2008 Evening Standard Theater Awards Nominees Announced

Kevin Spacey Speed-the-Plow, Kenneth Branagh Ivanov and Simon Russell Beale Much Ado About Nothing are among eight actors on the shortlist for this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards, to be presented on November 24 at London’s Savoy Hotel. The announcement in the November 4 edition of the afternoon newspaper comes three days ahead of the shortlist, allowing observers unusually public access to the winnowing out process that takes place every year.

London’s not-for-profits dominate the 2008 list, and hardly for the first time. In a thin year commercially, such names as Adam Godley Rain Man, Ella Smith Fat Pig and director Emma Rice Brief Encounter find themselves flying a relatively lonely flag for the West End among a sea of nominees from the Almeida, Royal Court, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Donmar Warehouse. The Royal Shakespeare picked up three nominations for its ambitious and successful cycle of Shakespeare history plays seen at the Roundhouse last spring—Best Director Michael Boyd, Best Actor the amazing Jonathan Slinger, who played both Richards II and III and Outstanding Newcomer Lex Shrapnel.

Strong showings were also made by the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch, now playing at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, which was named in the categories of best play Gregory Burke, director John Tiffany and design Laura Hopkins, and the sellout Donmar Warehouse revival of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden, which garnered a nod for best director Michael Grandage, shared with his work on Othello and Ivanov, newcomer Felicity Jones and leading ladies Margaret Tyzack and Penelope Wilton. Ivanov was also cited for the long-overdue West End return of Kenneth Branagh, who has to be considered some sort of favorite on the basis of sentiment alone

The ongoing Almeida Theatre revival of Harley Granville Barker's Waste was cited for its two leads, Will Keen and Phoebe Nicholls, while this past winter's Olivier Award-winning best actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor of Othello, made the list as well for a production that opened after the cut-off for the Standard's 2007 ceremony.

Surprising omissions include Piaf's Elena Roger, Michael Gambon and David Bradley from No Man's Land, Jeremy Irons in Best Play nominee Never So Good, and the entire cast of the blazingly well-received Norman Conquests, which got a single nod for Rob Howell's design.

In the musical category, Jersey Boys and the just-opened commercial transfer of La Cage Aux Folles will duke it out with the now-departed Marguerite, Eurobeat and Street Scene, the first two of which closed early.

Best Play
Black Watch by Gregory Burke
Days Of Significance by Roy Williams
Her Naked Skin by Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Never So Good by Howard Brenton
Now Or Later by Christopher Shinn
The Pitmen Painters by Lee Hall

Best Actor
Kenneth Branagh, Ivanov
David Calder, King Lear
Adam Godley, Rain Man
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Othello
Will Keen, Waste
Simon Russell Beale, Much Ado About Nothing
Jonathan Slinger, Richard II and Richard III
Kevin Spacey, Speed-the-Plow

Best Actress
Lesley Manville, Her Naked Skin
Helen McCrory, Rosmersholm
Phoebe Nicholls, Waste 
Lesley Sharp, Harper Regan
Margaret Tyzack, The Chalk Garden 
Penelope Wilton, The Chalk Garden

The Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical
La Cage Aux Folles
Eurobeat
Jersey Boys
Marguerite
Street Scene

The Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director
Lucy Bailey, Timon of Athens
Michael Boyd, The History Cycle
Rupert Goold, Six Characters In Search Of An Author/No Man's Land/The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot
Michael Grandage, Othello/The Chalk Garden/Ivanov
Katie Mitchell, The Trojan Women
Emma Rice, Brief Encounter 
Alan Rickman, Creditors
John Tiffany, Black Watch

Best Design
Miriam Buether, In The Red and Brown Water
Laura Hopkins, Black Watch
Rob Howell, The Norman Conquests
Neil Murray, Brief Encounter 
Melly Still, The Revenger's Tragedy

The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer
Michelle Dockery, Pygmalion
Luke Evans, Small Change
Felicity Jones, The Chalk Garden
Joseph Mawle, The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot
Lex Shrapnel, Henry IV Part I
Ella Smith, Fat Pig