Theatre News

Sophie Okonedo, Patsy Ferran, Company and The Inheritance among Critics' Circle Award winners

The Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards have been announced

| London |

29 January 2019

Patsy Ferran, Sophie Okonedo and Natasha Gordon were all winners at the awards
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

The winners of the 2018 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards have been revealed.

Awarded annually by the Critics' Circle to those within the theatre world, this year sees the hit Young Vic production of Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance pick up the most awards with three wins: Best New Play for Lopez, Best Actor for Kyle Soller and Best Director for Stephen Daldry. The Best Actress award was given to Patsy Ferran, following her leading performance in Summer and Smoke at the Almeida and in the West End.

Marianne Elliott's revival of Company, which stars Rosalie Craig and Patti LuPone, picked up two awards, winning Best Musical and Best Designer for Bunny Christie. The Best Shakespearean Performance was given to by Sophie Okonedo for Antony and Cleopatra, which ran at the National Theatre.

Natasha Gordon, who penned the hit play Nine Night which ran at the National Theatre and in the West End (where it is still open), won the Most Promising Playwright award. The Most Promising Newcomer award was won by Chris Walley, who starred opposite Aidan Turner in Michael Grandage's revival of Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

The Special Award was won by Neil McPherson, artistic director of the Finborough Theatre, for his work at the west London venue over the last 20 years.

The awards are currently in their 30th year, and see critics voting for their favourite performances in 2018 across all categories.