Winners announced for Olivier Awards 2023 with Mastercard 

  • RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro triumphs with six awards including the Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play and the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director 
  • Best Actress was awarded to Jodie Comer and Paul Mescal took home the Best Actor award 
  • Standing At The Sky’s Edge won Mastercard Best New Musical 
  • Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Won Magic Radio Best Musical Revival 
  • Other acting wins included Katie Brayben, Beverley Knight, Arthur Darvill, Will Keen, Zubin Varla and Anjana Vasan 

 

LONDON—The winners have been unveiled for this year’s Olivier Awards with Mastercard, British theatre’s biggest night, which took place this evening (Sunday, April 2, 2023) 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.

 

Jodie Comer accepting her Best Actress Olivier Award for ‘Prima Facie’ at the 2023 Olivier Awards in London. ‘Prima Facie’ opens on Broadway April 23, 2023. Photo: Christie Goodwin

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.

The Olivier Awards continues its partnership with ITV, which broadcasts the ceremony tonight in the UK at 10:15pm on ITV1 and ITVX. The full ceremony was also broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall on Magic Radio. Outside the UK, the Olivier Awards was live on YouTube.

 

Paul Mescal at the 2023 Olivier Awards in London, accepting his Best Actor Olivier Award for playing Stanley Kowalski in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ Photo: Christie Goodwin.

 

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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

 

 

The Olivier Awards & Society of London Theatre (SOLT)

Established in 1976 and run by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), the Olivier Awards celebrate the world-class status of London theatre, and are regarded as Britain’s most prestigious stage honours.

Society of London Theatre (SOLT) is a not-for-profit organization which represents approximately 230 London-based producers, theatre owners and managers, including all the major subsidized theatrical organizations in London. SOLT runs the Olivier Awards, West End LIVE, TKTS, Theatre Tokens, Kids Week, the New Year Sale and Official London Theatre.

Looking beyond the announcement to the wider work of London’s theatre sector, the nominations could not have come at a more crucial time. Ahead of the Spring Budget in Westminster, the Society of London Theatre are leading the call for the government to maintain the higher rate of theatre tax relief, which has galvanized the world-beating productions and performances nominated today by providing the financial environment for increased investment in a challenging climate.

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