Royal Court Leads the Way in Evening Standard Shortlist

The Royal Court leads the way in the shortlist for the Evening Standard Awards announced today (Monday).

The Royal Court cements its reputation as the writers’ theatre, claiming every nomination in both Best Play and Most Promising Playwright categories.

In the Most Promising Playwright category, DC Moore is nominated for The Empire. Set in Helmand province in Afghanistan, The Empire was a co-production with Theatre Royal Plymouth and won a TMA Award for Best Touring Production. Nick Payne is nominated for his frank and compassionate play about sex and intimacy Wanderlust and for his earlier play at the Bush Theatre If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet. They compete against Anya Reiss, whose first play, Spur of the Moment, was written when she was just 17.

For Best Play, Mike Bartlett’s play Cock, which sold out its entire run in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs before opening in November 2009 is up against Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park which played to critical acclaim and packed houses in September this year and transfers to the Wyndhams Theatre in the West End on 28 January 2011. Roy Williams’ Sucker Punch which looked at what it was to be young and Black in the 1980s is also a contender.

Sophie Thompson is also nominated for her role in Clybourne Park and Miriam Buether’s inspired set for Sucker Punch, in which she undertook to turn the entire Jerwood Theatre Downstairs into a 1980s boxing ring, complete with ringside seating and a whole new circle level, receives a nomination, as well as similarly inventive set for the Mike Bartlett’s Earthquakes in London at the National Theatre.

Three young actors, who made waves this year at the Royal Court are nominated for Outstanding Newcomer, including Daniel Kaluuya in Sucker Punch, a part for which he shed weight and gained a six pack, training with a professional boxer for over six months before rehearsals started, Isabella Laughland, who played teenager Michelle in Wanderlust and Shannon Tarbet in Spur of the Moment, both actresses making their professional theatre debuts.

The awards will be announced on Sunday 28 November in a ceremony at the Savoy Hotel.