The winners for the Olivier Awards 2020 were announced last night, in a slightly different manner than what we’re used to.

Presented from an empty London Palladium by Jason Manford, the show had a more relaxed vibe with many of the winners giving their acceptance speeches via zoom. We were also treated to three fabulous performances throughout the evening from Miriam-Teak Lee (& Juliet), Sam Tutty (Dear Evan Hansen) and the incomparable Sharon D. Clarke, who closed the evening’s proceedings with a performance of Love Changes Everything.

The Oliviers honoured both Sir Ian McKellen and lyricist Don Black this year:

Firstly, McKellen for Ian McKellen on Stage Tour to mark his 80th birthday, which visited more than 80 theatres across the UK and raised £3million for causes at each theatre. In his speech to accept his seventh award, the actor spoke of the importance of touring theatre and said that “a country that cares about its theatre, is a healthy country”.

Secondly, Don Black was presented his award by HRH Duchess of Cornwall. He has had a career spanning across decades and been a lyricist on many beloved musicals including Sunset Boulevard, Starlight Express, Tell Me on A Sunday and Aspects of Love.

In her speech before presenting his award, HRH spoke about the importance of theatre and praised the resilience of the freelancers who make theatre work stating: “Please remain resilient. We need you and we miss you.”

Sharon D. Clarke won the Best Actress award, becoming a three-time winner, for her performance in Death of a Salesman. With her nomination this year, Clarke became the first performer to be nominated in all four performance categories and she has now won in three of them. Death of a Salesman won its second award of the evening for Best Director for Miranda Cromwell and Marianne Elliot.

Present Laughter at The Old Vic also won two awards, with Andrew Scott winning Best Actor and Indira Varma winning her first Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress.

It was a good night for musicals too with Dear Evan Hansen and &Juliet both taking home three awards each.

Dear Evan Hansen won the Mastercard Best New Musical Award and Best Original Score for composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul with orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. Sam Tutty took home the award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as the titular character.

& Juliet had been up for a massive eight awards but ended up missing out in the technical categories, instead taking home the award for Best Actress in a Musical for Miriam-Teak Lee, and the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Musical for David Bedella and Cassidy Janson respectively.

The brilliant Emilia and its all-female creative team also took home three awards: The Noel Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play for playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Best Costume Design for Joanna Scotcher and Best Sound Design for Emma Laxton.

Choreographer Matthew Bourne became the individual with the most Olivier awards, winning his ninth for Best Theatre Choreographer, alongside Stephen Mear, for Mary Poppins, which also won Best Set Design for Bob Crowley.

Tom Stoppard’s play Leopoldstadt went home with two awards: Best New Play and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Adrian Scarborough.

Best Revival of a Play went to Cyrano De Bergerac by the Jamie Lloyd Company, starring James McAvoy (they also won the award for best acceptance speech of the evening!). Fiddler on the Roof then took home the Best Musical Revival Award.

Other awards included: Best Lighting Design for Paule Constable for The Ocean At The End Of The Lane and Best Family Show was collected by Emma Reeves and Theresa Heskins for The Worst Witch.

Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre category was won by Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd’s debut play at the Bush Theatre.

Best New Dance Production was awarded to Ingoma by Mthuthzeli November for Ballet Black, and Billy Budd won Best New Opera Production, both at the Royal Opera House. Outstanding Achievement in Dance went to Sara Baras for her choreography and performance of Ballet Flamenco – Sombras at Sadler’s Wells, and the Children’s Ensemble of Noye’s Fludde won the Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

There was a definite theme to the evening’s acceptance speeches, with many highlighting the hard work and skill of freelancers, as well as highlighting the need for further diversity within the industry. Many speeches encouraged us to keep the faith and belief, with one particularly heartfelt speech coming from Marianne Elliot who said “Awards are by their nature competitive – but today we should stand together and know we do something worthwhile…we are keyworkers”.