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Audience on their feet to sing the praises of Jerusalem's star
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent24.11.09
The audience rose in a standing ovation as Fiona Shaw announced Mark Rylance, with whom she had studied at Rada, as best actor for his lead role in Jerusalem.
She praised his "childlike innocence and daring moral ambivalence. He is a double helix, layered with detail, he is stripping the human soul."
Rylance delivers a barnstorming performance as rebel Johnny "Rooster" Byron, a portrayal one critic could not imagine anyone rivalling.
Accepting the honour he thanked the awards for celebrating his work in what he described as a fabulous play.
He added: "Thank you for putting me in this room, where I've sat for one-and-a-half-hours and seen so many people involved in theatre for so many years. I thank the Royal Court for sticking with writers as they do."
Jerusalem, a rare slice of rural life in the capital, was also named best play. Jez Butterworth, its playwright, said he felt fraudulent for accepting the award.
"The play fell out of the sky and hit me on the head. I don't feel responsible for it in any way," he said. He also thanked the Royal Court for persevering with him and the play through "a couple of really ropey read-throughs".
And he thanked Rylance for his "immeasurable" influence. "It simply wouldn't have happened if he hadn't got interested in it."
Enron, about the American energy company's dramatic rise and fall, took the director's honour for Rupert Goold, presented by Patrick Stewart, with whom he worked on the 2007 award-winning Macbeth.
The play by 28-year-old Lucy Prebble is the Royal Court's other West End-bound production.
The Court's fourth win was for most promising playwright, 26-year-old London teacher Alia Bano. Her work, Shades, was hailed as a funny and irreverent Muslim take on Bridget Jones.
The award, named after the late Standard editor Charles Wintour, comes with a £5,000 cheque from his daughter, Anna, editor of American Vogue, and Evgeny Lebedev, executive director of the Standard.
They also gave £1,000 awards to the two runners-up, Alexi Kaye Campbell, for The Pride - also at the Court - and Katori Hall, for The Mountaintop.
Mr Lebedev said it was wonderful to continue the tradition of the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Rachel Weisz, who starred in A Streetcar Named Desire, was presented the best actress award by Vanessa Redgrave. Weisz accepted the prize from Romania, where she is filming.
In a video message she said: "I'm so thrilled and honoured. It is even more of an honour because this is the first year the award has been named after the great and much, much-loved Natasha Richardson."
