David Suchet has won Best Actor at this year’s Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, held today at the Prince of Wales theatre. Suchet’s win, for his performance in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at the Apollo theatre last year, is the only award in this year’s list for a non-subsidised, commercial production.
The Royal Court topped the winners’ list with three awards – including Best New Play for Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park – while other subsidised theatres the Donmar Warehouse, the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Almeida theatre shared the rest of the awards.
Jenny Jules won Best Actress for her performance in Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined at the Almeida theatre, while Derek Jacobi’s portrayal of King Lear at the Donmar Warehouse was deemed Best Shakespearean Performance.
Outgoing director of the Donmar, Michael Grandage, who directed Jacobi as Lear, shared the Best Director award with Thea Sharrock for After The Dance at the National Theatre. King Lear’s two awards come just days before the famous tragedy is broadcast to a worldwide audience as part of NT Live on 3 February.
Talking to Official London Theatre, Grandage explained: “The Donmar only has 250 seats and one of our problems is getting as many people as possible to see any particular production. The joy of the screening is it gives tens of thousands an opportunity all over the world to see it, so from that point of view the screening is not just exciting to do, but important to do.”
Sharrock’s win, alongside Grandage, saw her become the first woman to receive the Best Director award.
“It shouldn’t matter,” Sharrock said, “but I think being the first woman to win the director’s award is fantastic and very affirming. [After The Dance] changed my life. There are certain productions where the stars are just inexplicably in alignment and it just was on this one, so it was a real joy from start to finish.”
The Royal Court continues to cement its reputation for developing new playwrights by collecting the Most Promising Playwright award for the third year running, this time awarded to Anya Reiss for Spur Of The Moment. The venue also produced the winner of Most Promising Newcomer in Daniel Kaluuya, whose performance in Roy Williams’s Sucker Punch impressed the judges.
The National Theatre’s second award went to designer Bunny Christie for her work on White Guard.
The winners’ list was completed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, which won Best Musical for Matilda, A Musical, which played in Stratford-upon-Avon over Christmas.
Speaking about his win, Suchet commented: “[All My Sons] was the highlight of my 42 year career. Initially I didn’t know if I could do the role, but thanks to the company, thanks to the director, and thanks to the whole atmosphere created in the rehearsal room it allowed me to have the courage to go to places I wouldn’t normally feel that easy. To get this particular award for that particular part in that particular play was and is possibly the most important award I’ve won for a very long time.”
The Critics’ Circle Awards are decided by the independent votes of members of the Drama Section of the Critics’ Circle. They come in the middle of an awards season that culminates in the most prestigious ceremony in London’s Theatreland, the Laurence Olivier Awards. This year’s event, which takes place at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 13 March, is set to be the biggest and most exciting yet, with substantial media coverage. As always, Official London Theatre will be in attendance to provide you with full online coverage as it unfolds.
CB/MA