Irish star Andrew Scott has made history after becoming the first to win the best actor gong from both the UK film and theatre Critics’ Circle in the same year.
His one-man performance in Vanya, an adaption of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s family drama Uncle Vanya, secured him the theatre prize on Monday at Soho Place in London.
It comes after he was named actor of the year at the London Film Critics’ Circle for his lead role in Andrew Haigh’s moving drama All Of Us Strangers last month.
Collecting the prize at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, Scott said about the arts: “A lot of people need it, I need it and we all do so the arts should be protected and they should be celebrated and they should be funded.
“So I just want to say thank you to the artists.”
The ceremony also saw Doctor Who star David Tennant win best Shakespearean performance for his starring role in Donmar Warehouse’s staging of the tragedy Macbeth.
“I hope that we can argue, not as enemies, but as allies in defending and protecting this extraordinary thing that only human beings can do.”
- This year’s Best Actor, Andrew Scott, on the importance of theatre critics, and funding the arts. #CriticsCircleAwards pic.twitter.com/bjkrbaeKUDAdvertisement— CriticsCircleAwards (@CCTAwards) March 25, 2024
Oscar-nominated Sophie Okonedo won the best actress prize for her titular character in @sohoplace’s Medea, an adaptation of the ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides.
While Rupert Goold won best director for Dear England, the hit play by James Graham about Gareth Southgate and England’s journey to the 2022 World Cup.
Joseph Fiennes, who stars as Southgate in both the stage show and its upcoming BBC adaptation, was in attendance at the ceremony alongside actor Will Close.
Close took to the stage in character as England Captain Harry Kane to accept the award on Goold’s behalf.
The revival of Guys & Dolls by Nicholas Hytner was named best musical while Jack Thorne’s The Motive And The Cue took home best new play.
The latter stages the explosive tensions between actors John Gielgud and Richard Burton as they rehearsed the 1964 production of Hamlet, with Mark Gatiss taking on the role of Gielgud and Johnny Flynn as Burton.
Jack Wolfe, who features in Donmar Theatre’s rock musical Next to Normal and Louis McCartney, currently leading the cast of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, were both named as most promising newcomers.
While the most promising playwright prize went to both to Marcelo Dos Santos, behind the new drama Backstairs Billy, and Matilda Feyisayo Ibini, who created the new coming-of-age play Sleepova which explores Black female friendship.
The Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards are voted for entirely by critics using a secret ballot.
