2025 Ian Charleson Award winners revealed

The winners for the 2025 Ian Charleson Award have been announced.

The annual prize, named in memory of the acclaimed actor who died in 1990, recognises outstanding performances by actors under the age of 30 in classical stage roles (written before 1918).

This year’s judges are the actor Fisayo Akinade, Alastair Coomer (head of casting at the National Theatre), Robert Hastie, the deputy artistic director at the National Theatre, and casting director Hannah Miller.

This year’s winner is Francesca Amewudah-Rivers for Romeo and Juliet, which ran at the Duke of York’s theatre last summer.

Commended were second place finisher Ralph Davis, 28 for Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe, while third place went to Éanna Hardwicke, for The Cherry Orchard at Donmar Warehouse.

Also shortlisted were:

Melanie-Joyce Bermudez, 24 – Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC

Tom Glenister, 28 – A Doll’s House, The Crucible, Sheffield

Madeleine Gray, 29 – Uncle Vanya, Orange Tree Theatre

Oli Higginson, 29 – Othello, Shakespeare’s Globe

Nadeem Islam, 27 – Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare’s Globe

Siena Kelly, 28 – A Doll’s House, The Crucible, Sheffield

Francesca Mills, 27 – The Duchess of Malfi, Shakespeare’s Globe – who received a special commendation

Daniel Quinn-Toye, 21 – Romeo and Juliet, Duke of York’s

Andrew Richardson, 28 – Uncle Vanya, Orange Tree Theatre / A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Barbican

Rumi Sutton, 24 – The Importance of Being Earnest, Royal Exchange