The Evening Standard Award nominations have been announced today and the Royal Court is leading the way with 11 nominations in total.
Mark Rylance in rehearsals for Jerusalem
Two of their productions, Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem and Lucy Prebble's Enron, are marked in the same categories; Best Play, Best Director and Best Actor. Both plays ran at the Royal Court and are due to transfer into the West End in 2010.
The Best Actor category will be intensely competitive, with Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), Samuel West (Enron), Simon Russell-Beale (A Winter's Tale) and Ken Scott (A view from the Bridge) battling it out, all of whom received glowing reviews.
In the Natasha Richardson Best Actress category, renamed in respect for the late actress, judges will decide on performances from Rachel Weisz (A Streetcar Named Desire), Juliet Stevenson (Duet for One), Penny Downie (Helen at Shakespeare's Globe) and Deanna Dunagan (August: Osage County).
For Best Play, Jerusalem and Enrol are up against Tracy Letts' August: Osage County which played at the National, and Simon Stephens' drama Punk Rock, which opened at the Lyric Hammersmith.
The comedian Lenny Henry has been short listed as Outstanding Newcomer for his debut in Othello. Henry plays the title role currently at the Trafalgar Studios. He joins Naana Agyei-Ampadu (Been So Long), Bel Powley (Tusk Tusk) and Tom Sturridge (Punk Rock) in the same category.
For the full list of nominations and categories visit What's on Stage
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