God Of Carnage has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, while the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Tanztheater Wuppertal split the dance prizes.
Best New Comedy winner God Of Carnage, written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, ran at the Gielgud theatre last March and tells the story of two sets of parents’ uncomfortable meeting to discuss the unruly behaviour of their sons. As the evening progresses the adults’ behaviour rapidly descends into name-calling and tantrums as relationships unravel before the audience’s eyes. The play boasted a stellar cast with Ralph Fiennes, 2007 Laurence Olivier Award-winner Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott taking on the roles of the confrontational parents. This is the second Laurence Olivier Award for the French playwright Reza, having won Best New Comedy in 1997 for her play Art. God Of Carnage triumphed over Neil La Bute’s Fat Pig and Joanna Murray-Smith’s The Female Of The Species.
Oscar-winning writer Hampton, who collected the award, told Official London Theatre: “It’s always difficult doing her [Reza’s] plays because she’s very precise but I always enjoy it very much and now we are actually in previews in New York doing the play, with a different translation, an American translation which is also an interesting exercise.”
The coveted trophy for Best New Dance Production has been awarded to dance company Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal for its staging of Café Müller / The Rite Of Spring. Staged in February 2008 at Sadler’s Wells, the show was performed and choreographed by Pina Bausch, Artistic Director of the German dance company Tanztheater Wuppertal. A double bill of Bausch’s early work, Café Müller was created in 1978 and inspired by the choreographer’s childhood memories of observing adult relationships in her father’s café, while The Rite Of Spring is an adaptation of Stravinsky’s original piece and was created in 1975.
Speaking on behalf of the company, Barbara Kaufmann, Assistant on The Rite Of Spring, commented: “It’s totally overwhelming because these productions were made in the 70s and they are as alive as you can imagine still, and they were performed for such a long time. It was a fantastic experience and I also want to really thank Alistair Spalding from Sadler’s Wells because he keeps bringing us over. He got us here and we will come back and it’s a fantastic collaboration with him.”
Tanztheater Wuppertal triumphed tonight over The Royal Ballet of Flanders for its production Impressing The Czar at Sadler’s Wells, The Royal Ballet’s Infra at the Royal Opera House and DV8’s To Be Straight With You at the National Theatre Lyttelton.
The Royal Ballet of Flanders’ disappointment was short lived however when it was announced as the winner of the Outstanding Achievement In Dance award for its twice-nominated Impressing The Czar. Staged at Sadler’s Wells, the production was created in 1988 by choreographer William Forsythe and challenges the traditional conventions of ballet. The company, which was nominated for the first time this year, triumphed over Savion Glover, Marshall Davis Jr and Maurice Chestnut for their performance in Savion Glover’s Bare Soundz at Sadler’s Wells and the company of the Royal Ballet for its performance in Infra.
Catherine Bennett, of The Royal Ballet of Flanders, said of the win: “It means so much to our company because it’s such a reason to be. In Belgium we’re still trying to prove we have the right to exist, so it’s fantastic.”
August: Osage County has been awarded Best Set Design. The play, which received four nominations this year, was designed by Todd Rosenthal, who received the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design Of A Play in 2008 for the play’s Broadway run. Tracy Letts’s play unflinchingly and uproariously exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family and Rosenthal’s doll’s house design offered the audience the ultimate voyeur’s experience.
“I became a designer because of Bob Crowley and John Napier,” said Rosenthal, name-checking two previous Laurence Olivier Award-winning designers. “These are Gods to me; just to be in company of them is really a dream for me!”
Other nominees in the category were Tom Piper for The Histories, Soutra Gilmour for The Lover And The Collection, Paul Brown for Marguerite and Neil Murray, Gemma Carrington and Jon Driscoll for Brief Encounter.
CM
