Private Lives & Almeida Lead Standard NomineesDate: 6 November 2001
London's Evening Standard newspaper today released its list of nominations for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, the first of the major theatrical awards for the 2001 London season. This is the first time that the Standard has announced contenders in advance of its awards ceremony, which will be hosted this year by comedian Rory Bremner as part of a star-studded affair at The Savoy on 26 November 2001.
Howard Davies' revival of Private Lives, currently playing at the Albery Theatre, receives the most number of nominations for a single production. It is in contention for the three biggies: Best Actor (for Alan Rickman), Best Actress (Lindsay Duncan) and Best Director.
Also featuring heavily are the Royal Shakespeare Company This England series of Shakespeare's history plays, particularly the Henry IV trilogy, and the Almeida Theatre. The latter is up for Best Play (for Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things which has since transferred to Broadway), Best Director Jonathan Kent for The Tempest) and Best Stage Designer (Paul Brown for both the Almeida's The Tempest and Platonov). Unusually, the theatre itself is also up for Best Newcomer for its season at the renovated King's Cross bus shelter, where it's residing while its Islington home is undergoing a major makeover.
The National Theatre also featured in four nominations categories: Best Actor (Alex Jennings for The Relapse and The Winter's Tale, both at the NT), Best Play (Robert LePage's Far Side of the Moon), Best Comedy (Yasmina Reza's Life x 3, now on a UK-wide tour) and Best Musical (Trevor Nunn's My Fair Lady now at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane).
The full list of Evening Standard nominations is as follows:
BEST ACTOR - William Houston for Henry IV & Henry V; Alex Jennings; Alan Rickman.
BEST ACTRESS - Lindsay Duncan (also for Mouth to Mouth); Fiona Shaw for Medea; Penelope Wilton for The Little Foxes.
BEST PLAY - The Far Side of the Moon; Mouth to Mouth by Kevin Elyot at the Royal Court; The Shape of Things by Neil Labute.
BEST COMEDY - Caught in the Net by Ray Cooney at the Vaudeville; Feelgood by Alistair Beaton at the Hampstead and Garrick; Life x 3.
BEST DIRECTOR - Michael Boyd for Henry IV parts 1-3 and Richard III; Howard Davies for Private Lives; Jonathan Kent for The Tempest; Deborah Warner for Medea.
BEST STAGE DESIGNER - Paul Brown for The Tempest and Platonov; Ian MacNeil for Afore Night Come.
BEST MUSICAL - Kiss Me Kate; Merrily We Roll Along (covered by the Oliviers and Critics Circle Awards earlier this year); My Fair Lady.
OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER - The Almeida at King's Cross; Lindsey Marshall for Boston Marriage and Redundant; Rufus Norris for Afore Night Come.
