Evening Standard Awards: Thoughts on the Shortlist

Shortlisted: Gillian Anderson, A Streetcar Named Desire; Tom Hiddleston, Coriolanus; Billie Piper, Great Britain; Kristin Scott Thomas, Electra (Pics: Johan Persson, Alastair Muir, Tristram Kenton) Our chief reviewer Stephen Collins gives his thoughts on the Evening Standards Awards shortlist.

The shortlist for the 2014 Evening Standard Awards has been announced:

Best Actor Tom Hiddleston for Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse) Ben Miles for Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies (RSC Swan & Aldwych) Mark Strong for A View from the Bridge (Young Vic) Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress Gillian Anderson for A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Vic) Helen McCrory for Medea (National Theatre's Olivier) Tanya Moodie for Intimate Apparel (Ustinov Bath & Park Theatre) Billie Piper for Great Britain (National Theatre's Lyttelton) Kristin Scott Thomas for Electra (Old Vic) Nook Award for Best Play Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage (Ustinov Bath & Park Theatre) The James Plays by Rona Munro (Edinburgh Festival Theatre & National Theatre’s Olivier) King Charles III by Mike Bartlett (Almeida & Wyndham's) The Nether by Jennifer Haley (Royal Court) Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical Dogfight (Southwark Playhouse) Here Lies Love (National Theatre's Dorfman) The Scottsboro Boys (Young Vic & Garrick) Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead & Harold Pinter Theatre) Milton Shulamn Award for Best Director Stephen Daldry for Skylight (Wyndham's) Yaël Farber for The Crucible (Old Vic) Jeremy Herrin for Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies (RSC Swan & Aldwych) Ivo van Hove for A View from the Bridge (Young Vic) Emerging Talent Award in Partnership with Burberry Matthew Beard for his performance in Skylight (Wyndham's) John Dagleish for his performance in Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead & Harold Pinter Theatre) Robert Hastie for his direction of My Night With Reg (Donmar Warehouse) Laura Jane Matthewson for her performance in Dogfight (Southwark Playhouse) Best Design in Partnership with Heal's Bunny Christie for Emil and the Detectives (National Theatre's Olivier) Es Devlin for American Psycho (Almeida) Mark Henderson for lighting design of Kate Bush's Before the Dawn (Eventim Apollo) Ashley Martin-Davis for Wonderland (Hampstead) Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright Barney Norris for Visitors (Arcola) Dan O’Brien for The Body of an American (Northampton Royal & Derngate & Gate Notting Hill) Beth Steel for Wonderland (Hampstead) As ever with these awards, the list is a surprising and odd one. There are surprising omissions: the breath-taking reviving of Carousel at the Arcola; Bob Crowley’s marvellous design for Skylight; Tim Pigott-Smith’s pitch-perfect turn as the titular Charles III; Imelda Staunton’s wonderfully subtle and intense performance in Good People; Richard Armitage’s splendid John Proctor and Soutra Gilmour’s astonishing design for the Old Vic’s The Crucible; Linda Bassett’s sublime performance as the ageing mother slipping into the arms of dementia in Visitors; Rory Mullarkey’s confronting new play, The Wolf From The Door and Anna Chancellor’s luminous performance therein; the new musical The Return Of The Soldier which played at Jermyn Street; Dessa Rose which played at Trafalgar Studios featuring the incandescent Cynthia Erivo; the taut, compelling production of Pacific Overtures at the Union Theatre; the evocative and intriguing new musical, Thérese Raquin at the Finborough and then The Park Theatre; the splendid Urinetown. The list of omissions goes on.

Still, there are many worthy nominees on the final shortlist and, for what it is worth, from that list I would give the prize to the following:

Best Actor Mark Strong for A View from the Bridge (Young Vic) Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress Gillian Anderson for A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Vic) Nook Award for Best Play King Charles III by Mike Bartlett (Almeida & Wyndham's) Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical Here Lies Love (National Theatre's Dorfman) Milton Shulamn Award for Best Director Ivo van Hove for A View from the Bridge (Young Vic) Emerging Talent Award in Partnership with Burberry Robert Hastie for his direction of My Night With Reg (Donmar Warehouse) Best Design in Partnership with Heal's Es Devlin for American Psycho (Almeida) Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright Barney Norris for Visitors (Arcola) It is faintly ludicrous to have to pick between the astonishingly clear direction Robert Hastie brought to the Donmar’s revival of My Night With Reg and the assured, masterful performance Matthew Beard gave in Skylight. But that is the nature of that category. And it would not surprise me if Yaël Farber takes the gong for Best Director because the direction of The Crucible was revelatory and extraordinary. Both Farber and van Hove delivered outstanding re-imaginings of texts which were well known and each found fresh, visceral ways to make the power of those texts resonate. In truth, I would give the prize to them both to share.

I am not sure that the Evening Standard Awards really have any significance after the kerfuffle following the announcement of last year’s results and the anger and resignations of those who had supposedly voted for the winners was discussed publicly.

What the West End needs more than anything else is a properly independent set of awards based on the views of peers, critics and audience members. The fact that something or someone is popular or photogenic does not mean that, artistically, it/they are good.

Awards should be given for excellence, not for the impact they might have on the life of a production or for any reason associated with advertising, sponsorship or popularity. Excellence is key to the future of the West End and the craft that is the theatre. It is what everyone should strive for, not popularity.

It is true that excellent things can be popular and that popular things can be excellent. The trick, and one that Awards should seek to assist with, is to permit excellence to have a moment in the spotlight, even if not popular. Because the easiest way to make something popular, is to mark its excellence.