The winners of this year’s UK Theatre Awards 2023 have been announced.

The awards took place at a ceremony yesterday, Sunday 8 October 2023, at London’s Guildhall, hosted by musical theatre actor Zoe Birkett (The Witches, Moulin Rouge! The Musical).

Nominations for the UK Theatre Awards were announced last month.

Lyric Theatre Belfast picked up two awards, for The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, a co-production between Lyric Theatre Belfast and Prime Cut, which won Best Play revival, and Garry Hynes winning Best Director for the Druid Theatre production Druid O’Casey.

National Theatre of Scotland and Pitlochry Festival Theatre won Best New Play for their production Enough Of Him, and Best Musical Production went to The Mill at Sonning for their revival of Gypsy.

UK Theatre Awards 2023. Mark Gatiss accepting his award. Photo by Pamela Raith
UK Theatre Awards 2023. Mark Gatiss accepting his award. Photo by Pamela Raith

Best Performance in a Musical was awarded to Lena Hall for her starring role in David Read West’s new musical In Dreams, which premiered at Leeds Playhouse this year directed by Luke Sheppard.

Best Performance in a Play was won by Daniel Rigby for his starring role in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, which ran at Sheffield Theatres and the Lyric Hammersmith before transferring to London’s West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Best Supporting Performance (in a Musical or Play) was won by Antony Eden for his performance in Family Album, a Stephen Joseph Theatre production.

Nottingham Playhouse was announced as the winner of the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre Award, after being shortlisted against the Curve Theatre in Leicester and the National Youth Theatre.

Tara Theatre won the Digital Innovation Award. Tara Theatre was run by Artistic Director Abdul Shayek, who sadly passed away earlier this year. His wife Nicole Shayek said at the ceremony: “I want to say thank you for honouring my beautiful husband – what a creative force, what a beautiful man. He worked tirelessly to make change in our creative industries and the communities we live in. He championed equity, diversity, and equality.”

Writer, director, producer, author, and actor Mark Gatiss was honoured with this year’s award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre, in recognition of the contribution he has made to regional theatre throughout his career in the arts.

Presenting the award to Mark, artistic director of the Nottingham Playhouse, said: “Mark excels at everything that he turns his hand to. I’ve worked with Mark five times, and his love of theatre is infectious. Whether that’s in London, or out of London, in the West End, or on the Fringe.”

The eligibility period for the 2023 UK Theatre Awards was 1 September 2022 to 14 August 2023, and were judged by a number of panels made up of regional theatre reviewers and industry professionals. For Theatre, the judges are: Angelo Ivring, Clare Brennan, Clive Davis, Diane Parkes, Dominic Cavendish, Jane Coyle and Mark Fisher; For Dance, they are: Andrew Hurst, Donald Hutera, Lyndsey Winship, and Sanjoy Roy; and For Opera, they are: Alexandra Coghlan, Claire Seymour, George Hall, and John Allison.

The Off Stage Panel judges are made up of UK Theatre board members and freelance theatre professionals: Andrew Miller; Milton Lopes; and Sita McIntosh; and the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre is judged by Partner Members and freelance theatre professionals, namely: Bea Webster-Mockett, Natalie Amber, and Simon Geen.

UK Theatre Awards 2023 – Full list of winners

Best Design
Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey & ULTZ for Tambo & Bones, a Theatre Royal Stratford East, and Actors Touring Company co-production

Best Director
Garry Hynes for Druid O’Casey, a Druid Theatre production at Lyric Theatre Belfast

Best Musical Production Sponsored by Tysers in association with Ecclesiastical
Gypsy, a The Mill at Sonning production

Best New Play
Enough Of Him, a National Theatre of Scotland and Pitlochry Festival Theatre co-production

Best Play Revival Sponsored by Trafalgar Theatres
The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, a Lyric Theatre Belfast and Prime Cut co-production

Achievement in Dance
Scottish Ballet for Coppélia

Achievement in Opera
Opera North for Orpheus

Best Supporting Performance (in a Musical or Play)
Antony Eden for Family Album, a Stephen Joseph Theatre production

Best Performance in a Musical
Lena Hall for In Dreams, a Leeds Playhouse production

Best Performance in a Play
Daniel Rigby for Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, a Sheffield Theatres and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre co-production in association with Playful Productions

Best Show for Children and Young People
The SpongeBob Musical, a Showpath Entertainment production

Excellence in Arts Education
Blackpool Grand Theatre

Excellence in Touring
Northern Stage, Birmingham Rep, ETT, Oldham Coliseum, tiny dragon Productions and Cardboard Citizens

Excellence in Inclusivity
Capital Theatres

Digital Innovation Sponsored by Spektrix
Tara Theatre

Workforce Award
Ambassador Theatre Group

Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre
Mark Gatiss

UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre Sponsored by Theatre Tokens
Nottingham Playhouse

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Main photo: UK Theatre Awards 2023. Host Zoe Birkett. Photo by Pamela Raith

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