A modern-day version of Oedipus, which turned Sophocles’ tragic leader into a politician awaiting election results, has won three prizes at the Critics’ Circle theatre awards. Robert Icke won best director for the production (which he adapted), with Mark Strong named best actor and Lesley Manville best actress. All three are up for Olivier awards next month.
Receiving ecstatic reviews, Oedipus became a hot ticket at Wyndham’s theatre after previous runs using actors from Internationaal Theater Amsterdam at the Edinburgh festival and in the Netherlands.
The other victorious actors at the awards, voted for by professional theatre critics who are members of the Critics’ Circle, were Francesca Amewudah-Rivers with her West End debut and Danny Sapani for his King Lear. Amewudah-Rivers was named best newcomer for her performance as Juliet, opposite Tom Holland, in Jamie Lloyd’s version of Romeo & Juliet at the Duke of York’s theatre. Sapani was recognised with the award for best Shakespearean performance; his Lear was directed by Yaël Farber at the Almeida.
Mark Rosenblatt received two awards for his debut play, Giant, an exploration of author Roald Dahl’s antisemitism. Rosenblatt was named most promising playwright and also received the Michael Billington award for best new play, named in honour of the Guardian’s former chief theatre critic. Giant ran last year at the Royal Court and will transfer to the West End next month, with John Lithgow resuming his role as Dahl.
Frankie Bradshaw was named best designer in recognition of two National Theatre shows: Ballet Shoes and Dear Octopus. The prize for best musical went to the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof which is transferring to the Barbican and has been nominated for a record-tying 13 Olivier awards.
In 2023 the Critics’ Circle announced that it would incorporate the Empty Space Peter Brook award for innovative venue as one of its categories. This year’s winner is the Yard theatre in east London, which artistic director Jay Miller launched in a warehouse in 2011. The Yard is staging its final production, The Glass Menagerie, in its current home before the theatre is demolished. Having raised more than £6m in capital funding, it will move into a new 220-seat venue, designed by Takero Shimazaki Architects, expected to open in 2026.
