Theatre News

Full List: Laurence Olivier Nominees Announced

Nominations for this year’s Laurence Olivier Awards, London’s equivalent of the Tonys and the UK’s most prestigious stage awards, are announced today (8 February 2010).
The full list of nominations – who and what are up for which of the 20-plus categories, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best New Musical and Best Musical Revival (formerly known as Outstanding Musical Production in the Oliviers) as well as fields including Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre and other categories – is below (See Today’s Other News for further analysis).

Last year’s newly introduced category celebrating ensemble work, Best Company Performance, has been dropped this year, but taking another leaf out of the Whatsonstage.com Awards book, a category for long-runners voted for by the public, has been reinstated.

The Laurence Olivier Awards were created in 1976, then called the Society of West End Theatre Awards, to recognise excellence on the London stage. They were rebranded in 1984 when Lord Olivier agreed to have his name associated with them. Winners of the 34th annual Olivier Awards will be announced on Sunday 21 March 2009 in a star-studded ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. A preliminary lunch for nominees takes place on Tuesday 2 March at the Haymarket Hotel.

Ahead of the Oliviers, our own TENTH ANNUAL Whatsonstage.com Awards, the “theatregoers’ choice” will be published online this Sunday 14 February 2010 to coincide with our live Awards Concert, held in aid of Masterclass at 7pm at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The concert, hosted this year by Christopher Biggins and Mel Giedroyc, features a full evening’s entertainment from nominees and winners past and present as well as trophy presentations. Public tickets are now completely sold out, but you can join the waiting list for a last-minute release of £42.50 reserve tickets by clicking here.

The Whatsonstage.com Awards are the only London theatre awards in which the audience is the ultimate judge across all 26 categories. More than 46,000 people – a new record! – took part in this year’s voting, which closed last Sunday 31 January.


The full list of 2010 Olivier nominations is as follows:

BEST ACTRESS

BEST ACTOR

  • James Earl Jones for CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at the Novello
  • Jude Law for HAMLET, Donmar at Wyndham’s
  • James McAvoy for THREE DAYS OF RAIN at the Apollo
  • Mark Rylance for JERUSALEM at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
  • Ken Stott for A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE at the Duke of York’s
  • Samuel West for ENRON at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

  • Mackenzie Crook for JERUSALEM at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
  • Rory Kinnear for BURNT BY THE SUN at the Lyttelton
  • Tim Pigott-Smith for ENRON at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
  • Eddie Redmayne for RED at the Donmar

BEST NEW PLAY

  • ENRON by Lucy Prebble at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
  • JERUSALEM by Jez Butterworth at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
  • THE MOUNTAINTOP by Katori Hall at Trafalgar Studios 1
  • RED by John Logan by at the Donmar Warehouse

BEST NEW COMEDY

BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL

BEST NEW MUSICAL

BEST ENTERTAINMENT

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT

BEST DIRECTOR

  • Rupert Goold for ENRON at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
  • Michael Grandage for HAMLET, Donmar at Wyndham’s
  • Lindsay Posner for A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE at the Duke of York’s
  • Ian Rickson for JERUSALEM at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
  • Bijan Sheibani for OUR CLASS at the Cottesloe

BEST REVIVAL

  • ARCADIA directed by David Leveaux at the Duke of York’s
  • CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF directed by Debbie Allen at the Novello
  • THE MISANTHROPE directed by Thea Sharrock at the Comedy
  • A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE directed by Rob Ashford at the Donmar Warehouse
  • A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE directed by Lindsay Posner at the Duke of York’s
  • THREE DAYS OF RAIN directed by Jamie Lloyd at the Apollo

BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN

  • BURNT BY THE SUN designed by Mark Henderson at the Lyttelton
  • ENRON designed by Mark Henderson the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
  • SPRING AWAKENING designed by Kevin Adams at the Novello
  • THREE DAYS OF RAIN designed by Jon Clark at the Apollo

BEST SET DESIGN

  • ENGLAND PEOPLE VERY NICE designed by Mark Thompson with animation by Pete Bishop
  • ENRON designed by Anthony Ward at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
  • JERUSALEM designed by Ultz at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
  • RED designed by Christopher Oram at the Donmar Warehouse

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

BEST SOUND DESIGN

  • EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR designed by Christopher Shutt at the Olivier
  • JERUSALEM designed by Ian Dickinson for Autograph at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
  • MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN designed by Andrew Bruce and Nick Lidster for Autograph at the Olivier
  • SPRING AWAKENING designed by Brian Ronan at the Novello

THE AUDIENCE AWARD FOR MOST POPULAR SHOW

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE

  • Soho Theatre/ Tiata Fahodzi for IYA ILE (THE FIRST WIFE)
  • The Tricycle Theatre for THE GREAT GAME
  • The Royal Court for COCK at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION

  • The Royal Opera’s DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER at the Royal Opera House
  • The Royal Opera’s LULU at the Royal Opera House
  • English National Opera’s PETER GRIMES at the London Coliseum
  • The Royal Opera’s TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at the Royal Opera House

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA

  • Anja Kampe for her performance in Royal Opera’s DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER at the Royal Opera House
  • Stuart Skelton for his performance in English National Opera’s PETER GRIMES at the London Coliseum
  • Nina Steme for her performance in the Royal Opera’s TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at the Royal Opera House
  • Michael Volle for his performances in the Royal Opera’s LULU and TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at the Royal Opera House

BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION

  • Russell Maliphant’s AFTERLIGHT at Sadler’s Wells
  • Birmingham Royal Ballet’s E=MC² at Sadler’s Wells
  • Goldberg: The Brandstrup Rojo Project, ROH2 at the Royal Opera House
  • Rambert Dance Company’s A LINHA CURVA at Sadler’s Wells
  • Fabulous Beast Dance’s THE RITE OF SPRING at the London Coliseum

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE

  • Colin Dunne for his performance in OUT OF TIME at The Pit
  • Michael Hulls for his lighting designs for Russell Maliphant’s TWO:FOUR:TEN at the London Coliseum; and for Russell Maliphant’s AFTERLIGHT and for Ex Machina & Sylvie Guillem’s EONNAGATA at Sadler’s Wells
  • Rambert Dance Company for an outstanding year of new work

Public tickets to the Whatsonstage.com Awards Concert this Sunday 14 February, priced from £20 to £42.50, are now completely sold out! We are hoping to release a handful of top-price £42.50 reserve tickets this Friday 12 February. If you’d like to be alerted as soon as these are put on sale, please click here join the waiting list!