The winners have been unveiled for this year’s Olivier Awards with Mastercard, British theatre’s biggest night, which took place on Sunday 2 April at the Royal Albert Hall in London, hosted by Hannah Waddingham.
The biggest winner of the night was the RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro, the theatre adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s 1989 coming-of-age anime film. The show won six of the nine categories it was nominated in, including the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director, awarded to Phelim McDermott, and the Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play. The productions other wins included Tony Gayle for d&b audiotechnik Award for Best Sound Design, Jessica Hun Hang Yun for the White Light Award for Best Lighting Design, Kimie Nakano for Best Costume Design and Tom Pye for the Blue-i Theatre Technology Award for Best Set Design.
Three productions from The Almeida Theatre triumphed on the night. Will Keen won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Patriots, and Tammy Faye garnered two acting awards – Katie Brayben for Best Actress in a Musical and Zubin Varla for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
The final multi-winning show at the Almeida Theatre was Rebecca Frecknall’s revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Paul Mescal won Best Actor for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski and Best Actress in a Supporting Role was awarded to Anjana Vasan for playing Stella. The play also won the esteemed Cunard Best Revival award.
Best Actress went to Jodie Comer, for her performance in solo drama Prima Facie, which won the coveted Delta Air Lines Best New Play award. The filmed production was seen by hundreds of thousands of people, making it the highest-grossing Event Cinema ever released in the UK and Ireland.
This Olivier Awards was a year of firsts. The recipients of both the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, Paul and Jodie, were nominated for their West End debuts, and 16 of the 18 named winners were receiving their first ever Olivier Award.
Mastercard Best New Musical was awarded to Standing At The Sky’s Edge. Set in a council estate in Sheffield, where it debuted in 2019, the musical transferred to the National Theatre this year. Richard Hawley & Tom Deering also took home the award for Best Original Score or New Orchestrations for this production.
As well as performing twice in the ceremony, Beverley Knight picked up the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for her performance as Emmeline Pankhurst in the musical retelling of her daughter Sylvia’s lesser-known story.
Elsewhere, Dickson Mbi won Outstanding Achievement in Dance for his choreography of Enowate, and Traplord by Ivan Michael Blackstock won Best New Dance Production. In the opera categories, Will Kentridge won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, for his conception and direction of Sibyl and the TAIT Award for Best New Opera Production went to Alcina. Both productions were staged at the Royal Opera House.
For the second year in a row, the Bush Theatre was home to the winner of Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre (representing smaller London venues). The winning show was The P Word, the tale of two very different gay Pakistani men navigating modern Britain.
Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show, which sees beloved animated character Duggee brought to life, won Best Family Show.
The ceremony celebrated Sir Derek Jacobi, who was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to theatre throughout his career.
The star-studded Olivier Awards ceremony featured performances from all the Mastercard Best New Musical nominees – The Band’s Visit, Standing At The Sky’s Edge, Sylvia and Tammy Faye. There were also performances from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! and Sister Act, both nominated for Magic Radio Best Musical Revival.
Disney’s Newsies, whose choreographer Matt Cole won the Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer, and multi-Olivier winner The Book Of Mormon (celebrating 10 years in the West End) also performed.
The show culminated in a tribute to Special Award recipient Dame Arlene Phillips, with a performance from Grease The Musical – a production she famously choreographed.
Full list of winners for the Olivier Awards 2023 with Mastercard:
Cunard Best Revival
A Streetcar Named Desire
Almeida Theatre
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Will Keen
Patriots
Almeida Theatre
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Anjana Vasan
A Streetcar Named Desire
Almeida Theatre
Blue-i Theatre Technology Award for Best Set Design
Tom Pye
RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro
Barbican Theatre
Best Costume Design
Kimie Nakano
RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro
Barbican Theatre
Best Actress
Jodie Comer
Prima Facie
Harold Pinter Theatre
Best Actor
Paul Mescal
A Streetcar Named Desire
Almeida Theatre
Outstanding Achievement in Opera
William Kentridge
for his conception and direction of Sibyl
Barbican Theatre
TAIT Award for Best New Opera Production
Alcina
by The Royal Opera
Royal Opera House
Delta Air Lines Best New Play
Prima Facie
Harold Pinter Theatre
Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director
Phelim McDermott
RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro
Barbican Theatre
Unusual Rigging Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre
The P Word
Bush Theatre
Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play
RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro
Barbican Theatre
Best Family Show
Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
Outstanding Achievement in Dance
Dickson Mbi
for his choreography of Enowate
Sadler’s Wells
Best New Dance Production
Traplord
by Ivan Michael Blackstock
180 Studios
Magic Radio Best Musical Revival
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Young Vic
Best Original Score or New Orchestrations
Richard Hawley & Tom Deering
Music & Lyrics by Richard Hawley and Orchestrations by Tom Deering
Standing At The Sky’s Edge
National Theatre – Olivier
Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer
Matt Cole
Disney’s Newsies
Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre
White Light Award for Best Lighting Design
Jessica Hung Han Yun
RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro
Barbican Theatre
d&b audiotechnik Award for Best Sound Design
Tony Gayle
RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro
Barbican Theatre
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Beverley Knight
Sylvia
The Old Vic
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Zubin Varla
Tammy Faye
Almeida Theatre
Best Actor in a Musical
Arthur Darvill
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Young Vic
Best Actress in a Musical
Katie Brayben
Tammy Faye
Almeida Theatre
Mastercard Best New Musical
Standing At The Sky’s Edge
National Theatre – Olivier
