Who Are London’s Most Influential Theatremakers???

Well, according to London’s Evening Standard newspaper, which today publishes its annual list of the 1000 most influential people in the capital, they include the likes of playwright Lucy Prebble, actor Ken Stott and director Simon McBurney.

The 45 candidates in the ‘Theatre and Dance’ section also include many of the ‘usual suspects’, such as National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner, composer/producer Andrew Lloyd Webber and director Trevor Nunn. Notable absentees include Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire, whose Ambassadors Theatre Group has just become the country’s biggest theatre owner (See News, 3 Nov 2009).

Prebble, whose second play, Enron, was roundly lauded at Chichester and the Royal Court earlier this year, is a newcomer on the list, as is Complicite director McBurney, described by the Standard as a “theatrical visionary”.

Other newcomers include Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett, playwright Jez Butterworth (who also enjoyed success at the Court this year with Jerusalem), Mehmet Ergen and Leyla Nazli, who founded the Arcola Theatre in 2000, and Lee Hall, whose writing credits include Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters.

Announcing the list, Geordie Greig, editor of the Evening Standard, said: “London leads the world because of its excellence in many things – but above all, it leads because it is a centre of influence. Many of the people profiled in this year’s guide are national and international leaders; all of them recognise the capital’s pull on the influential.”

For the full list see www.thisislondon.co.uk