U.K.'s 55th Annual Evening Standard Award Winners Revealed: Jerusalem Shines

The winners of the The 55th Annual 2009 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, honoring outstanding achievements in London theatre, were announced today at a lunchtime ceremony in London at the Royal Opera House.  The award winners, sponsored by the Evening Standard, were selected by a panel of London theatre critics.  The short list of nominees was announced on November 9.

And the winners are: 

Best Play
Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth (Royal Court)
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts (Steppenwolf at the National's Lyttelton)
Enron by Lucy Prebble (Royal Court)
Punk Rock by Simon Stephens (Lyric Hammersmith)

Best Actor
Mark Rylance for Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Simon Russell Beale for The Winter's Tale (Old Vic)
Ken Stott for A View from the Bridge (Duke of York's)
Samuel West for Enron (Royal Court)

The Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress
Rachel Weisz for A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse)
Deanna Dunegan for August: Osage County (Steppenwolf at the National's Lyttelton)
Penny Downie for Helen (Shakespeare's Globe)
Juliet Stevenson for Duet for One (Almeida/Vaudeville)

Best Director
Rupert Goold for Enron (Royal Court)
Jeremy Herrin for Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Ian Rickson for Jerusalem (Royal Court)
Anna D Shapiro for August: Osage County (Steppenwolf at the National's Lytttelton)

The NEd Sherrin Award for Best Musical
Hello, Dolly! (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park)
A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory/Garrick)
Been So Long (Young Vic)
Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith/Novello)

Best Design
Mamoru Iriguchi for Mincemeat (Cardboard Citizens at Cordy House, Shoreditch)
Jon Bausor for Kursk (Young Vic)
Miriam Buether for Judgement Day (Almeida)
Ultz for Jerusalem (Royal Court)

The Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright
Alia Bano for Shades (Royal Court)
Katori Hall for Mountaintop (Theatre 503 & Trafalgar Studios)
Alexi Kaye Campbell for The Pride (Royal Court) and Apologia (Bush Theatre)

The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer
Lenny Henry for Othello (Northern Broadsides at Trafalgar Studios)
Naana Agyei-Ampadu for Been So Long (Young Vic)
Bel Powley for Tusk Tusk (Royal Court)
Tom Sturridge for Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith)

This year's judges are Henry Hitchings of the Standard, Susannah Clapp of The Observer, Matt Wolf of the International Herald Tribune, Georgina Brown of The Mail on Sunday and Charles Spencer from the Daily Telegraph. Standard deputy editor Sarah Sands chairs the panel and Mr Lebedev will present his own special award.