The Stage

Royal Court and National lead Evening Standard Awards shortlist

Published Monday 22 November 2010 at 12:18 by Alistair Smith

The Royal Court and National Theatre have dominated the shortlist for this year’s London Evening Standard Theatre Awards with 11 and ten nominations respectively.

The Royal Court, in fact, has received all three nominations in the Best Play Category - with Cock, Clybourne Park and Sucker Punch competing for the award. It also features in all three nominations for the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright.

Musicals Legally Blonde and Passion have also fared well, with their stars Sheridan Smith and Elena Roger competing for the Best Actress Award and both productions nominated for Best Musical.

“The two powerhouses this year have been the Royal Court and - in a handsome return to form - the National Theatre,” said London Evening Standard theatre critic Henry Hitchings. “It’s also been an excellent year for fresh talent - new faces on the stage, and some strikingly original writers and dynamic young companies.”

The nominations in full are:

Best Actor

Roger Allam for Henry IV Parts One and Two (Shakespeare’s Globe)

Rory Kinnear for Measure for Measure (Almeida)/Hamlet (National’s Olivier)

David Suchet for All My Sons (Apollo)

The Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress

Nancy Carroll for After the Dance (National’s Lyttelton)

Elena Roger for Passion (Donmar Warehouse)

Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde (Savoy)

Sophie Thompson for Clybourne Park (Royal Court)

Best Play

Mike Bartlett for Cock (Royal Court)

Bruce Norris for Clybourne Park (Royal Court)

Roy Williams for Sucker Punch (Royal Court)

The Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical

Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre)

Les Misérables (Cameron Mackintosh production at Barbican Theatre)

Passion (Donmar Warehouse)

Best Director

Howard Davies for The White Guard (National’s Lyttelton)/All My Sons (Apollo)

Nicholas Hytner for The Habit of Art (National’s Lyttelton/London Assurance (National’s Olivier)/Hamlet (National’s Olivier)

Laurie Sansom for Beyond the Horizon and Spring Storm (National’s Cottesloe)

Thea Sharrock for After the Dance (National’s Lyttelton)

Best Design

Miriam Buether for Sucker Punch (Royal Court)/Earthquakes in London (National’s Cottesloe)

Bunny Christie for The White Guard (National’s Lyttelton)

Christopher Oram for Passion (Donmar Warehouse)/Red (Donmar Warehouse)

The Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright

DC Moore for The Empire (Royal Court)

Nick Payne for If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush)/Wanderlust (Royal Court)

Anya Reiss for Spur of the Moment (Royal Court)

The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer

Melanie Chisholm for her performance in Blood Brothers (Phoenix)

Daniel Kaluuya for his performance in Sucker Punch (Royal Court)

Isabella Laughland for her performance in Wanderlust (Royal Court)

Shannon Tarbet for her performance in Spur of the Moment (Royal Court)

You Me Bum Bum Train created by Kate Bond and Morgan Lloyd (LEB Building, E2)