• Katori Hall’s THE MOUNTAINTOP wins Best New Play
• WICKED wins Audience Award for Most Popular Show
• SPRING AWAKENING and HELLO DOLLY! share musical titles
• Dame Maggie Smith and Michael Codron honoured

The winners of the 34th Laurence Olivier Awards have been announced, at a star-studded ceremony held at Grosvenor House, London.  For the first time the awards, hosted by actor Anthony Head, were streamed live via www.olivierawards.co.uk and broadcast live on BBC Radio 2.

The big success story of the night was the triumph of the 28-year-old American playwright Katori Hall.  Her play THE MOUNTAINTOP scooped the Best New Play award, beating tough competition from ENRON, JERUSALEM and RED.  Hall is the first black female playwright to win the award.

The play premiered at the tiny 65-seat Theatre503 in Battersea before opening in the West End at Trafalgar Studios 1 where it ran for nine weeks.  The production follows Martin Luther King the night before his assassination and is the second play to be written by Hall.

The excellence of the Royal Court’s new writing was also recognised on the night.  Best New Comedy went to Michael Wynne’s THE PRIORY and Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre was awarded to COCK at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
 
In the other theatre categories, JERUSALEM, which sold out at the Royal Court before going on to its current West End home at the Apollo, took home two awards: Mark Rylance won Best Actor for the second time, this year for his extraordinary portrayal of Rooster and the production’s designers Ultz won Best Set Design. 

Best Director was presented to Rupert Goold, his second Olivier, for his direction of ENRON.  The critically-acclaimed production, produced by Headlong Theatre, Royal Court and Chichester Festival Theatre, sold out its entire eight-week run before opening at the Royal Court Theatre and is now running at the Noel Coward.

The acting strength of the 2009 Donmar season shone through with three awards in the remaining theatre categories.  Rachel Weisz’s poignant portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE held off Gillian Anderson, Imelda Staunton and Juliet Stevenson amongst others to win the Best Actress title.  Meanwhile, Weisz’s co-star Ruth Wilson won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her outstanding performance as Stella. 

The Donmar’s hat-trick was completed with Eddie Redmayne’s win of Best Actor in a Supporting Role in RED.  Eddie is currently reprising his role for the Broadway run of the show.

2009 was an exceptionally strong year for revivals and the Best Revival category had an unprecedented six nominees.  The title was won by Debbie Allen’s CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF beating A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE; A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE; THE MISANTHROPE; ARCADIA and THREE DAYS OF RAIN to the award.
Reintroduced for the first time since 2002, the Audience Award for Most Popular Show is the only category voted entirely for by the public.  Over 60,000 votes were cast and WICKED was crowned winner on the night.  The show opened in 2006 at the Apollo Victoria and has been seen by over 2.6 million people.  New lead cast members Rachel Tucker and Louise Dearman collected the award.

The theatre categories were completed with Best Entertainment which was won by Tim Whitnall for MORECAMBE at the Duchess.

The musical awards were dominated by two very different shows.  SPRING AWAKENING, the cult hit Broadway musical based on Wedekind’s groundbreaking play, took four awards including the highly competitive category of Best New Musical.  Young actors Aneurin Barnard and Iwan Rheon won Best Actor in a Musical or Entertainment and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical or Entertainment respectively.  Best Sound Design was awarded to Brian Ronan for the show’s run at the Novello.

A wet summer did not stop the Open Air Theatre winning three awards for its high-octane production of HELLO DOLLY!  Best Actress in a Musical or Entertainment went to Samantha Spiro, her second Olivier, and Best Theatre Choreographer went to Stephen Mear.  The production also won Best Musical Revival.

In the technical categories, PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT – THE MUSICAL, whose divas performed at the awards ceremony, won Best Costume Design and Mark Henderson was awarded Best Lighting Design for BURNT BY THE SUN at the Lyttelton, his fifth Laurence Olivier Award.

The Royal Opera House swept the board in the opera categories and won a further award in dance.  Their production of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE picked up both Best New Opera Production and Outstanding Achievement in Opera for Swedish soprano Nina Stemme’s glorious performance of Isolde.  The venue’s third title was Best New Dance Production for GOLDBERG: THE BRANDSTRUP ROJO PORJECT at ROH2.

The Outstanding Achievement in Dance award was given to the Rambert Dance Company, who produce more new work than any other dance company in the UK, for an outstanding year of work. 

The Society’s Special Award, which recognises outstanding contribution to the theatre, was presented to Dame Maggie Smith, one of the UK’s most distinguished actresses, by Margaret Tyzach. 

Legendary theatre producer Michael Codron was also honoured on the night.  He picked up the Outstanding Achievement Award to mark nearly 60 years in the business and the huge effect he has had on British theatre.

President of SOLT, Nica Burns says of the winners: “The Olivier Awards reflect a year of outstanding creativity and production excellence which brought the public rushing to the theatre taking box office and attendance records to an all time high.  The London theatre is a shining light in the continuing recessionary gloom – something we can all be proud of.  Congratulations to all the winners and the huge theatre community who collaborated in creating our wonderful productions.”

The awards were attended by nominees including: Gillian Anderson, Rowan Atkinson, Derren Brown, Melanie C, Mackenzie Crook, James Earl Jones, Rory Kinnear, Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Maureen Lipman, Mark Rylance, Imelda Staunton, Rachel Weisz, Ruth Wilson and Samuel West.

Presenters of the 2010 awards included: Kim Catrall, David Essex, Rupert Friend, Tamsin Greig, Duncan James, Jill Halfpenny, Larry Lamb, Elaine Paige, Arlene Philips, Ben Richards, Lesley Sharp, Penny Smith, Russell Watson and Barbara Windsor.
 
Up-to-the-minute news about the awards can be found at www.olivierawards.co.uk