David Hare is to receive this year’s Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts at the UK Theatre Awards 2017. The ceremony will take place on Sunday 15 October at London’s Guildhall.
The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide honours that recognise creative excellence and outstanding achievement both on and off stage. Olivier Award-winning actress Sharon D Clarke will host this year’s awards.
David Hare is one of today’s leading playwrights and filmmakers. He has written more than 30 stage plays, among them Plenty, Pravda (with Howard Brenton), The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, Skylight, Amy’s View, The Blue Room, Via Dolorosa, Stuff Happens, South Downs, The Absence Of War, The Judas Kiss, The Moderate Soprano, and The Red Barn. For film and television he has written over 25 screenplays, including Licking Hitler, Dreams Of Leaving, Saigon: Year Of The Cat, Wetherby, Damage, The Hours, The Reader, Denial, and The Worricker Trilogy: Page Eight, Turks & Caicos, and Salting The Battlefield. He has also written English adaptations of plays by Brecht, Gorky, Chekhov, Pirandello, Ibsen, and Lorca. His memoir, The Blue Touch Paper, was published in 2014. In an NT millennial poll of the greatest plays of the 20th century, five of the top 100 were his.
The Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts was established by The Shakespeare Guild in 1994. Previous recipients include F. Murray Abraham, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Derek Jacobi, Kevin Kline, Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave OBE and Sir Patrick Stewart, Dame Eileen Atkins and Vanessa Redgrave.
It was previously announced that Lyn Gardner would receive this year’s Outstanding Contribution To British Theatre Award. This year’s nominations see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Caroline, Or Change and Sweet Charity competing for Best Musical Production. The nominees for Best New Play are Half Breed by Tash Marshall, Narvik by Lizzie Nunnery and Wish List by Katherine Soper. The full list of nominees can be viewed here.