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Branagh, Spacey and Russell Beale battle it out for Best Actor Award

Published Tuesday 4 November 2008 at 18:50 by Matthew Hemley

Kenneth Branagh will compete with Kevin Spacey and Simon Russell Beale to be named Best Actor at this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

The trio form part of a long list announced by the Evening Standard today. The final shortlist of nominations will be released later this week.

Branagh has been nominated for his performance in Ivanov at the Wyndham’s Theatre, while Spacey is up for his part in Speed the Plow at the Old Vic.

Russell Beale’s performance in the National Theatre’s production of Much Ado About Nothing earned him his nomination.

All three will be up against Rain Man’s Adam Godley, Chiwetel Ejiofor for Othello, Will Keen for Waste and Jonathan Slinger for Richard III.

In the category of Best Actress, Lesley Manville is nominated for Her Naked Skin, against Helen McCrory, Phoebe Nicholls, Margaret Tyzack, Penelope Wilton and Lesley Sharp, who is nominated for her part in Harper Regan.

Elsewhere Black Watch, Days of Significance, Her Naked Skin, Never So Good, Now or Later and The Pitmen Painters are all up for the title of Best Play, and La Cage Aux Folles, Eurobeat, Jersey Boys, Marguerite and Street Scene have been nominated for the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical.

Lucy Bailey, who directed Timon of Athens at Shakespeare’s Globe, is nominated for the Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director, and faces competition from Michael Boyd, Rupert Goold, Michael Grandage, Katie Mitchell, Emma Rice, Alan Rickman and John Tiffany.

Winners of the awards will be announced at a ceremony hosted by Richard Wilson at the Royal Opera House on November 24.

The full long list is:

Best Actress:

Best Actor:

Best Play:

The Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical:

The Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director:

Best Design:

The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer:

To contact the Stage news team email newsdesk@thestage.co.uk or call 020 7403 1818, selecting option 2 (editorial) followed by option 1 (newsdesk).
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