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Heavyweights of the stage battle for best actor prize
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent04.11.08
KEVIN Spacey, Alan Rickman and Kenneth Branagh are in the running for honours in this year's Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
The longlist announced today has Spacey and Branagh in an impressive list of eight contenders for best actor.
Spacey is chosen for his barnstorming appearance in Speed-the-Plow alongside Jeff Goldblum at the Old Vic, which he runs. Branagh is bidding for glory after taking the title role in Chekhov play Ivanov. The Donmar production is still running at Wyndham's Theatre.
Some of their rivals have been chosen for Shakespeare performances. Jonathan Slinger is in contention for the Royal Shakespeare Company's Richard II and Richard III; Simon Russell Beale for Much Ado About Nothing; David Calder for Lear; Chiwetel Ejiofor for Othello.
Stage and Harry Potter star Rickman is longlisted for a rare turn as the director of Creditors, by August Strindberg, at the Donmar Warehouse. Other best director hopefuls are Lucy Bailey, Katie Mitchell, Emma Rice and John Tiffany, whose Black Watch marched into the Barbican.
All face serious competition from two directors with multiple hits under their belts: Rupert Goold, who won best director last year for Macbeth; and Michael Grandage, artistic director of the Donmar. Michael Boyd completes the best director longlist.
Best actress contenders include Helen McCrory, Lesley Sharp, Margaret Tyzack and Penelope Wilton. The list for best play includes suffragette drama Her Naked Skin by Rebecca Lenkiewicz; Never So Good, a life of Harold Macmillan by Howard Brenton; and Christopher Shinn's original take on US presidential election night, Now Or Later.
There is no longlist for the Charles Wintour award for most promising playwright - three names will be announced, with the rest of the shortlist for the awards, on Friday.
The judges are the Standard's critic Nicholas de Jongh, Benedict Nightingale (The Times), Susannah Clapp (The Observer), Georgina Brown (Mail on Sunday) and Charles Spencer (The Daily Telegraph). Standard editor Veronica Wadley chairs the panel.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony hosted by Richard Wilson at the Royal Opera House on 24 November.
BEST ACTRESS
Lesley Manville - Her Naked Skin (National's Olivier)
Helen McCrory - Rosmersholm (Almeida)
Phoebe Nicholls - Waste (Almeida)
Lesley Sharp - Harper Regan (National's Cottesloe)
Margaret Tyzack - The Chalk Garden (Donmar Warehouse)
Penelope Wilton - The Chalk Garden (Donmar Warehouse)
BEST ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh - Ivanov (Donmar West End at Wyndham's)
David Calder - King Lear (Shakespeare's Globe)
Adam Godley - Rain Man (Apollo)
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Othello (Donmar Warehouse)
Will Keen - Waste (Almeida)
Simon Russell Beale - Much Ado About Nothing (National's Olivier)
Jonathan Slinger - Richard II and Richard III (RSC at the Roundhouse)
Kevin Spacey - Speed-the-Plow (Old Vic)
BEST PLAY
Black Watch - by Gregory Burke (National Theatre of Scotland at Barbican)
Days Of Significance - by Roy Williams (RSC at the Tricycle)
Her Naked Skin - by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (National's Olivier)
Never So Good - by Howard Brenton (National's Lyttelton)
Now Or Later - by Christopher Shinn (Royal Court)
The Pitmen Painters - by Lee Hall (Live Theatre and National Theatre co-production)
THE NED SHERRIN AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL
La Cage Aux Folles - Menier Chocolate Factory and Playhouse
Eurobeat - Novello
Jersey Boys - Prince Edward
Marguerite - Theatre Royal Haymarket
Street Scene - The Opera Group, Young Vic and Watford Palace Theatre co-production
THE SYDNEY EDWARDS AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Lucy Bailey - Timon of Athens (Shakespeare's Globe)
Michael Boyd - The History Cycle (Royal Shakespeare Company at the Roundhouse)
Rupert Goold - Six Characters In Search Of An Author (Gielgud)/No Man's Land (Duke of York's)/The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot (Almeida)
Michael Grandage - Othello/The Chalk Garden/Ivanov (Donmar West End at Wyndham's and Donmar Warehouse)
Katie Mitchell - The Women of Troy (National's Lyttelton)
Emma Rice - Brief Encounter (Kneehigh at Cinema Haymarket Theatre)
Alan Rickman - Creditors (Donmar Warehouse)
John Tiffany - Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland at Barbican)
BEST DESIGN
Miriam Buether - In The Red And Brown Water (Young Vic)
Laura Hopkins - Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland at the Barbican)
Rob Howell - The Norman Conquests (Old Vic)
Neil Murray - Brief Encounter (Kneehigh at Cinema Haymarket Theatre)
Ti Green and Melly Still - The Revenger's Tragedy (National's Olivier)
THE MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER
Michelle Dockery - Pygmalion (Old Vic)
Luke Evans - Small Change (Donmar Warehouse)
Felicity Jones - The Chalk Garden (Donmar Warehouse)
Joseph Mawle - The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot (Almeida)
Lex Shrapnel - Henry IV Part I (Royal Shakespeare Company at The Roundhouse)
Ella Smith - Fat Pig (Trafalgar Studios and Comedy Theatre)
Reader views (5)
Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical nominates 'Marguerite'. Good lord! Did no-one actually go and see this show. I can't remember a time I had such a relentlessly grim and wasted evening in a theatre. Though the cast, especially Ruthie Henshall, were excellent the show was a complete dud. On the evening when my partner and I went there was even a member of the FOH team standing at the back of the stalls trying to get us to clap. No! La Cage at The Menier was a delight, and my big shock of the year was Eurobeat. As one of the reviews said... like the theatrical version of Turkey Twizzlers. Not improving, or with any discernable sustainance, but immensely, immensely enjoyable. I only wish I'd have gone to see it earlier, rather than in it's final few days, as there are so many people I would have taken to see it.
Richard Voyce
- Richard Voyce, London, UK
Pleased as I am to see Will Keen on the long list for his wonderful performance in "Waste",I am equally surprised and disappointed that Eddie Redmayne,so terrific in "Now or Later, is omitted.
- Michael Sharpe, London,UK
Josh Harnett is not a newcomer and his performance is not worthy to stand alongside the great ones which have been nominated.
- Blue Baby, London
I quite agree with Jo. When we look back on the great actors of the last 30 or 40 years, I can't see how a list that would encompass names like Branagh and Spacey could possibly overlook Josh Hartnett.
- Rob, London
No Josh Hartnett in the newcomer line-up?
It takes two to tango as anyone who's seen the excellent Adam Godley in Rain Man will tell you, so why no recognition for the intense, heartfelt performance from Godley's partner?
- Jo, UK
