Fleabag star Andrew Scott and Maggie Smith won the top acting prizes at Britain's Evening Standard Theatre Awards on Sunday night (24Nov19).

Scott took home the Best Actor accolade for his performance in a gender-switched version of Noel Coward’s autobiographical comedy, