Critics Circle Theatre Award winners announced

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

The winners have been announced for the 31st Annual Critics Circle Theatre Awards this evening.

The West End revival of Cabaret was the big winner of the night with three awards: Best Director for Rebecca Frecknall, Best Actress for Jessie Buckley and Best Designer for Tom Scutt. However, it missed out on the top gong of the evening with Best Musical going to Rupert Goold’s Spring Awakening. Stuart Thompson, who played Moritz, in the latter production also picked up the award for Best Newcomer, alongside Samuel Creasy from The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage.

Other award winners include Cush Jumbo for Best Shakespearean Performance in Hamlet, Ben Daniels for Best Actor in Dominic Cooke’s The Normal Heart, Best of Enemies for Best Play, and Zadie Smith and Igor Memic for Most Promising Playwright for The Wife of Willesden and Old Bridge respectively.

As the awards were forced to skip a year due to the pandemic, a special award has been created: Commendations for Exceptional Theatre-Making During Lockdown. These were presented to the National Theatre, Jermyn Street Theatre, Original Theatre Company, the Old Vic and Nica Burns.

Congratulations to all of the winners!