Anne-Marie Duff and Patrick Stewart collected the awards for Best Actress and Best Actor at today’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards, for their eponymous roles in Saint Joan and Macbeth. The first ceremony of the theatre awards season was a double celebration for the Scottish play as Rupert Goold also collected the Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director.
The Evening Standard Theatre Award was the second major award won by Stewart for his portrayal of Shakespeare’s over-ambitious Scottish soldier, following his Theatrical Management Association (TMA) Award earlier in the year.
Playwright Polly Stenham, still only 20, also completed the TMA/Evening Standard double, collecting the award for Most Promising Playwright for That Face, which was staged at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
Other award winners included A Disappearing Number (Best Play), Hairspray (Best Musical) and War Horse (Best Design). The Evening Standard Special Award for 2007 went to Stephen Tompkins, the architect who has worked on theatres including the Royal Court and the Young Vic.
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards are the first in London theatre’s exciting awards season, which also includes the Theatregoers’ Choice Awards, Critics Circle Awards, and London theatre’s most prestigious event, the Laurence Olivier Awards.
Full details of winners and nominees (winners in bold):
BEST PLAY
A Disappearing Number Simon McBurney and Complicite (Barbican)
Rafta, Rafta Ayub Khan-Din (National Lyttelton)
The Reporter Nicholas Wright (National Cottesloe)
BEST ACTOR
Charles Dance Shadowlands (Wyndham's)
Robert Lindsay The Entertainer (Old Vic)
Mark Rylance Boeing Boeing (Comedy)
Patrick Stewart Macbeth (Gielgud)
BEST ACTRESS
Anne-Marie Duff Saint Joan (National Olivier)
Billie Piper Treats (Garrick)
Portia The Member Of The Wedding (Young Vic)
Penelope Wilton John Gabriel Borkman (Donmar Warehouse)
THE SYDNEY EDWARDS AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Marianne Elliott & Tom Morris War Horse (National Olivier)
Rupert Goold Macbeth (Gielgud)
Tim Supple A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Roundhouse)
THE NED SHERRIN AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL
Fiddler On The Roof (Savoy)
Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Parade (Donmar Warehouse)
BEST DESIGN
Felix Barrett & Punchdrunk The Masque Of The Red Death (BAC)
Robin Don The Emperor Jones (National Olivier)
Rae Smith & The Handspring War Horse (National Olivier)
Puppet Company
Anthony Ward Macbeth (Gielgud)
THE CHARLES WINTOUR AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT
Hassan Abdulrazzak Baghdad Wedding (Soho)
Lucy Caldwell Leaves (Royal Court Upstairs)
Polly Stenham That Face (Royal Court Upstairs)
THE MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER
Amanda Hale The Glass Menagerie (Apollo)
Matt Smith That Face (Royal Court Upstairs)
Stephen Wight Dealer’s Choice/Don Juan In Soho (Menier Chocolate Factory/Donmar Warehouse)
SPECIAL AWARD
Stephen Tompkins for innovative theatre architecture