Olivier Winners Announced

Last night at a star-studded ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, the 34^th annual Laurence Olivier Award winners were announced.

The awards, which are the London equivalent of the Tony Awards and run by the Society of London Theatre, saw a number of surprise wins, with many of the top awards going to plays and musicals that are no longer running in town.

For the first time this year, the Olivier’s were broadcast live on the Society of London Theatre’s website alongside coverage on BBC’s Radio 2. The web stream allowed an international audience to enjoy the show for the first time, with some colourful tweeting from theatregoers accompanying the live video. The awards have not been televised since 2003.

Hosted by Anthony Head, who is currently starring in Six Degrees of Separation at the Old Vic Theatre, entertainment at the ceremony featured musical numbers from shows including Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Sister Act and Melanie C from Blood Brothers.

PLAYS

As with other award ceremonies this year, much of the attention centred on drama. Jez Butterworth’s play Jerusalem, which started at the Royal Court Theatre and is now playing at the Apollo Theatre in the West End, won two awards including Best Actor for Mark Rylance, a popular choice with critics and audiences alike, and Best Set Design but missed out on the Best New Play. This was won by The Mountaintop, a two-hander by young American playwright Katori Hall which only played a short run in the West End last summer despite great notices from critics.

Mark Rylance’s award for Best Actor beat some big hitters including Jude Law, James McAvoy, Ken Stott, Samuel West and James Earl Jones, who is currently starring in Debbie Allen’s production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre, which won Best Revival.

Rachel Weisz picked up a Best Actress gong for her role as Blanche DuBois in the Donmar Warehouse production of A Streetcar Named Desire, and Rupert Goold won Best Director for Enron, currently playing at the Noel Coward Theatre.

MUSICALS

Two musicals garnered many of the musical awards on offer last night, and both have now closed in London: Spring Awakening and Hello, Dolly!.

Spring Awakening was not a commercial success at the Novello Theatre, where it ran for a short time until May 2009 after a sell-out run at the Lyric Hammersmith, but managed to pull four Olivier awards including Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical for Aneurin Barnard and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Iwan Rheon. It also won Best Sound Design for Brian Ronan.

Hello, Dolly!, which played at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park last summer, won Best Musical Revival, Best Actress in a Musical for Samantha Spiro and Best Theatre Choreographer for Stephen Mear.

However, all was not completely lost for musicals still playing in London, with Priscilla winning Best Costume Design and Wicked picking up the Audience Award for Most Popular Show.

Special awards were also granted to two of London Theatre’s most significant living practitioners: The Society’s Special Award honoured Dame Maggie Smith, whilst legendary theatre producer Michael Codron was presented with an Outstanding Achievement Award after nearly 60 years in the business.

See a full list of Olivier Award winners here.

Record audiences for West End

In figures released today, the West End’s trade body The Society of London Theatre has announced record figures for 2009. London’s West End theatres attracted over 14 million people and generating over half a billion pounds in revenue.

Both the audience attendance and box office revenues set new records, with attendances up by 5.5% on 2008 and revenues totalling £504,765,690 – a 7.6% increase.

Plays are continuing to do good busines in London, showing an impressive increase in attendance of 26% year-on-year at 3,637,714. Plays that did particularly well include Royal Court productions Enron and Jerusalem, both of which are transferring into the West End, and Waiting for Godot starring Ian McKellen at the Haymarket Theatre Royal.

Musicals are also bringing in more customers with high-profile openings including Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and a big box-office advance giving Legally Blonde a good start at the Savoy Theatre.

2009 was the seventh consecutive year that attendance and revenues have increased, highlighting how theatre in London has managed to beat the recession.

Commenting on the figures, Nica Burns, President of the Society of London Theatre, said: “Britain’s artistic community continues to create exceptional work. The extraordinary quality and breadth of productions available nightly in London explains these record figures in such a difficult year economically. Whilst our musicals continue to flourish, 2009 was an outstanding year for plays – proving that audiences respond to challenge and stimulation as well as toe-tapping entertainment.  Excellence is everything – look no further than London’s theatre which adds a great deal more to London’s revenue than just the ticket sales.”

Theatre Tokens – UK

Theatre Tokens from the Society of London Theatre are valid at 240 theatres across the UK – plus all of London’s West End.

Theatre Tokens make the ideal gift and have no expiry date so your recipient can pick exactly where and when to exchange them. Available in denominations of £20, £10 and £5, you can buy Theatre Tokens online here.

Your Theatre Tokens will be despatched promptly by First Class post to anywhere in the UK in an attractive presentation wallet which lists all participating theatres. You can also order special seasonal gift packages. See a list of participating theatres here.

For birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas gifts or for staff rewards and incentives, give the magic of theatre with THEATRE TOKENS.