Evening Standard Awards 2009

55th LONDON EVENING STANDARD THEATRE AWARDS
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Hollywood stars and British theatre heavyweights battle it out for the gongs at this year’s London Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Star names on the shortlist included Lenny Henry, Samuel West, Juliet Stevenson, Mark Rylance, Simon Russell Beale and Rachel Weisz. Two big productions of the year, Enron, in which financial scandal is turned into an entertaining and scathing romp, and Jerusalem, a tragi-comic story of life for those left behind in contemporary rural England, went head to head for Best Play, Best Director and Best Actor.

The winners were revealed at a lunchtime awards ceremony, presented by Kirsty Young at the Paul Hamlyn Hall at the Royal Opera House on Monday, 23 November 2009.

LONDON EVENING STANDARD THEATRE AWARDS 2009

(winners in red)

BEST PLAY
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts (Steppenwolf/National)
Enron by Lucy Prebble (Chichester/Royal Court)
Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth (Royal Court)
Punk Rock by Simon Stephens (Lyric Hammersmith)

BEST ACTOR
Simon Russell Beale in The Winter’s Tale (Bridge Project/Old Vic)
Mark Rylance in Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Ken Stott in A View From The Bridge (Duke of York’s)
Samuel West in Enron (Royal Court)

THE NATASHA RICHARDSON AWARD FOR  BEST ACTRESS
Deanna Dunagan in August: Osage County (National)
Penny Downie in Helen (Shakespeare’s Globe)
Juliet Stevenson in Duet for One (Almeida/Vaudeville)
Rachel Weisz  in A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar)

BEST DIRECTOR
Rupert Goold - Enron (Royal Court)
Jeremy Herrin - Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Ian Rickson - Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Anna D Shapiro - August: Osage County (National)

THE NED SHERRIN AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL
A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory/Garrick)
Been So Long (ETT/Young Vic)
Hello, Dolly! (Open Air, Regent’s Park)
Spring Awakening  (Lyric Hammersmith/Novello)

BEST DESIGN
Jon Bausor - Kursk (Sound&Fury, Fuel/Young Vic)
Miriam Buether  - Judgment Day (Almeida)
Mamoru Iriguchi  - Mincemeat (Cardboard Citizens/Cordy House, Shoreditch)
Ultz  - Jerusalem (Royal Court)

THE CHARLES WINTOUR AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT
Alia Bano for Shades (Royal Court)
Katori Hall for Mountaintop (Theatre 503 & Trafalgar Studios)
Alexi Kaye Campbell for The Pride (Royal Court)

THE MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER
Naana Agyei-Ampadu in Been So Long (Young Vic)
Lenny Henry in Othello (Trafalgar Studios)
Bel Powley in Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Tom Sturridge in Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith)