Theatre News

2010 Laurence Olivier Winners Announced Sunday

Winners of the 34th annual Laurence Olivier Awards, London’s equivalent of the Tonys and the UK’s most prestigious stage awards, are announced this Sunday evening, 21 March 2010 (See News, 8 Feb 2010).

Full coverage & entertainment

From 5pm on the night, Whatsonstage.com will be reporting and tweeting live from the event, with details of winners across all 26 categories – the 25 shortlisted below and the annual Special Award given for overall career achievement – announced to you as they’re announced to the industry guests. In addition to up-to-the-minute results, our multimedia Oliviers coverage will include video footage, photo galleries, speech highlights, gossip, interactive discussion and in-depth analysis, capturing all of the event’s glitz, glamour and overall buzz.

ALL AWARDS COVERAGE IS AVAILABLE VIA OUR DEDICATED
LAURENCE OLIVIERS’ MICROSITE – www.whatsonstage.com/oliviers!

This year’s star-studded Oliviers ceremony is hosted by Anthony Head at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, with nominees, guest presenters and other VIPs confirmed to attend including: Gillian Anderson, Rowan Atkinson, Hayley Atwell, Aneurin Barnard, Sierra Boggess, Ramin Karimloo, Matthew Bourne, Derren Brown, Lorraine Burroughs, Mackenzie Crook, Michelle Dockery, David Essex, Shirley Jones, Aled Jones, Rory Kinnear, Maureen Lipman, Patina Miller, Elaine Paige, Simon Paisley Day, Tim Pigott-Smith, Kelly Price, Jonathan Pryce, Phylicia Rashad, Roger Rees, Iwan Rheon, Mark Rylance, Lesley Sharp, Tony Sheldon, Samantha Spiro, Imelda Staunton, Juliet Stevenson, Rachael Stirling, Tom Stoppard, Margaret Tyzack, Hannah Waddigham, Charlotte Wakefield, Rachel Weisz, Samuel West, Ruth Wilson, Jude Law, Kim Cattrall, Rosamund Pike, Tamsin Greig, Rupert Friend, David Essex, Arlene Phillips, Jill Halfpenny, Adam Cooper, Elaine Paige, Russell Watson, Duncan James, James Earl Jones, Larry Lamb and Barbara Windsor.

The evening’s entertainment will comprise performances from many of this year’s nominees and nominated productions, including Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Sister Act (Patina Miller), Spice Girl turned Blood Brothers star Melanie C, and, marking its 25th anniversary, casts of two Les Miserables companies performing together for the first time (See The Goss, 17 Mar 2010).

Who’s in the running?

In terms of nomination tallies, the Royal Court leads the shortlists thanks largely to Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem and Headlong’s production of Lucy Prebble’s Enron, with six nods apiece, the Court comes tops with 15 nominations. The Court is followed by the Donmar – which has dominated the Olivier shortlists for the past two years – with ten and the National Theatre with nine.

Amongst musicals, despite its short-lived West End season last spring, Spring Awakening receives the most nominations (seven) for any single production in 2010. Spring’s closest musical contender is Trevor Nunn’s Menier Chocolate Factory revival of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, which transferred to the Garrick Theatre and is nominated five Oliviers.

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. The full list of nominations follows. (For further analysis of this year’s nominations: See News, 8 Feb 2010).


How will the decisions of this year’s Olivier judges compare with those of the Evening Standard & Critics’ Circle judges as well as the public’s choices in our own Whatsonstage.com Awards. Tune in on Sunday to find out!


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

ALL AWARDS COVERAGE IS AVAILABLE VIA OUR DEDICATED
LAURENCE OLIVIERS’ MICROSITE – www.whatsonstage.com/oliviers!