Olivier Awards 2010: Top awards for Rachel Weisz and Mark Rylance
Story by Jack Foley
RACHEL Weisz and Mark Rylance have walked away with the top acting honours at this year’s Laurence Olivier Awards, for their performances in A Streetcar Named Desire and Jerusalem respectively.
The Donmar Warehouse’s acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire also triumphed in the best supporting actress category, where Ruth Wilson took home the trophy.
And in what proved to be a night to remember for Donmar productions, Eddie Redmayne was crowned best supporting actor for his performance in Red.
Another of the main prizes, however, went to US playwright Katori Hall, who saw his production of The Mountaintop win best new play.
The play examines the final hours of US civil rights activist Martin Luther King and it beat tough competition from Enron, Jerusalem and Red to take the top honour, making Hall, 28, the first black female playwright to win the award.
Another all-black production, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen, was named Best Revival.
Pre-awards favourite, Spring Awakening – which had entered the evening with seven nominations – took home four honours, for best new musical, best actor in a musical (for Aneurin Barnard) and supporting performance (for Iwen Rheon). It also won best sound design.
The musical – a cult hit – is based on Wedekind’s play and was staged at the Novello Theatre.
Commenting on the overall quality of both the winners and nominees this year, Nica Burns, President of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), said: “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.”
Further prizes on the night went to West End favourite Wicked, which took the Audience Award for most popular show (as voted for by the users of officiallondontheatre.co.uk), and The Priory, by Michael Wynne, which was named best new comedy – marking a success for the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.
The Royal Opera’s Tristan Und Isolde was named Best New Opera.
The Society of London Theatre, the body that runs the Oliviers, also presented two special, non-shortlisted prizes, as opposed to the usual one.
The Society’s Special Award was presented to actress Dame Maggie Smith while theatre producer Michael Codron was honoured with an Outstanding Achievement Award to commemorate nearly 60 years in the business.
The 34th Laurence Olivier Awards were held at Grosvenor House in London on Sunday, March 21, 2010.