Katori Hall's The Mountaintop, winner of Best New Play
The 34th Olivier Awards were not without their surprises.
Despite most people predicting it would be a close run race between the Royal Court's Enron and Jerusalem, this year's award for Best New Play went to Katori Hall's The Mountaintop, a play about the last night of Martin Luther King's life which was first staged at Theatre 503, the tiny pub theatre in Battersea, before transferring to the Trafalgar Studios.
This year's ceremony was held on 21 March 2010 at London's Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane with Anthony Head (currently starring in Six Degrees of Separation at the Old Vic) as host. Mark Rylance, as expected, picked up the Best Actor award for his storming performance as Johnny 'Rooster' Byron in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem. Rylance played down his own role in making the production such a success, and paid handsome tribute to the performances of two fellow nominees (Ken Stott in A View From the Bridge and Samuel West in Enron) in a speech that captured something of the spirit of the awards.
Theatre, he said, wasn’t about fighting everyone else for attention, but about being part of a family. This was a philosophy that Olivier and Joan Plowright practised and preached during their time at the Old Vic, and it is one that the Olivier Awards still seem to hold dear.
In terms of nominations, the Royal Court headed the list with fifteen, comfortably beating the Donmar with ten and the National Theatre with nine. In the end, the Royal Court took five awards (including Best Director for Rupert Goold for Enron and Best New Comedy for Michael Wynne’s The Priory), the Donmar three (including a deserved Best Actress win for Rachel Weisz's distinctive, delicate take on Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire), and the National only one (a Best Lighting Design for Mark Henderson for Burnt by the Sun).
Mike Bartlett's extraordinary Cock (apologies, but it's true) scooped the Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre Award and the Audience Award, voted for by the public, went to Wicked.
The ceremony also featured entertainment in abundance as the awards were interspersed with ensemble numbers from Sister Act, Hello Dolly! and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Particularly moving, however, was Hannah Waddingham’s solo rendition of Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music.
Christof Loy’s Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House picked up the Best New Opera Production Award, whilst Nina Stemme took the Outstanding Achievement in Opera Award for her performance as Isolde. Both awards were thoroughly deserved, especially since the production’s challenging staging had even received boos from some audience members at its premiere, although it is a shame that David Alden’s exceptional production of Peter Grimes for English National Opera was unable to convert either of its nominations into a win.
The most moving speeches came from Aneurin Barnard and Samantha Spiro (coincidentally Best Actor and Actress in a Musical for Spring Awakening and Hello Dolly!), with both revealing humility and a sense of wonder. Neither could quite seem to believe that they were collecting so highly acclaimed an award. Equally emotive were the two Special Awards presented to Dame Maggie Smith and Michael Codron for outstanding achievement, with both occasions made all the more memorable by exemplary introductions from Margaret Tyzack and Tom Stoppard respectively.
But the award that captured it all was (perhaps surprisingly) for Best Entertainment. It had humour, with the item’s presenter Tamsin Greig joking that its title suggested that all the other awards had nothing to do with entertainment. It also had a worthy winner in Tim Whitnall’s Morecambe, and gave due recognition to Bob Golding for his exceptional solo turn in the show. Most of all, however, it possessed sincerity. When Whitnall dedicated the award to the great Eric Morecambe, and pointed out that Laurence Olivier himself had once appeared on The Morecambe and Wise Show, British theatre in all of its present glory suddenly felt one strong connection with its brilliant past.
The 2010 Olivier Awards in full:
Best New Play:
The Mountaintop at Trafalgar Studios 1.
Best New Musical:
Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre.
Best Actress:
Rachel Weisz for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse
Best Actor:
Mark Rylance for Jerusalem at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo Theatre
Audience Award for Most Popular Show (voted for by the general public):
Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre
Best Revival:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre
Best New Opera Production:
The Royal Opera’s Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House
Outstanding Achievement in Opera:
Nina Stemme for her performance in
The Royal Opera’s Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House
Best Supporting Performance in a Musical:
Iwan Rheon for Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre.
Best Actress in a Musical:
Samantha Spiro for Hello Dolly! at the Open Air Theatre.
Best Actor in a Musical:
Aneurin Barnard for Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre.
Best Entertainment:
Morecambe at the Duchess Theatre.
Best Musical Revival:
Hello Dolly! at the Open Air Theatre.
Best Director:
Rupert Goold for Enron at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward Theatre
Best Lighting Design:
Mark Henderson for Burnt by the Sun at the National Theatre
Best Sound Design:
Brian Ronan for Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre
Best Costume Design:
Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre
Best Set Design:
Ultz for Jerusalem at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo Theatre
Best New Comedy:
The Priory at the Royal Court
Best Theatre Choreographer:
Stephen Mear for Hello Dolly! at the Open Air Theatre
Outstanding Achievement in Dance:
Rambert Dance Company for an outstanding year of new work
Best New Dance Production:
The Brandstrup-Rojo Project’s Goldberg at the Royal Opera House
Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre:
The Royal Court for Cock
Special Award:
Maggie Smith
SOLT Special Award:
Michael Codron
For further information on this year’s Olivier Awards visit Solt.co.uk.
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