Winning Words: Chatting with the Champs at the 2010 Olivier Awards

It's always good to expect the unexpected at the Laurence Olivier Awards, and that was the case at the 2010 ceremony on March 21. To be sure, some of the winners seemed preordained: there might well have been an instantaneous coup had anyone other than Jerusalem star Mark Rylance won Best Actor, while Rachel Weisz’s Best Actress trophy for her Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire completed the same trifecta (Evening Standard Award, London Critics’ Circle, and now this) achieved by Rylance. Otherwise, one surprise followed another as show after show was called to the podium, many of them titles well-known to Americans and the majority of them productions that had closed some time ago—Katori Hall’s Broadway-bound The Mountaintop, for instance, which won Best Play, or Tony winner Spring Awakening, which won Best Musical despite having closed prematurely at the Novello Theatre last May.

Broadway.com talked with the winners right after the ceremony. Here are their reactions:

Katori Hall, author of Best Play winner The Mountaintop:
“I am so surprised. I arrived from New York yesterday morning and went immediately to see Enron yesterday afternoon and Jerusalem last night. I’m actually seeing Jerusalem again tomorrow night. I just loved that play and Mark Rylance’s performance, both utterly amazing. I was so impressed, too, by [Enron writer] Lucy Prebble’s work and wanted to see it before it got to Broadway because it’s much cheaper here [laughs]. You know, I must say I wanted to be open to winning and open to losing, so I had a lot of peace around both. I thought, if I lose, well, I’ve been invited to the table and that’s amazing. But winning? Wow! I hadn’t even thought about it. It’s so exciting, and I am just hoping it paves the way for my other plays to be done and for other artists who are writing the stories they are writing at the margins, I just hope it inspires them to keep on pushing.”

Steven Sater, librettist/lyricist of Best Musical winner Spring Awakening:
“Well, you know, my dreams and aspirations were really and truly fed by British theater more than anything else. I’ve spent so much time in London—this is the city where I was taught that literature could be theater. It informed my whole sense of what you could do as a writer. So it’s such a great honor to be here and now holding this [award]. I just hope this means the show can come back [to London]; it would be even great to have a U.K. tour. There is no Olivier Award for book or score, so the only general award for us was the last award of the night. That was a little excruciating. I have a lot of friends here, including Rupert Goold, and I’ve seen a lot of producers and actors whom I admire and to see [lifetime career recipient] Dame Maggie Smith—that was utterly fantastic in itself.“

Timothy Sheader, director of Best Musical Revival winner Hello, Dolly!:
“I just think we’re a bit greedy: there are some other amazing people who should have had a few [awards]. I was thrilled for Spring Awakening and for those boys [Aneurin Barnard and Iwan Rheon]. I loved Jerusalem and Enron and, oh my God, Mark Rylance! To win awards on a night when Dame Maggie Smith is standing up there apparently winning her first Olivier—the whole thing is just amazing.”

Aneurin Barnard, Best Actor in a Musical winner for Spring Awakening:
“Me and Iwan [co-star and supporting nominee Iwan Rheon] had said to each other beforehand, “We want one of us to win, please let it just be one of us,” so when he won, it was like, 'That’s it! It’s fine. I was relaxed.' And then when they went, 'Aneurin Barnard,' I was like, what?! I was convinced I wasn’t going to win. I just made sure I spoke from the heart and from a respectful place—not in a cheesy way but with pride and respect about the people I really cared about and was actually thankful for. Last year, me and Charlotte [Wakefield, who played Wendla] both presented an award and that was it, you know? It was great. There than followed lots of jokes, and me and Iwan used to joke in the dressing room, 'Oh, maybe one day the Olivier Awards.' And here we are!”

Samantha Spiro, Best Actress in a Musical winner for Hello, Dolly!:
“I didn’t think we had any chance of winning anything and with three minutes to get changed between our number ['Put On Your Sunday Clothes'] and my category, I thought there was absolutely no chance that it was going to be me who was winning because they clearly didn’t give a shit what I looked like. I feel tonight as if I’ve been a complete lunatic, having to perform and then get back to the seat, thinking I’m probably not going to win anything—and then to come away having won three out of our four categories is an extraordinary achievement for Regent’s Park. I feel a great sadness that our show came and went. We had a wonderful time, and I would like to think there might be some future life for it, but that might be wishful thinking. It was so joyous for us and so unbelievably joyous for the audience. It was one of those jobs where you actually remember why you do [this profession]. This one has reminded me that our job is to make people happy, which I hope on this show we did.”

Ruth Wilson, Best Supporting Actress in a Play for A Streetcar Named Desire:
”I have friends in this category—[A View From the Bridge fellow nominee] Hayley Atwell is a great friend of mine, and I’d seen a lot of the other [nominees’] performances, so I thought, well, this is a tough competition! And my mum had watched the Baftas and got out for me an article from the paper saying how bad the speeches were, so she said to me, 'Make sure you prepare a speech whatever you do'—so I was told by my mum to prepare a speech! What’s been so great about our show is that it has continued to have a life afterwards, even though we closed in October. I’ve seen Rachel [Weisz] at various events during awards season, and Rob [Ashford, the director] is here with tonight even though he’s busy on Broadway with Promises, Promises. What I love more than anything about this is the absolutely amazing atmosphere: it’s such a community and everyone is so supportive. It’s not about the dresses and all that; it’s actually about the talent and the awards.”

Stephen Mear Best Choreography winner for Hello, Dolly!:
“When I was nominated at the Tonys for Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening beat us, so I thought, ‘It’s bound to be Spring Awakening tonight!’ I really did think Bill T. Jones would win. I thought we might get Best Revival and that’s it, so I’m over the moon. Last Sunday we all met at 10am for two hours to rehearse tonight’s number and everyone was so passionate about it; it was wonderful. I’m just so grateful, I can’t believe my luck: Trevor [Nunn] has just offered me Follies [coming in 2011 to the West End] and I can’t do it, and I’m gutted because I love him. But there are other choreographers, and I want them all to be given a chance.”

Iwan Rheon, Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Spring Awakening:
“We [he and Aneurin Barnard] were really good mates all the way through, so the fact that we both won makes me so happy. It’s funny, though. I had to sit there and not drink any of the wine because I was singing [live during the ceremonies], so I was just drinking water and getting a little bit frustrated because it’s very hot in here and then when my category came up, I was so nervous. I wanted to keep my acceptance speech sweet and short because I know how these things are, and I didn’t want to bore people. But I do think it’s a tribute to the quality of the show and how hard everyone worked in order to create this show that even nine months down the line [since the musical closed], they still rate us. It’s such an absolute honor, you know? There’s nothing I can really say beyond that.”