Olivier Awards 2026 – let’s give people and kindness a chance

This year, 86 per cent of Olivier Award nominees were from outside of the M25.

It’s a statistic provided in the opening speeches at the ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, and a sentiment that carries its way through the evening. Celebrating 50 years, the Olivier Awards honoured the very best of London’s theatre, as they always do, but this year, they shone a light on the regions – both intentionally and not.

With two wins each, both Kenrex and Punch were born in regional theatres (in Sheffield and Nottingham, respectively), and it complimented an anniversary video perfectly. In it, the director of the Welsh National Theatre, Michael Sheen, credited finding his love of theatre through winning tickets as a child to watch Cinderella at Swansea Grand. While David Tennant added: “We are a better country when we have local theatre. We are better people.”

Director Luke Sheppard, who is the visionary behind bringing Paddington to the stage, also thanked his mum and dad for taking him to see shows when they came into town as a kid.

It is with thanks to regional theatres, groups and communities that we have many of today’s great storytellers, but we’re at risk of losing that starting point. Regional producing houses are facing rising costs, while programmes are losing funding. The result could be catastrophic, with accessibility being cut off for future generations of audiences and creators.

Paapa Essiedu, who picked up the award for Best Supporting Actor, shouted out Frantic Assembly, who gave him his very first exposure to theatre. He said: “There are amazing organisations all over the country, like the Ignition, Intermission, New Theatre, the National Youth Theatre, Open Door Theatre, which are doing such brilliant work, but as we all know, their funding has been cut year on year on year.”

Much like the city did with Paddington Bear, people must lead with care and compassion, and the outcome can be absolutely dazzling. Hameed, who voices the bear, gave thanks to the company “for allowing this little brown boy to be something he was told he would never be, and that is a West End lead…”

“In this world, there will be further displaced people. Please be welcoming, accepting and helpful to those people and treat them as you would if you were Paddington himself. Paddington reminds us to be welcoming, inquisitive and most importantly, kind.”

In the Best Actor category, household names like Tom Hiddleston, Bryan Cranston and Sean Hayes were in contention. It was Jack Holden who took the prize for Kenrex. On stage, he commented, “Most people watching this at home won’t know me,” before saying that people whose names are unknown publicly are the backbone of the theatre industry. They’re often low-paid, working unforgivable hours, and it can be thankless. He urged audiences to “go to the theatre and learn their names.”

Tom Edden, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Rachel Zegler, and countless others thanked the dressers, the crew, the front-of-house teams, the swings, the understudies, the alternates and countless others who allow them to give the best possible performances night after night. Zegler said: “This show is not possible without a billion people backstage.
If you see a crew member, you need to thank them.”

In the closing line of one of last night’s speeches, we had a quote from Tom Fletcher: “Kindness isn’t ever complicated.”