Londonist: Evening Standard Theatre Award Winners Announced

The dominant Donmar picked up four of the Evening Standard Theatre Awards this year, proving that small can also be powerful when it comes to theatre.

Eight years after winning Most Promising Newcomer in the same awards, the gorgeous Chiwetel Ejiofor takes the Best Actor gong for his Othello, despite hot competition from David Calder's Lear and Kenneth Branagh's Ivanov.

Margaret Tyzack and Penelope Wilton were named Best Actress jointly by the judges for their performances in Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden at the Donmar.

(Oh to have been a fly on the wall while that non-decision was being reached.)

Michael Grandage, Big Daddy (Artistic Director) of the Donmar, who directed Othello, The Chalk Garden and Ivanov beat Michael Boyd and John Tiffany to win the Best Director award for the third time.

In a shortlist that was criticised for shunning commercial theatre, even the more populist musicals (Marguerite, La Cage Aux Folles) lost out to the Young Vic's Street Scene.

A Special Award went to Kevin Spacey for bringing the Old Vic back into our hearts, and the Editor's Award (or Award for Sheer Gobsmacking Brilliance, as it shall now be known) went to the RSC's Histories Cycle.

For lovers of theatre, awards, and theatre awards, the Evening Standard Theatre Awards are just the beginning of a whole season of shiny silverware. If your favourites didn't feature today, then there's always the Critics Circle Awards, the Theatregoers' Choice Awards and the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards in March.

Check out the full results here, and let us know what you think.

Picture of the lovely Chiwetel from Thomas Roche's photostream under the creative commons licence.

Read the original londonist post here.

Londonist: Donmar Dominates Evening Standard Theatre Awards Shortlist

The Evening Standard Theatre Awards shortlist has been announced, and the Donmar Warehouse tops the bill with six nominations for three shows.

Today's announcement cuts down on the longlist released earlier this week to three nominations in each category.

Donmar Artistic Director Michael Grandage is nominated for Best Director for three productions (Othello, The Chalk Garden and Ivanov).

And those same three shows dominate the acting categories. Kenneth Branagh (Ivanov) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Othello) compete in the Best Actor category, and Margaret Tyzack and Penelope Wilton (both The Chalk Garden) are up for Best Actress. They're joined by David Calder for Lear at Shakespeare's Globe, and Lesley Sharp for Harper Regan at the National.

Rupert Goold's been dropped, as those up for Best Director include Michaels Grandage and Boyd, and John Tiffany for Black Watch at the Barbican.

The same Black Watch is up for Best Play, alongside The Pitmen Painters, and Christopher Shinn’s Now Or Later at the Royal Court.

Eurobeat and Jersey Boys miss out on Best Musical; the shortlist now contains Street Scene, La Cage Aux Folles, and Marguerite.

See the Standard's full shortlist, and let us know what you think below.

Image from cormac70's photostream via the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

See original post on londonist.