Theatre News: Our Kev does Dicky III

There's loads of long-range theatre news about this week.

My favourite being the annoucement that Kevin Spacey's going to do Richard III at the Old Vic for 2012. And it'll be directed by none other than that chap Judi Dench described as "My dear boy" when he was about 16 and starting out, Sam Mendes.

Now there's something to get excited about in the Olympic year. There's a show I'd sign up for ticketing alerts and endure endless near-irrelevant emails in the meantime...

In my head it's all modern and twitchy, and Our Kev's grown a moustache to signify that he's a bit evil, and all the women are played by total stars. But that's just in my head.

We'll have to wait and see.

Read the rest of this week's theatre news here

Spotted: Robert Lindsay, Kevin Spacey

Yes, Robert Lindsay, my original Bill from Me and My Girl(!) around 8pm, yesterday, watching Complicit at The Old Vic.

Although I can't really take the credit; it was only when JC said "there's that guy from that sitcom with Zoe Wannamaker" that I spotted him, and was able to get a point for knowing his name.

Kev was there too. I'd been instructed to look out for him by LK at work ("Watch out for Kevin Spacey air kissing those women in the audience who look like they're entirely made of bones, hairspray and fur coat", or somesuch) and true to form, he bobbed in through the door behind JC during the interval, and darted across the audience to talk conspiratorially to a guy (the writer? producer?) sitting on his own on the opposite side of the auditorium to us.

I wonder if the whole ripping up the lovely Old Vic to play in the round thing isn't just a ruse to make sure everyone can see everyone watching Kevin and pals doing their meet/greet during the break.

As he continued to weave his way around the audience JC said he'd made him feel a bit star-struck, which was nice. I'm always star-struck, so it's good to hear I'm not the only one.

We wanted to tell Kevin about the terrible ice cream available in his theatre. Organic? Gritty. Tasted like it had never been near cream in its life.

Almost as disappointing as the play - oooh! Review coming soon.

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.