)
Penny Downie for Helen (Shakespeare’s Globe)
Rebecca Hall for The Winter’s Tale (Old Vic)
Pauline Malefane for The Mysteries – Yiimimangaliso (Garrick theatre)
Lyndsey Marshal for The Pride (Royal Court)
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio for A View From The Bridge (Duke of York’s theatre)
Amy Morton for August: Osage County (Steppenwolf/National Theatre)
Juliet Stevenson for Duet For One (Almeida theatre /Vaudeville theatre)
Michelle Terry for England People Very Nice (National Theatre)
Rachel Weisz for A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse)
Best Play
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts (Steppenwolf/National Theatre)
England People Very Nice by Richard Bean (National Theatre)
Enron by Lucy Prebble (Royal Court)
Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth (Royal Court)
Our Class by Tadeusz Slobodzianek/Ryan Craig (Steppenwolf/National Theatre)
Pornography by Simon Stephens (Tricycle theatre)
Punk Rock by Simon Stephens (Lyric Hammersmith)
Tusk Tusk by Polly Stenham (Royal Court)
When The Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell (Almeida theatre)
The Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical
A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory/Garrick theatre)
Been So Long (Young Vic)
Hello, Dolly! (Open Air theatre, Regent’s Park)
The Mysteries – Yiimimangaliso (Garrick theatre)
Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith/Novello theatre)
Sunset Boulevard (Comedy theatre)
Best Director
Howard Davies for Burnt By The Sun (National Theatre)
Marianne Elliott for All’s Well That Ends Well (National Theatre)
Richard Eyre for The Last Cigarette (Trafalgar Studios) and The Observer (National Theatre)
Rupert Goold for Enron (Royal Court)
Jeremy Herrin for Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Janice Honeyman for The Tempest (RSC Stratford/Richmond theatre)
Sean Mathias for Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
Sam Mendes for The Winter’s Tale (Old Vic)
Ian Rickson for Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Anna D Shapiro for August: Osage County (Steppenwolf/National Theatre)
Best Design
Jon Bausor for Kursk (Young Vic)
Miriam Buether for Judgment Day (Almeida theatre)
Lez Brotherston for Dancing At Lughnasa (Old Vic)
Bob Crowley for Phèdre (National Theatre) and The Power Of Yes (National Theatre)
Rob Howell for The Observer (National Theatre)
Mamoru Iriguchi for Mincemeat (Cardboard Citizens/Cordy House, Shoreditch)
Peter McKintosh for Prick Up Your Ears (Comedy theatre)
Vicki Mortimer for Burnt By The Sun (National Theatre)
Christopher Oram for Hamlet, Madame De Sade, Twelfth Night (all Donmar West End at Wyndham’s theatre) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse)
Todd Rosenthal for August: Osage County (National Theatre)
Ultz for Jerusalem (Royal Court)
The Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright
Alia Bano for Shades (Royal Court)
Kieron Barry for Stockwell (Landor theatre/Tricycle theatre)
Lucy Kirkwood for It Felt Empty When The Heart Went At First But It Is Alright Now (Arcola theatre)
Molly Davies for A Miracle (Royal Court)
Katori Hall for The Mountaintop (Theatre 503/Trafalgar Studios)
Ella Hickson for Eight (Trafalgar Studios)
Alexi Kaye Campbell for The Pride (Royal Court) and Apologia (Bush theatre)
The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer
Naana Agyei-Ampadu for Been So Long (Young Vic)
Aneurin Barnard for Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith/Novello theatre)
Lenny Henry for Othello (Northern Broadsides at Trafalgar Studios)
Ruth Negga for Phèdre (National Theatre)
Bel Powley for Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Toby Regbo for Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Tom Sturridge for Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith)
Charlotte Wakefield for Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith/Novello theatre)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge for 2nd May 1997 (Bush theatre)