Richard Eyre has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director for Hedda Gabler. This is the third time Eyre has picked up the Best Director Award, following successes in 1982 (Guys And Dolls) and 1998 (King Lear). Eyre also picked up the Outstanding Achievement Award in 1997, which means he is one of only eight people to have picked up four or more Olivier Awards. Eyre was presented with his award by Alex Kingston, who will soon be starring opposite Christian Slater in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Richard Eyre, now 63, is one of the UK’s most esteemed directors. Between 1987 and 1997 he was the director of the National Theatre, with the most memorable projects he worked on during his tenure being the afore-mentioned Guys And Dolls and King Lear, plus Hamlet with Daniel Day Lewis. Films he has directed include Stage Beauty, Iris, Suddenly Last Summer and King Lear.
This was the production's fourth win from six nominations and Eyre, like Best Actress Eve Best, expressed his surprise at the plethora of Laurence Olivier Awards bestowed upon Hedda Gabler. "It's wonderful and completely unexpected. I came here expecting to go away empty handed and to get an award for a play that was first performed in 1898, that has been so often performed in London that I thought the audience were bored by the play – it's incredibly thrilling."
The director told officiallondontheatre.co.uk that his next project is a return to film – he is currently editing the film of the Zoe Heller novel Notes On A Scandal, starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.
Hedda Gabler ran at the Almeida between 10 March and 30 April 2005, before transferring to the Duke Of York’s theatre where it ran between 19 May and 6 August. The production starred Laurence Olivier winner Eve Best and nominee Benedict Cumberbatch.
TB
