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Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2017: The shortlist

Star performances: Clockwise from top right - Bertie Carvel in Ink, Laura Donnelly in The Ferryman, Andrew Garfield in Angels in America, Andrew Scott in Hamlet, Victoria Hamilton in Albion and Glenda Jackson in King Lear
Star performances: Clockwise from top right - Bertie Carvel in Ink, Laura Donnelly in The Ferryman, Andrew Garfield in Angels in America, Andrew Scott in Hamlet, Victoria Hamilton in Albion and Glenda Jackson in King Lear

Three screen stars will go head to head to be crowned best actor at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Andrew Scott is shortlisted for his title role in Hamlet, along with Bertie Carvel for his portrayal of Rupert Murdoch in Ink and Andrew Garfield, who played Aids victim Prior Walter in the National Theatre’s revival of Angels In America.

Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman is up for a series of honours, including best play, best director for Sam Mendes, best actress for Laura Donnelly and the emerging talent award for Tom Glynn-Carney.

Donnelly faces competition from Glenda Jackson, who was lauded for her triumphant return to the stage after a quarter of a century to play King Lear at the Old Vic. Also shortlisted is Victoria Hamilton for her leading role in Mike Bartlett’s state of the nation drama Albion at the Almeida.

James Graham’s Ink, about the birth of The Sun, is in the running to be named best play with The Ferryman, The Children, by Lucy Kirkwood, and JT Rogers’s Oslo. Model-turned-actress Sheila Atim is up for the emerging talent award for her performance in Girl From The North Country — the musical inspired by the songs of Bob Dylan — along with Albion actor Luke Thallon and Glynn-Carney.

The ceremony, in association with Qatar Airways, will be held at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on Sunday December 3. The platinum partner for this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards is Michael Kors.

The awards will be co-hosted by the newspaper’s proprietor Evgeny Lebedev, American Vogue editor-in-chief Dame Anna Wintour, actress Cate Blanchett and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of Hamilton. The ceremony will be presented by Fleabag writer and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Mr Lebedev said: “In turbulent and uncertain times, which will no doubt inspire a wave of great new plays soon enough, the global pre-eminence of the London stage is a rare and precious constant.

“This year, as every year, the shortlist for our awards illuminates its range, variety and sheer brilliance. It is my privilege to join Dame Anna Wintour in hosting an event that recognises the dazzling array of talent, emerging and established, that perennially confirms London’s theatre as the best in the world.”

For best musical performance, shortlisted stars include Dreamgirls’s Amber Riley, Robert Fairchild for An American In Paris and Janie Dee for Follies. The Milton Shulman Award for best director, named after the Standard’s late theatre critic, pits Mendes against Dominic Cooke, who directed Follies at the National, and Hamlet director Robert Icke.

The shortlist for the Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright, named after the paper’s former editor, recognises Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for An Octoroon, Al Smith, writer of Harrogate, and Katherine Soper for Wish List. The only category decided by public vote, the Radio 2 Award for Best Musical, includes An American In Paris, Bat Out Of Hell, Dreamgirls, Follies, School Of Rock, The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ and She Loves Me.

Previous winners of the awards, presented since 1955, include Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen.

The shortlist is below:

Andrew Scott in Hamlet (Manuel Harlan)
Andrew Scott in Hamlet (Manuel Harlan)

Best Actor
in partnership with Ambassador Theatre Group

Bertie Carvel Ink, Almeida Theatre and Duke of York’s Theatre

Andrew Garfield Angels In America, National Theatre (Lyttleton)

Andrew Scott Hamlet, Almeida Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre

Laura Donnelly in The Ferryman (Johan Persson)
Laura Donnelly in The Ferryman (Johan Persson)

Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress
in partnership with Christian Louboutin

Laura Donnelly The Ferryman, Royal Court and Gielgud Theatre

Victoria Hamilton Albion, Almeida Theatre

Glenda Jackson King Lear, Old Vic Theatre

Follies at the National Theatre (Johan Persson)
Follies at the National Theatre (Johan Persson)

Milton Shulman Award for Best Director

Dominic Cooke Follies, National Theatre

Robert Icke Hamlet, Almeida Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre

Sam Mendes The Ferryman, Royal Court and Gielgud Theatre

Lydia Leonard and Toby Stephens in Oslo (Brinkhoff Mögenburg)
Lydia Leonard and Toby Stephens in Oslo (Brinkhoff Mögenburg)

Best Play
In partnership with Hiscox, official arts partner of the Evening Standard

The Children Lucy Kirkwood, Royal Court

The Ferryman Jez Butterworth, Royal Court and Gielgud Theatre

Ink James Graham, Almeida Theatre and Duke of York’s Theatre

Oslo J T Rogers, National Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre

The Red Barn at the National Theatre (Manuel Harlan)
The Red Barn at the National Theatre (Manuel Harlan)

Best Design

Jon Bausor Bat Out Of Hell — The Musical, Coliseum

Bunny Christie Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle, Wyndham’s Theatre/The Red Barn, National Theatre/ Ink, Almeida Theatre and Duke of York’s Theatre

Soutra Gilmour Twelfth Night, National Theatre

Amber Riley in Dreamgirls (Brinkhoff Mögenburg)
Amber Riley in Dreamgirls (Brinkhoff Mögenburg)

Best Musical Performance

Janie Dee Follies, National Theatre

Robert Fairchild An American In Paris, Dominion Theatre

Amber Riley Dreamgirls, Savoy Theatre

An Octoroon at the Orange Tree Theatre (Richard Davenport, The Other Richard)
An Octoroon at the Orange Tree Theatre (Richard Davenport, The Other Richard)

Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright

Al Smith Harrogate, High Tide Festival and Royal Court

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins An Octoroon, Orange Tree Theatre

Katherine Soper Wish List, Royal Exchange Manchester and Royal Court

Sheila Atim with Shirley Henderson in Girl From the North Country (Manuel Harlan)
Sheila Atim with Shirley Henderson in Girl From the North Country (Manuel Harlan)

Emerging Talent Award

Sheila Atim Girl From The North Country, Old Vic Theatre

Tom Glynn-Carney The Ferryman, Royal Court and Gielgud Theatre

Luke Thallon Albion, Almeida Theatre