Theatre News

Aidan Turner wins Best West End Debut at the Stage Debut Awards

This year’s winners have been announced

Aidan Turner
Aidan Turner
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

The full list of winners for this year's Stage Debut Awards has been announced.

Aidan Turner, who appeared in Michael Grandage Company's revival of Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore, won the Best West End Debut Award, voted for online.

The awards recognise artists making their professional stage debuts up and down the country, with nine categories in total. The awards first began in 2017.

Other winners on the evening included Amara Okereke who recently took over the role of Cosette in Les Misérables in the West End, Louis Gaunt for his appearance in Oklahoma! at Grange Park Opera and Katy Rudd for directing The Almighty Sometimes.

Gemma Dobson, who won the award for Best Actress for Rita, Sue and Bob Too at Octagon Theatre Bolton, dedicated her award to playwright Andrea Dunbar.

Talking at the event, host Cush Jumbo said: "It's really hard as an actor to emerge. It's expensive to get to those auditions, to do those side jobs, to buy things for an award ceremony. So it's nice to have something to give a boost and show that young people can succeed."

The full list of winners:

Best Actress In A Play
· Kitty Archer for One for Sorrow at the Royal Court, London
· Gemma Dobson for Rita, Sue and Bob Too at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton
· Lorna Fitzgerald for The Shadow Factory at NST City, Southampton
· Grainne O'Mahony for The Elephant Man at Bristol Old Vic

Best Actor In A Play
· Seb Carrington for Summer and Smoke at the Almeida Theatre, London
· Akshay Sharan for The Reluctant Fundamentalist at the Yard Theatre, London
· Chris Walley for The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Noel Coward Theatre, London
· Alex Wilson for The Elephant Man at Bristol Old Vic Theatre

Best Actor In A Musical
· Will Carey for It's Only Life at the Union Theatre, London
· Louis Gaunt for Oklahoma! at Grange Park Opera, West Horsley
· Toby Miles for Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre, London
· Simon Oskarsson for Return to the Forbidden Planet at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London

Best Actress In A Musical
· Teleri Hughes for Spring Awakening at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
· Eleanor Kane for Fun Home at the Young Vic, London
· Rebecca Mendoza for Hairspray, on tour
· Amara Okereke for Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre, London

Best Director
· Iwan Lewis for One Minute at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester
· Alexandra Moxon for Wreck at Nottingham Playhouse
· Oscar Pearce for Great Apes at the Arcola Theatre, London
· Katy Rudd for The Almighty Sometimes at the Royal Exchange, Manchester

Best Designer
· Basia Binkowska for Devil with the Blue Dress at the Bunker Theatre, London
· Khadija Raza for Hijabi Monologues, Spun, and Mixtape, at the Bush Theatre, London, the Arcola Theatre, London and the Royal Exchange, Manchester
· Fin Redshaw for Pieces of String and Love Me Now at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester and the Tristan Bates Theatre, London
· Jasmine Swan for Hyem, The Passing of Third Floor Back, Hanna and The Sleeper at Theatre503, London, the Finborough Theatre, London, the Arcola Theatre, London, and Rialto Theatre, Brighton

Best Composer or Lyricist
· Gus Gowland for Pieces of String at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester
· Kate Marlais for Abandon at the Lyric Hammersmith, London
· Matt Winkworth for The Assassination of Katie Hopkins at Theatr Clwyd, Mold

Best Writer
· Georgia Christou for Yous Two at Hampstead Theatre, London
· Kendall Feaver for The Almighty Sometimes at the Royal Exchange, Manchester
· Natasha Gordon for Nine Night at the National Theatre, London
· Andrew Thompson for In Event of Moone Disaster at Theatre503, London
· Joe White for Mayfly at the Orange Tree Theatre, London

The Joe Allen Best West End Debut
· Mohammad Amiri for The Jungle at the Playhouse Theatre
· Ashley Banjo for Dick Whittington at the London Palladium
· Bryan Cranston for Network at the National Theatre
· Michelle Greenidge for Nine Night at the National Theatre
· John McCrea for Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre
· Kelli O'Hara for The King and I at the London Palladium
· Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy for The Jungle at the Playhouse Theatre
· Lucie Shorthouse for Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre
· Aidan Turner for The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Noel Coward Theatre
· Adrienne Warren for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre