Royal Mail launches RSC stamps

The Royal Mail has launched a new set of stamps to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Launched today, 12 April 2011, the Stamps feature six of the RSC’s most acclaimed productions, alongside a Miniature Sheet featuring four stamps showing the theatres where the RSC has performed in Stratford-upon-Avon through the years.

The set features former Dr Who David Tennant as Hamlet, Antony Sher as Prospero in The Tempest, Chuk Iwuji as Henry VI, Paul Schofield as King Lear, Sara Kestelman as the fairy queen Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Ian McKellen and Francesca Annis as Romeo and Juliet.

LINKS

Royal Mail – RSC stamp collection

GALLERY

Royal Mail pays tribute to the RSC with new stamp collection

THUMBNAILS

Chichester Festival announces new season

The Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its new 2011 season, including a major celebration of the work of Terence Rattigan and three new productions of classic musicals.

High-profile directors include Trevor Nunn, Max Stafford-Clark, Jonathan Church, Philip Franks and Sean Mathias.

Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton to star in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

Sir Ian McKellen returns to Chichester to star alongside Michael Pennington in The Syndicate.

Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its new 2011 season, starting on 9 May. Artistic Director Jonathan Church has put together an impressive slate of new productions, attracting major directors and stellar acting talent to cover both drama and musicals.

Three big musicals will be revived this year, following Chichester’s 2010 stage version of famous film weepy Love Story, which is currently playing at the Duchess Theatre in London. The season kicks off with Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s She Loves Me (from 9 May), starring Joe McFadden and Dianne Pilkington, and directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear. The show was last seen in the West End in 1994 starring Ruthie Henshall, John Gordon Sinclair and Tracie Bennett.

From 27 June, MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain gets a brand new production by Jonathan Church, starring Adam Cooper, Daniel Crossley and Scarlett Strallen. The musical trio is completed at the end of the season by the much talked-about and anticipated new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (from 24 September), directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Michael Ball in the title role and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett.

The festival will also celebrate the work of Terence Rattigan with a mini season of productions, timed to coincide with the playwright’s centenary year in 2011. Shows include The Deep Blue Sea (from 13 July) directed by Philip Franks; and The Browning Version (from 2 September) directed by Angus Jackson, alongside the world premiere of a new one-act play by David Hare, South Downs, directed by Jeremy Herrin and commissioned by the Rattigan Trust as a response to The Browning Version. Also Nicholas Wright’s new play Rattigan’s Nijinsky, based on a screenplay by Rattigan, will get a world premiere from 19 July  directed by Philip Franks; and from 31 July the festival will hold a series of rehearsed readings of some of Rattigan’s lesser-known plays, including First Episode,  Adventure Story, Variation On A Theme, Heart To Heart and Harlequinade, plus In Praise Of Rattigan, devised by Jack Tinker and Martin Tickner and directed and featuring Penelope Keith.

Other new productions include Trevor Nunn following his spring production of Rattigan’s Flare Path in the West End, by directing Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (from 20 May); Max Stafford-Clark and his Out of Joint theatre company join forces with Chichester to revisit Caryl Churchill’s 1982 play Top Girls (from 23 June); and Sir Ian McKellen stars in a new version of Eduardo De Filippo’s The Syndicate (from 21 July), also starring Michael Pennington and directed by Sean Mathias.

LINKS

Chichester Festival Theatre website

Video: Sweeney Todd – Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton on The Michael Ball Show

Chichester Festival Theatre Announces Festival 2011

At the heart of the sixth season from Artistic Director Jonathan Church and Executive Director Alan Finch will be ‘a Festival within a Festival’ celebrating the achievements of playwright Terence Rattigan in the centenary year of his birth. There will be productions of two of his finest plays, The Deep Blue Sea and The Browning Version, both of which will play in conjunction with the world premiere of a connected piece, Rattigan’s Nijinsky by Nicholas Wright and South Downs by David Hare. There will also be a series of Rattigan-themed rehearsed readings, discussions and talks. For the first time, the season also features three musicals, She Loves Me, Singin’ in the Rain and Sweeney Todd, which will form the beginning, middle and end of the Festival. Vastly different in style and content, these three productions reflect the diversity and range of musical theatre itself.

SHE LOVES ME
Book by Joe Masteroff
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
9 May – 18 June, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Monday 16 May 7.00pm)

Director & Choreographer: Stephen Mear
Designer: Anthony Ward
Lighting Designer: Chris Davey
Musical Director: Phil Bateman
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie
Orchestrator: Steven Edis

A witty and warm-hearted musical gem – later reworked for the big screen as The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail – this is the delightful story of Georg and Amalia, two lovelorn assistants in a 1930s parfumerie. They squabble by day but at night write anonymous love letters, both unaware that they are each other’s secret correspondent.

The cast features Joe McFadden. Last at Chichester in Festival 05’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, his other credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Rent on stage and Heartbeat, Casualty and Cranford on television.

Dianne Pilkington plays Amalia. Her stage credits include The 39 Steps, Wicked, The Wolf Man, Taboo, Tonight’s The Night, The Beautiful Game and Les Misérables.

The musical will be directed and choreographed by Chichester Festival Theatre Associate Stephen Mear.

His productions for Chichester include The Music Man and Funny Girl. Other credits include the forthcoming West End production of Betty Blue Eyes, Shoes, Mary Poppins, for which he received the Olivier Award for Best Choreography, together with Matthew Bourne, and Hello, Dolly! for which he received the Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer.

TOM STOPPARD’S ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
20 May – 11 June, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 31 May 7.00pm)

Director: Trevor Nunn
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell

This richly inventive play retells Hamlet through the eyes of two of its minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who inhabit a world completely beyond their grasp and control.

Tom Stoppard’s plays include The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, The Real Thing, Arcadia and Rock ‘n’ Roll, while his screenplays include Shakespeare in Love for which he was awarded an Oscar for Best Screenplay, together with co-writer Marc Norman.

Trevor Nunn directed Cyrano de Bergerac for Festival 09. He has been Artistic Director of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and his credits include the forthcoming West End production of Flare Path, as well as Birdsong, A Little Night Music, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hamlet, King Lear, The Seagull and Porgy and Bess.

TOP GIRLS by Caryl Churchill
23 June – 16 July, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Thursday 30 June 7.00pm)

Director: Max Stafford-Clark
Designer: Tim Shortall
Lighting Designer: Jason Taylor

One of the boldest and most original plays of the 1980s, Top Girls remains equally relevant today. A provocative study of powerful women in Thatcher’s Britain, the play examines the compromises made by women in the quest for success, and what happens to those left behind.

Caryl Churchill’s plays include Cloud Nine, Serious Money, for which she received the Evening Standard Award for Best New Comedy and the Olivier Award for Best New Play, Far Away and A Number.

Max Stafford-Clark returns to Top Girls, having directed its premiere at the Royal Court in 1982. He was Artistic Director of the Royal Court from 1979 – 1993 and of the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh from 1968 – 1970. He co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Group in 1974 and Out of Joint in 1993. Among his directing credits are regular collaborations with writer Caryl Churchill, including Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud Nine and Serious Money.

Top Girls is a co-production with Out of Joint.

Contains adult themes and strong language.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
Based on the MGM film
Screenplay and adaptation by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed
27 June – 10 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 5 July 7.00pm)

Director: Jonathan Church
Designer: Simon Higlett
Choreographer: Andrew Wright
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell
Musical Director: Robert Scott
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie

This classic musical evokes the era when the silver screen was changed forever by the emergence of talking pictures. The glorious score features Make ‘em Laugh, Good Morning, Moses Supposes and Singin’ in the Rain.

Adam Cooper, whose credits include On Your Toes and Guys and Dolls, plays silent movies star Don Lockwood. The cast also features Daniel Crossley, whose credits include Hello Dolly!, Chicago, Fosse and Mary Poppins, and Scarlett Strallen, who has appeared in The Music Man (Festival 08), Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Jonathan Church is Chichester’s Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director. His credits for Chichester include The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound, The Grapes of Wrath, Pravda, Hobson’s Choice, The Circle and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. His credits also include Master Class and the Olivier Award-nominated Of Mice and Men.

THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Terence Rattigan
13 July – 3 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Monday 25 July 2.15pm)

Director: Philip Franks
Music: Matthew Scott

With his trademark empathy and sensitivity, Rattigan explores the driving force of desire and its devastating consequences through his depiction of Hester Collyer, torn between her love for a callow younger man, and the security of a lifeless marriage.

Terence Rattigan’s plays include Separate Tables, In Praise of Love, The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version which will also be staged during Festival 2011. The Deep Blue Sea will be partnered by the world premiere of Rattigan’s Nijinsky (see below) which will be performed by the same company of actors. Both productions form part of the ‘festival within a Festival’ taking place to mark the centenary of Rattigan’s birth.

RATTIGAN’S NIJINSKY by Nicholas Wright WORLD PREMIERE
Based on a screenplay by Terence Rattigan
19 July – 3 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Monday 25 July, 7.00pm)

Director: Philip Franks
Music: Matthew Scott

This production marks the staging of two world premieres in one. In 1974 Terence Rattigan wrote a television script for the BBC about Diaghilev, the impresario behind the Ballet Russes and Nijinsky, the most renowned dancer of all time. The screenplay was later withdrawn in mysterious circumstances by Rattigan himself and neither produced nor published.

Now, in his new play, Nicholas Wright imagines why. The dying Rattigan meets Nijinsky’s elderly widow, Romola, to fight over his play. Meanwhile, in the same room, Diaghilev and the young Romola fight over the tormented Nijinsky.

Nicholas Wright’s work includes Mrs Klein, Vincent in Brixton, the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and The Reporter.

Philip Franks directs both The Deep Blue Sea and Rattigan’s Nijinsky. His productions for Chichester include The Master Builder, Separate Tables, Twelfth Night and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

THE SYNDICATE (Il Sindaco Del Rione Sanità) by Eduardo De Filippo
In a new version by Mike Poulton
WORLD PREMIERE
21 July – 20 August, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 2 August 7.00pm)

Director: Sean Mathias

Ian McKellen returns to Chichester for the first time in several decades to play Don Antonio, the Godfather making someone an offer they can’t refuse in this witty dark comedy set in 1960s Naples. McKellen’s distinguished career includes theatre credits for Macbeth, Waiting for Godot and King Lear. His film credits include The Lord of the Rings, Gods and Monsters, Richard III, Dance of Death and X Men.

The cast also features Michael Pennington as Dr Fabio. His credits include The Master Builder (Festival 2010), Collaboration and Taking Sides (Festivals 08 and 09), The Iron Lady and Love is My Sin, as well as extensive work with the RSC and his English Shakespeare Company.

Eduardo De Filippo’s plays include Napoli Milionaria, Filumena and Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Mike Poulton’s adaptations include Wallenstein (Festival 09), The Cherry Orchard, The Father, Fortune’s Fool and Uncle Vanya.

Sean Mathias’ stage credits include Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A Little Night Music and the award-winning film Bent.

SOUTH DOWNS by David Hare WORLD PREMIERE
THE BROWNING VERSION by Terence Rattigan
2 September – 8 October, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Wednesday 14 September 7pm)

South Downs
Director: Jeremy Herrin

David Hare’s new one-act play, written at the invitation of the Rattigan Trust as a response to The Browning Version, concerns a lonely boy at a public school on the South Downs. It is a meditation on learning, faith and teenage friendship set against the backdrop of a Britain still striving to maintain the established order.

David Hare’s plays include The Power of Yes, Stuff Happens, Gethsemane, The Vertical Hour, Amy’s View, Racing Demons, which received an Olivier Award for Best New Play, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War, Pravda (with Howard Brenton) which received an Evening Standard Award for Best Play and Skylight; his screenplays include The Reader and The Hours.

Jeremy Herrin is Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court where he has directed David Hare’s The Vertical Hour, That Face and The Heretic. He has also directed The Family Reunion at the Donmar and Statement of Regret at the National Theatre.

The Browning Version
Director: Angus Jackson

Classics master Andrew Crocker-Harris, brilliant scholar turned unpopular teacher is retiring from a public school to teach in a crammer. His years of self-loathing, buttoned-up disappointment and humiliation are released by a small gesture of unexpected kindness from one of his pupils in this poignant one-act play.

Associate Director Angus Jackson’s credits for Chichester include Goodnight Mister Tom (currently touring), Bingo, Wallenstein, Funny Girl, The Waltz of the Toreadors and Carousel. His other stage credits include Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Rocket to the Moon and David Hare’s The Power of Yes, all for the National Theatre.

SWEENEY TODD
The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
24 September – 5 November, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Thursday 6 October 7pm)

Director: Jonathan Kent
Designer: Anthony Ward
Choreographer: Denni Sayers
Lighting Designer: Mark Henderson
Musical Director: Nicholas Skilbeck
Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis

Acclaimed musical theatre actor Michael Ball takes the title role in this dark and witty portrayal of corruption and revenge, generally acknowledged as Sondheim’s masterpiece. Combining elements of horror with English music hall, the musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s return to nineteenth century London following years of false imprisonment.

Stephen Sondheim’s musicals include Follies, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Passion.

Michael Ball’s stage credits include originating the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, for which he won Laurence Olivier and Whatsonstage Awards for Best Actor in a Musical. He will be reprising the role on tour this Spring. Other stage credits include Les Misérables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Phantom of the Opera, Passion and The Woman in White. Last year he co-produced the West End production of Love Story following its Chichester premiere during Festival 2010.

Award-winning actress Imelda Staunton plays Sweeney Todd’s accomplice, the pie-shop owner Mrs Lovett. Staunton’s film credits include Vera Drake for which she received the BAFTA Best Actress Award and an Oscar nomination, Another Year, the Harry Potter series and Shakespeare in Love. Her stage credits include Entertaining Mr Sloane, Guys and Dolls and Into The Woods. On television she has featured in Cranford and Psychoville.

Jonathan Kent directed A Month in the Country for Chichester’s Festival 2010. Other recent work includes the National Theatre production of Oepidus starring Ralph Fiennes and The Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne. He was Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre for 12 years where his work included When We Dead Awaken, All For Love, Medea, The School For Wives and Gangster No.1.

Age guideline: 12+

TERENCE RATTIGAN – A CELEBRATION
As part of this year’s celebration of the life and work of Terence Rattigan, there will be a series of rehearsed readings of some of his lesser-known plays with members of the Festival Company and special guests.

FIRST EPISODE (1933)
Sunday 31 July, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Philip Franks
Written with Philip Heimann while Rattigan was still at Oxford, this play depicts the devastating impact of a visiting actress upon a group of undergraduates.

IN PRAISE OF RATTIGAN
Sunday 7 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by and featuring Penelope Keith
An entertainment devised by Jack Tinker and Martin Tickner.

ADVENTURE STORY (1949)
Sunday 14 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Tim Hoare
One of Rattigan’s own favourite plays – never been produced since its premiere – this sweeping historical drama is the story of Alexander the Great, who conquers the world and loses his soul.

VARIATION ON A THEME (1958)
Sunday 21 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Michael Oakley
Rattigan’s retelling of the story of Camille, in which Marguerite Gaultier falls hopelessly in love with a bisexual dancer much younger than herself.

HEART TO HEART (1962)
Sunday 4 September, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Philip Franks
During the course of a live interview, an eminent politician is forced to reveal the truth about his political and personal life. This prophetic play is based on the infamous television interview programme Face to Face hosted by John Freeman from 1959 – 1962.

HARLEQUINADE (1949)
Sunday 25 September, Minerva Theatre 6.00pm
Directed by Angus Jackson
This humourous caricature of post-war theatre life was originally performed in a double bill with The Browning Version, which plays this season in the Minerva Theatre.

There will also be various other events, pre- and post-show talks, Saturday shorts and workshops related to Festival 2011 productions. Full details are in the Festival brochure, pages 25 – 27, or online at www.cft.org.uk/takingpart

Priority Booking for Friends of Chichester Festival Theatre opens on Thursday 17 February at 10.00am. To become a Friend of the Theatre and benefit from priority booking and discounted tickets, call 01243 781312 or join online at www.cft.org.uk/friends.

Online public booking opens for everyone on Monday 28 February at 10.00am. Telephone and counter booking opens for everyone on Thursday 3 March. Tickets £10 – £38 available online at www.cft.org.uk or contact the Box Office on 01243 781312.

Chichester Festival Theatre is working in partnership with The University of Chichester to offer reduced price tickets for the first three performances of all productions in the Festival Theatre. To book for The University of Chichester Festival Theatre Previews, visit www.cft.org.uk or call the Box Office on 01243 781312.

Release issued by: Chichester Festival Theatre press office

LINKS

Chichester Festival Theatre website

Ian Charleson Awards

We might have missed it but the publicity around the winners of this year’s Ian Charleson Awards seemed particularly muted.

Even the Sunday Times, the sponsor of the awards, gave little promotion to the nominations or winners.

This year marks 20 years since actor Ian Charleson died on 6 January 1990 of AIDS-related causes, only eight weeks after playing Hamlet in Richard Eyre’s production at the National Theatre.

He was an extremely accomplished actor, appearing in film (Chariots of Fire), TV (Oxbridge Blues) and numerous stage roles, both plays and musicals, including Guys and Dolls and Fool For Love.

The awards were established to commemorate and celebrate his life, and The Sunday Times and the National Theatre collaborate annually to present awards for outstanding performances anywhere in the UK, by actors under the age of 30 in a classical role.

Maybe the private awards lunch held annually should be webcast by the National, so everyone can celebrate the UK’s most promising actors?

Links:

Read Ian McKellen’s touching tribute to Ian Charleson’s performance in Hamlet at the National Theatre

Read Alan Bates’ 1990 tribute to Ian Charleson

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Actor Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Actor Winners

Best Actor

2011 Roger Allam for Henry IV Parts 1 & 2
2010 Mark Rylance for Jerusalem
2009 Derek Jacobi for Twelfth Night
2008 Chiwetel Ejiofor in Othello
2007 Rufus Sewell for Rock ‘N’ Roll
2006 Brian Dennehy for Death Of A Salesman
2005 Richard Griffiths for The History Boys
2004 Matthew Kelly for Of Mice And Men
2003 Simon Russell Beale for Uncle Vanya
2002 Roger Allam for Privates On Parade
2001 Conleth Hill for Stones In His Pockets
2000 Henry Goodman for The Merchant Of Venice
1999 Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh
1998 Ian Holm for King Lear
1997 Antony Sher for Stanley
1996 Alex Jennings for Peer Gynt
1995 David Bamber for My Night With Reg
1994 Mark Rylance for Much Ado About Nothing
1993 Robert Stephens for Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2)
1992 Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness Of George III
1991 Ian McKellen for Richard III
1989/90 Oliver Ford Davies for Racing Demon
1987 Michael Gambon for A View From The Bridge
1986 Albert Finney for Orphans
1985 Antony Sher for Richard III and Torch Song Trilogy

Actor of the Year in a New Play

1988 David Haig for Our Country’s Good
1984 Brian Cox for Rat In The Skull
1983 Jack Shepherd for Glengarry Glen Ross
1982 Ian McDiarmid for lnsignificance
1981 Trevor Eve for Children Of A Lesser God
1980 Roger Rees for Nicholas Nickleby
1979 Ian McKellen for Bent
1978 Tom Conti for Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1977 Michael Bryant for State Of Revolution
1976 Paul Copley for King And Country

Actor of the Year in a Revival

1988 Brian Cox for Titus Andronicus
1984 Ian McKellen for Wild Honey
1983 Derek Jacobi for Cyrano De Bergerac
1982 Stephen Moore for A Doll’s House
1981 Daniel Massey for Man And Superman
1980 Jonathan Pryce for Hamlet
1979 Warren Mitchell for Death Of A Salesman
1978 Alan Howard for Coriolanus
1977 Ian McKellen for Pillars Of The Community
1976 Alan Howard for Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and Henry V

Best Actor in a Musical

2011 David Thaxton for Passion
2010 Aneurin Barnard for Spring Awakening
2009 Douglas Hodge for La Cage aux Folles
2008 Michael Ball for Hairspray
2007 Daniel Evans for Sunday In The Park With George
2006 James Lomas, George Maguire and Liam Mower for Billy Elliot – The Musical
2005 Nathan Lane for The Producers
2004 David Bedella for Jerry Springer – The Opera
2003 Alex Jennings for My Fair Lady
2002 Philip Quast for South Pacific
2001 Daniel Evans for Merrily We Roll Along
2000 Simon Russell Beale for Candide
1999 The cast of Kat and The Kings
1998 Philip Quast for The Fix
1997 Robert Lindsay for Oliver!
1996 Adrian Lester for Company
1995 John Gordon Sinclair for She Loves Me
1994 Alun Armstrong for Sweeney Todd
1993 Henry Goodman for Assassins
1992 Alan Bennett for Talking Heads
1991 Philip Quast for Sunday In The Park With George
1989/90 Jonathan Pryce for Miss Saigon
1988 Con O’Neill for Blood Brothers
1987 John Bardon and Emil Wolk for Kiss Me Kate
1986 Michael Crawford for The Phantom Of The Opera
1985 Robert Lindsay for Me And My Girl
1984 Paul Clarkson for The Hired Man
1983 Denis Lawson for Mr. Cinders
1982 Roy Hudd for Underneath The Arches
1981 Michael Crawford for Barnum
1980 Denis Quilley for Sweeney Todd
1979 Anton Rodgers for Songbook

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Comedy Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Comedy Winners

Best New Comedy

2010 The Priory
2009 God of Carnage
2008 Rafta Rafta
2007 John Buchan’s The 39 Steps adapted by Patrick Barlow from an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon
2006 Heroes by Gerald Sibleyras translated by Tom Stoppard

Best Comedy

2003 The Lieutenant Of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh
2002 The Play What I Wrote by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben
2001 Stones In His Pockets by Marie Jones
2000 The Memory Of Water by Shelagh Stephenson
1999 Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle And Dick by Terry Johnson
1998 Popcorn by Ben Elton
1997 Art by Yasmina Reza
1996 Mojo by Jez Butterworth
1995 My Night With Reg by Kevin Elyot
1994 Hysteria by Terry Johnson
1993 The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice by Jim Cartwright
1992 La Bête by David Hirson
1991 Out Of Order by Ray Cooney
1989/90 Single Spies by Alan Bennett
1988 Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell
1987 Three Men On A Horse by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott
1986 When We Are Married by J.B. Priestley
1985 A Chorus Of Disapproval by Alan Ayckbourn
1984 Up’N’Under by John Godber
1983 Daisy Pulls It Off by Denise Deegan
1982 Noises Off by Michael Frayn
1981 Steaming by Nell Dunn
1980 Educating Rita by Willy Russell
1979 Middle Age Spread by Roger Hall
1978 Filumena by Eduardo de Filippo, adapted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
1977 Privates On Parade by Peter Nichols
1976 Donkey’s Years by Michael Frayn

Best Comedy Performance

1995 Niall Buggy for Dead Funny
1994 Griff Rhys Jones for An Absolute Turkey
1993 Simon Cadell for Travels With My Aunt
1992 Desmond Barrit for The Comedy Of Errors
1991 Alan Cumming for Accidental Death Of An Anarchist
1989/90 Michael Gambon for Man Of The Moment
1988 Alex Jennings for Too Clever By Half
1987 John Woodvine for The Henrys
1986 Bill Fraser for When We Are Married
1985 Michael Gambon for A Chorus Of Disapproval
1984 Maureen Lipman for See How They Run
1983 Griff Rhys Jones for Charley’s Aunt
1982 Geoffrey Hutchings for Poppy
1981 Rowan Atkinson for Rowan Atkinson in Revue
1980 Beryl Reid for Born In The Gardens
1979 Barry Humphries for A Night With Dame Edna
1978 Ian McKellen for The Alchemist
1977 Denis Quilley for Privates On Parade
1976 Penelope Keith for Donkey’s Years

OLIVIER AWARDS – Special and Outstanding Achievement Award Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – Special and Outstanding Achievement Award Winners

The Society’s Special Award

2011 Stephen Sondheim
2010 Maggie Smith
2009 Sir Alan Ayckbourn
2008 Andrew Lloyd Webber
2007 John Tomlinson
2006 Sir Ian McKellen
2005 Alan Bennett
2004 Dame Judi Dench
2003 Sam Mendes
2002 Rupert Rhymes
1999 Sir Peter Hall
1998 Ed and David Mirvish
1997 Margaret Harris
1996 Harold Pinter
1994 Sam Wanamaker
1993 Sir Kenneth MacMillan
1992 Dame Ninette de Valois
1991 Dame Peggy Ashcroft
1988 Sir Alec Guinness
1985 Sir John Gielgud
1984 Lord Goodman
1983 Joan Littlewood
1982 Charles Wintour
1980 Sir Ralph Richardson
1979 Lord Olivier

Outstanding Achievement

2010 Michael Codron
2003 Gregory Doran and the Jacobean Season acting ensemble
2002 Trevor Nunn
2000 Peter O’Toole
1997 Sir Richard Eyre

The Observer Award for Outstanding Achievement (In Memory of Kenneth Tynan)

1993 The Almeida, Islington for The Rules of the Game, Medea, No Man’s Land and The Deep Blue Sea
1992 The Gate Theatre, Notting Hill for A Season of Classics from The Spanish Golden Age
1991 Cameron Mackintosh
1989/90 Declan Donnellan for Fuente Ovejuna
1988 Maly Theatre of Leningrad for Stars in the Morning Sky
1987 Thelma Holt for producing the International Festival at the National Theatre
1986 The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith for The House of Bernarda Alba
1985 Anthony Hopkins for Pravda

The Times Award

1994 Peter Brook

Evening Standard Theatre Awards

Last night at a star-studded ceremony at the Royal Opera House, the 55^th annual Evening Standard Theatre Awards recognised a host of London theatre productions and talent.

This was the first year that new guidelines for the awards have ruled out West End commercial theatres, leading to recognition for a range of smaller venues, including an impressive four gongs for the Royal Court Theatre.

Rachel Weisz took the top acting honour for her performance as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse. The prize was renamed the Natasha Richardson Best Actress Award in honour of the actress who died in March, and was presented by her mother Vanessa Redgrave.

Also Ian McKellen was presented with a special award for his outstanding contribution to British theatre over the last half a century. The award will sit alongside two other Evening Standard Best Actor awards he has won, as well as Olivier awards and a Tony.

The Royal Court’s production of Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem was named Best Play, and its star Mark Rylance was named Best Actor in the role of Johnny “Rooster” Byron. The play will shortly transfer to the Apollo Theatre in the West End.

Best Director prize went to man of the moment Rupert Goold for Enron -which was another victory for the Royal Court and is also transferring into the West End – this time the Noel Coward theatre.

