Howard Davies has collected the Best Director Olivier Award for his direction of The White Guard at the National Lyttelton.
The White Guard, which saw Davies reunite with playwright Andrew Upton to adapt Mikhail Bulgakov’s drama, opened at the National Theatre last May. Telling the story of the Turbin family’s political and emotional struggles in a Ukraine torn apart by civil war, The White Guard won acclaim for its pacy staging and its combination of pathos and humour.
Collecting the award, Davies thanked the show’s cast, saying: “It was 23 men in the cast and one woman and I was very glad she was there as it would have got quite out of hand otherwise! I want to thank them and Nicholas Hytner for letting me do a mad Russian play.”
The win makes a hat trick of Best Director Olivier Awards for Davies, who won the award in 2001 for All My Sons – which he staged again last year – and in 1999 for The Iceman Cometh.
The director beat fellow nominees Michael Grandage (King Lear), Dominic Cooke (Clybourne Park) and Thea Sharrock (After The Dance) to take this year’s prize.
Davies will return to the National Theatre in May for his third collaboration with Upton – following Philistines and The White Guard – a revival of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.
