The Evening Standard Theatre Awards shortlist has been announced with husband and wife team Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti both receiving nods for their roles in the Tricycle theatre’s current hit production Red Velvet.
Hustle star Lester will compete in the Best Actor category alongside Simon Russell Beale (Collaborators), Charles Edwards (The King’s Speech) and Luke Treadaway (The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time). Playwright Chakrabarti faces similarly stiff competition from fellow Charles Wintour Award For Most Promising Playwright nominees John Hodge, who is nominated for the Olivier Award-winning Collaborators, and the Bush theatre’s The Kitchen Sink writer Tom Wells.
Following last month’s longlist announcement which saw the National Theatre in contention for an impressive 24 awards, the Southbank venue once again leads the pack with eight nominations. Artistic Director Nicolas Hytner is in the running for Best Director for Timon Of Athens, facing competition from Carrie Cracknell (A Doll’s House), James Macdonald (Love And Information) and Ian Rickson (Hamlet), while recent sell-out hit This House is nominated for Best Play alongside Royal Court productions Constellations and Love And Information.
Other highlights in the list include the hotly contested Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress, which will see acclaimed performers Eileen Atkins, Cate Blanchett, Laurie Metcalf and Hattie Morahan pitched against one another. The final acting category of the annual awards, the Milton Shulman Award For Outstanding Newcomer, sees nominations for up and coming actors Denise Gough (Our New Girl and Desire Under The Elms), Abby Rakic-Platt (Vera Vera Vera) and Matthew Tennyson (Making Noise Quietly).
Musicals also feature in the London newspaper’s shortlist with two London transfers of acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre productions, Singin’ In The Rain and Sweeney Todd, nominated alongside Bristol Old Vic and the National Theatre’s Swallows And Amazons.
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards will kick off the awards season on 25 November at the Savoy Hotel. Compered by James Corden and co-hosted by Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Evening Standard, Burberry’s Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey and American Vogue’s Anna Wintour, the winners of all eight categories will be announced at the ceremony as well as five special awards including the Burberry Award for Emerging Director.
Full shortlist:
Best Play
Constellations by Nick Payne (Royal Court Upstairs)
Love And Information by Caryl Churchill (Royal Court Downstairs)
This House by James Graham (National Theatre Cottesloe)
Best Director
Carrie Cracknell for A Doll’s House (Young Vic)
Nicholas Hytner for Timon Of Athens (National Theatre Olivier)
James Macdonald for Love And Information (Royal Court Downstairs)
Ian Rickson for Hamlet (Young Vic)
Best Actor
Simon Russell Beale for Collaborators (National Theatre Cottesloe)
Charles Edwards for The King’s Speech (Wyndham’s) and This House (National Theatre Cottesloe)
Adrian Lester for Red Velvet (Tricycle)
Luke Treadaway for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time (National Theatre Cottesloe)
Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress
Eileen Atkins for All That Fall (Jermyn Street and Arts)
Cate Blanchett for Big And Small (Barbican)
Laurie Metcalf for Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Apollo)
Hattie Morahan for A Doll’s House (Young Vic)
Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical
Singin’ In The Rain (Chichester Festival Theatre and Palace)
Swallows And Amazons (Bristol Old Vic production presented by National Theatre in association with The Children’s Touring Partnership at the Vaudeville)
Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival and Adelphi)
Best Design
Miriam Buether for Wild Swans (Young Vic/American Repertory Theater/Actors Touring Company co-production)
Soutra Gilmour for Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse) and Antigone (National Theatre Olivier)
Ian MacNeil for A Doll’s House (Young Vic)
Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright
Lolita Chakrabarti for Red Velvet (Tricycle)
John Hodge for Collaborators (National Theatre Cottesloe)
Tom Wells for The Kitchen Sink (Bush)
Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer
Denise Gough for Our New Girl (Bush) and Desire Under The Elms (Lyric Hammersmith)
Abby Rakic-Platt for Vera Vera Vera (Royal Court Upstairs and Theatre Local Peckham)
Matthew Tennyson for Making Noise Quietly (Donmar Warehouse)