There were also awards for the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park, with its acclaimed production of Hello Dolly! winning the Best Musical award, the Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright award went to Alia Bano for Shades, staged at the Royal Court as part of its young writers’ festival, and Best Design was awarded to Mamoru Iriguchi  for Mincemeat at Cordy House in Shoreditch.

The evening also proved special for comedian Lenny Henry, who has officially made the break from comedy to legit theatre by being named Best Newcomer for his lead performance in Othello at the Trafalgar Studios.

London theatre – summer preview

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London theatre is pulling out all of the stops this summer to ensure that the capital’s theatre scene remains a chief attraction for millions of UK and overseas visitors.

A host of big hitting stars and large scale musicals are lined up to showcase a range of new productions, including performances by Jude Law, Helen Mirren, Ethan Hawke, Gillian Anderson and Ian McKellen.

The death of drama in the West End has been greatly exaggerated given the wide ranging slate of classic and contemporary plays premiering this summer. One of the most high profile will be Jude Law, taking to the stage in Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet, directed by Michael Grandage as part of his Donmar in the West End season. A strong supporting cast includes Penelope Wilton as Gertrude and Kevin McNally as Claudius, from 29 May at the Wyndham’s Theatre.

From Danes to Dames and Helen Mirren returns to London and the National Theatre from 4 June in Racine’s tragic play Phedre. The play concerns a woman (Mirren) consumed by passion for her stepson, which is highly plausible given that the stepson is played by hot young thing and Mamma Mia! The Movie star Dominic Cooper.

Helen Mirren starred in successful British movie Calendar Girls – which is now coming to the stage in a brand new production starring Patricia Hodge and Sian Phillips. Written by Tim Firth, the story of a group of middle-aged Women’s Institute members who pose for a calendar with a difference is playing at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Stage legends Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are reuniting after their onscreen antics in the X-Men movies to give us Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket Theatre from 20 April, in what promises to be a standout production of Samuel Beckett’s classic.

Talents from New York and London will converge at The Old Vic from 23 May for The Bridge Project – a three year partnership between The Old Vic, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Neal Street Productions. Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes will direct a new version of The Cherry Orchard plus Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, in a cast that features Ethan Hawke, Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack and recent star of Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona, Rebecca Hall.

The Cherry Orchard is a new translation by Tom Stoppard, who will also see his 1993 play Arcadia revived in a new production at the Duke of York’s Theatre starring his son Ed Stoppard and Samantha Bond and Dan Stevens. In its first run at the National Theatre the play won a slew of awards including Critics’ Circle, Evening Standard and Olivier Awards.

Other notable players making their way into town include Prunella Scales (Fawlty Towers) in Carrie’s War at the Apollo Theatre, and Gillian Anderson, who will star in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Donmar Warehouse, joining a stellar cast that includes Christopher Eccleston, Toby Stephens, Tara Fitzgerald and Anton Lesser.

Musical theatre is firmly “based on a film” this year as a blockbuster stage production of Sister Act joins a West End brimming with adaptations of movies, including recent addition Priscilla Queen of the Desert starring Jason Donovan and long-runners Hairspray with Michael Ball, Dirty Dancing, The Lion King, Billy Elliot, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Sunset Boulevard – and Grease, which will star Dancing on Ice winner Ray Quinn as Danny from 11 May.

Sister Act, which runs from 7 May at the London Palladium, is produced by the film’s original star Whoopi Goldberg and features Sheila Hancock and rising star Patina Miller, with music courtesy of Alan Menken (Disney’s Beauty & The Beast).

Other movie-to-stage shows on the horizon include the Broadway production of Legally Blond opening at the Savoy Theatre at the end of the year and a stage adaptation of Oscar winning film Ghost, directed by Matthew Warchus, set for 2010.

Chief amongst the new musicals opening in London in the later part of 2009 will be Andrew Lloyd Webber’s world premiere of The Phantom of the Opera sequel Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in early November. The show is set to star current London Phantom Ramin Karimloo and will follow its London opening with productions in Toronto, Shanghai and then Broadway.

A number of shows that have run successfully in other venues are also making their way into the West End including Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply) and Henry Goodman in Duet For One at the Vaudeville Theatre; the acclaimed production of Steven Sondheim’s A Little Night Music starring Maureen Lipman at the Garrick Theatre; the National Theatre’s War Horse, a family drama set during World War I about a boy’s adventures to find his beloved horse, at the New London theatre; and following its smash-hit run on Broadway – a new UK production of uber hip musical Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre.

