Dame Judi Dench is leading the way at the Olivier Awards 2016 with MasterCard, setting a new record for number of wins by a performer with a win in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category.
Dench recorded her eighth Olivier triumph in collecting her statuette for her performance in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company production of The Winter’s Tale.
Just starting their collecting of Olivier statuettes after the first half of the 40th anniversary Oliviers are first time winners Mark Gatiss, Kenneth Cranham and Denise Gough.
Sherlock co-writer Gatiss won the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the National Theatre’s Three Days In The Country. Cranham and Gough both added to their Critics’ Circle Theatre Award Best Actor and Actress victories by winning the Oliviers for their performances in The Father and People, Places And Things respectively.
While People, Places And Things’ Tom Gibbons also collected the Best Sound Design award, the Duncan Macmillan’s drama lost out to Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen in the Virgin Atlantic Best New Play category.
Hangmen also picked up a design award of its own, for Anna Fleischle’s extraordinary set.
In a four-way split across the design categories, the Best Costume Design award went to Kinky Boots’ Gregg Barnes, while the White Light Award for Best Lighting Design went to Gypsy’s Mark Henderson.
The first half of the Olivier Award, being staged tonight at the Royal Opera House, also saw awards go to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Best Revival), Showstopper! The Improvised Musical (Best Entertainment And Family) and Pat Kinevane and Fishamble (Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre).
The opera categories saw wins for the Royal Opera’s Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (Best New Opera) and the English National Opera’s Chorus and Orchestra, which won Outstanding Achievement in Opera for its work across The Force Of Destiny, Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk and The Queen Of Spades.
A stunning medley performed by Michael Feinstein, Joe Stilgoe and past Olivier winners Leigh Zimmerman, Sharon D Clarke, Daniel Evans and host Michael Ball brought the first half to its conclusion, topping off entertainment that also featured performances from Imelda Staunton, Kinky Boots, Guys And Dolls, Mrs Henderson Presents, Bend It Like Beckham and Jack Savoretti. The rising star of the music industry performed a version of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 to mark the 400th year since the Bard’s death.
Extended highlights of tonight’s Olivier Awards 2016 with MasterCard will be broadcast on ITV at 22:15, with the full show being broadcast on ITV3 on 4 April from 23:00. Both shows will then be available to watch on ITV Hub.
