NT Wins 5 Gongs At Critics' Circle Awards

More than half the awards on offer at today’s Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards went to productions from the National Theatre, which triumphed in five of the nine categories.

Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein triumphed in two categories, with War Horse, Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch, soon to star in The Hobbit named Best Actor and Mark Tildesley crowned Best Designer.

Cumberbatch’s win sees the actor following up his success at the ES Theatre Awards, where he was named Best Actor alongside Jonny Lee Miller, his Frankenstein co-star with whom he shared the roles of Dr Frankenstein and his creation.

The awards saw Richard Bean, (winner, Best New Play for One Man, Two Guvnors), Sheridan Smith, (winner, Best Actress for Flare Path) and Mike Leigh, (winner, Best Director for Grief), also left the ceremony today at the Prince of Wales theatre having continued an award-winning run which began at last years Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Completing the National Theatre's quintet of awards, Alecky Blythe's production, London Road about the Ipswich murders, was also named Best Musical.

The Critics’ Circle’s Most Promising categories saw The Kitchen Sink playwright Tom Wells named Most Promising Playwright, with director Blanche McIntyre winning the Most Promising Newcomer award for her productions of Accolade and Foxfinder at the Finborough Theatre.

Previous Most Promising Newcomer winner Eddie Redmayne continued his ascent to the higher eschelons of the acting community by picking up the Best Shakespearean Performance Award for Richard II at the Donmar Warehouse.

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