Other long running musicals that continue to extend their runs and pack them in include Avenue Q – now at the Gielgud Theatre, Blood Brothers, We Will Rock You, Chicago, Wicked, Jersey Boys, Stomp, Oliver!, Mamma Mia!, Les Miserables, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Joseph, Roger’s and Hammerstein’s Carousel, Thriller Live featuring the songs of Michael Jackson and an award-winning production of La Cage Aux Folles.

Long-running plays in London include scary thriller The Woman in Black, hilarious comedy The 39 Steps based on Alfred Hitchcock’s film and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.

Finally, the V&A Museum in London has opened its new Theatre and Performance galleries following the closure of the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden in 2007. The new galleries will celebrate the UK’s heritage in culture and performance with hundreds of exhibits including costumes, set models, stage props, original posters and playbills, theatrical prints, paintings and photographs from some of London’s most famous theatrical productions.

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London Theatre – 2009 Preview

If theatre mirrors life then you would expect 2009 to be a bad year for the performing arts in London: economic downturns and credit crunches sound like gloomy news for our discretionary entertainment spending. But West End theatre box office figures have kept on going up in recent years, and the huge number of new productions sailing into town during 2009 could mean that Theatreland manages to buck the trend.

THE GREAT REVIVAL

The RSC, National Theatre, Donmar and Old Vic dominated straight drama in the West End in 2008, and they haven’t finished yet. Big hitters coming to town include Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike in the Donmar in the West End’s Madame de Sade at the Wyndhams; Jude Law offering us his, hopefully fighting fit, Hamlet; Gillian Anderson in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Rachel Weisz in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse; Helen Mirren making her return to the London stage in Phaedra at the National Theatre; and a number of crowd-pleasing revivals at the Old Vic, no more so than Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel’s hugely successful play starring Andrea Corr, and Sam Mendes directing Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, both featuring Ethan Hawke, Simon Russell Beale and Sinead Cusack.

STAR POWER

Other stars shimmying into town include Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket, Ken Stott and Hayley Atwell in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York’s, heavy-hitter Pete Postlethwaite as King Lear at the Young Vic, and Antony Sher giving us his Prospero in the RSC’s The Tempest. The Gavin and Stacey phenomenon continues to roll on, as we see Joe Orton’s delicious romp Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios starring Gavin himself, Matthew Horne, alongside Imelda Staunton; whilst Gavin’s onscreen Mum Alison Steadman plays a barking Leeds housewife in Alan Bennett’s Enjoy at the Gielgud Theatre.

NEW PLAYS

The sharp eyed amongst you will notice that all of these plays are revivals rather than new work, keeping audiences firmly in their comfort zones. That said, new plays may be thin on the ground but not absent all together, with the National offering up Richard Bean’s England People Very Nice, following two lovers across four centuries, and Samuel Adamson’s Mrs Affleck set in the 1950s. Jez Butterworth has two new plays in pre-production, with comedy Parlour Song at the Almeida and Jerusalem at the Royal Court. Also at the Royal Court, Mark Ravenhill will bring his new play Over There. Plus Hollywood man of the moment James McAvoy is to star in Richard Greenberg’s acclaimed play Three Days of Rain at the Apollo, and at The Old Vic Richard Dreyfuss headlines the world premiere of American playwright Joe Sutton’s new play Complicit, directed by Kevin Spacey.

“BASED ON A FILM”

In musical theatre, 2009 promises to be a year of great big fabulous and familiar shows, surely enough to see us through the dark times? And it’s no coincidence that many of them are based on hugely successful films.

Oliver! will be well and truly steaming ahead through 2009 at the Drury Lane Theatre Royal with Rowan Atkinson and Jodie Prenger; La Cage Aux Folles will continue camping it up at the Playhouse but with Graham Norton taking over from Douglas Hodge; and at the Adelphi Theatre Lee Mead will bow out of Joseph to be replaced by Gareth Gates.

Jason Donovan will be donning the wigs and lip gloss to take us on an Australian power-mince in Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre. And Sister Act at the London Palladium will be doing its best to recreate the fun of the film, helped along by Whoopi Goldberg as co-producer. And not quite a musical but as good as, Calendar Girls the stage play will up the naked flesh quotient in the West End, starring Patricia Hodge and Lynda Bellingham at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Also in musicals-land the power of reality TV continues to wield its power, with Gareth Gates going into Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre, the X-factor’s Niki Evans continuing in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix, Jodie Prenger in Oliver at the Drury Lane, and Ray Quinn and Danny Bayne in Grease – joined for a limited time by the legendary Jimmy Osmond.

KIDS RULE

Kids should also see a good year in 2009 with an enormous live theatrical production of Walking with Dinosaurs coming to a stadium near you, and War Horse transfers from its successful run at the National Theatre to the New London Theatre.

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