Evening Standard Theatre Awards winners 2018: Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo win acting awards

The winners of the 64th Evening Standard Theatre Awards have been announced, with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo winning Best Actor and Best Actress for their performances in Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre.

The awards were announced in a ceremony at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Sunday 18 November, presented by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Okonedo and Fiennes both took home the acting awards for their portrayal of Shakespeare's doomed couple in Simon Godwin's production, which was given five stars in a review by WhatsOnStage's Sarah Crompton.

Best Play was won by Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance, which opened at the Young Vic and is now running in the West End. Marianne Elliott took home the award for Best Director, with her gender-swapped version of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company which lost out in the Best Musical category to Hamilton. However Rosalie Craig won the award for Best Musical Performance for her turn as Bobbie in the piece.

Miriam Buether won the award for Best Design for The Jungle, which also originally opened at the Young Vic before transferring to the West End, while Natasha Gordon won the award for Most Promising Playwright for her play Nine Night, which is due to transfer to Trafalgar Studios in December. Jamael Westman, who plays Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton won the award for Emerging Talent.

Producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh won the Lebedev Award.

Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, co-hosted the event, alongside Emmy Award-winner Claire Foy (The Crown) and Golden Globe winner Idris Elba (Luther).

This year's judging panel included Evening Standard's chief theatre Critic, Henry Hitchings; Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye, Guardian writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson; WhatsOnStage's Sarah Crompton; and Matt Wolf, London theatre critic of the International New York Times alongside the Evening Standard's editor, George Osborne.

See the full list of the nominees and winners below, with the winners in bold.

BEST ACTOR
Bryan Cranston Network, National Theatre (Lyttelton)
Ralph Fiennes Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre (Olivier)
Ian McKellen King Lear, Minerva Chichester and Duke of York's
Colin Morgan Translations, National Theatre (Olivier)
Kyle Soller The Inheritance, Young Vic and Noël Coward Theatre

NATASHA RICHARDSON AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
Laura Linney My Name Is Lucy Barton, Bridge Theatre
Carey Mulligan Girls and Boys, Royal Court
Cecilia Noble Nine Night, National Theatre (Dorfman)
Sophie Okonedo Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre (Olivier)
Lia Williams The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Donmar Warehouse

BEST PLAY
Home, I'm Darling Laura Wade, National Theatre (Dorfman)
The Inheritance Matthew Lopez, Young Vic & Noël Coward Theatre
John Annie Baker, National Theatre (Dorfman)
The Lehman Trilogy Stefano Massini, (adapted by Ben Power), National Theatre (Lyttelton)
The Writer Ella Hickson, Almeida

MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Stephen Daldry The Inheritance, Young Vic & Noël Coward Theatre
Marianne Elliott Company, Gielgud Theatre
Robert Hastie The York Realist, Donmar Warehouse
Phyllida Lloyd Tina, Aldwych Theatre
Ian Rickson Translations, National Theatre (Olivier)

BEST MUSICAL
Caroline, or Change Minerva Chichester & Hampstead Theatre
Company Gielgud Theatre
Everybody's Talking About Jamie Apollo Theatre
Fun Home Young Vic
Hamilton Victoria Palace

BEST MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Sharon D Clarke Caroline, or Change, Minerva Chichester & Hampstead Theatre
Rosalie Craig Company, Gielgud Theatre
Arinzé Kene Misty, Bush & Trafalgar Studios
Kelli O'Hara The King and I, Palladium
Adrienne Warren Tina, Aldwych

BEST DESIGN
Miriam Buether The Jungle, Young Vic & Playhouse Theatre
Bunny Christie Company, Gielgud Theatre
Es Devlin Girls and Boys, Royal Court
Rae Smith Translations, National Theatre (Olivier)
Jan Versweyveld Network, National Theatre (Lyttelton)

CHARLES WINTOUR AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT
Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm Br'er Cotton, Theatre503
Natasha Gordon Nine Night, National Theatre (Dorfman)
Francis Turnly The Great Wave, National Theatre (Dorfman)

EMERGING TALENT AWARD
Rona Morison The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Donmar Warehouse
Debris Stevenson Poet in da Corner, Royal Court
Chris Walley The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Noël Coward Theatre
Roy Alexander Weise (director) Nine Night, National Theatre (Dorfman)/Br'er Cotton, Theatre503
Jamael Westman Hamilton, Victoria Palace