The winners of the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards were announced tonight (Sunday 3 December 2017) at a ceremony at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane: three of the nine awards went to the premiere of Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, premiered at the Royal Court and still running in the West End.
The Ferryman scooped three of the four awards for which it was nominated, with Jez Butterworth honoured for Best Play, Sam Mendes picking up Best Director and Tom Glynn-Carney taking home the Emerging Talent Award. Jez Butterworth’s win marks his third Evening Standard Theatre Award, winning Most Promising Playwright in 1995 and Best Play for Jerusalem in 2009.
Andrew Garfield won Best Actor for Angels in America, despite stiff competition from Ink‘s Bertie Carvel and Hamlet‘s Andrew Scott. Garfield was the recipient of The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer eleven years ago, in 2006. Garfield reprises his performance in the Broadway transfer in February.
Glenda Jackson was awarded Best Actress for her role in King Lear, triumphing over The Ferryman‘s Laura Donnelly and Albion‘sVictoria Hamilton, who were all shortlisted for the award presented in memory of the late Natasha Richardson.
Amber Riley – who performed at last year’s ceremony – won the award for Best Musical Performance for her role in Dreamgirls, whilst the Evening Standard Radio 2 Audience Award for Best Musical was presented to Bat Out of Hell – The Musical, which transfers to the West End in the new year.
Bunny Christie was honoured with the award for Best Design for Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle, Ink and The Red Barn. Christie previously won Best Design for Baby Doll in 2000.
The Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright was presented to The Octoroon‘s Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Previous recipients of the award include Tom Stoppard (1967) and Polly Stenham (2007).
The annual awards, marking their 63rd year, were co-hosted by the newspaper’s owner, Evgeny Lebedev, American Vogue editor-in-chief, Dame Anna Wintour, star of stage and screen Cate Blanchett and Hamilton creator and original star Lin-Manuel Miranda. The on-stage host for the evening was Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Among guests for the evening were Dame Anna Wintour, Evgeny Lebedev, Cate Blanchett, Linn Manuel Miranda, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Glenda Jackson, Andrew Garfield, Jez Butterworth, Amber Riley, Sam Mendes, Tom Glynn-Carney, Dame Shirey Bassey, Keira Knightly, Poppy Delevingne, John Hamm, Laura Carmichael and Dominic West.
Winners
The winners of the nine awards for the 63rd London Evening Standard Theatre Awards are as follows:
Best Actor
- Andrew Garfield Angels in America (National Theatre)
Best Actress
- Glenda Jackson King Lear (Old Vic)
Best Musical Performance
- Amber Riley Dreamgirls (Savoy)
Best Play
- The Ferryman Jez Butterworth (Royal Court & Gielgud)
Best Director
- Sam Mendes The Ferryman (Royal Court & Gielgud)
Best Design
- Bunny Christie Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle (Wyndham’s) / Ink (Almeida & Duke of York’s) /The Red Barn (National Theatre)
Most Promising Playwright
- Branden Jacobs-Jenkins An Octoroon (Orange Tree)
Emerging Talent
- Tom Glynn-Carney The Ferryman (Royal Court & Gielgud)
Audience Award for Best Musical*
- Bat out of Hell – The Musical (Coliseum)
*The winner of the Evening Standard Radio 2 Audience Awards for Best Musical is decided by public vote; voting ran 15-29 October 2017.
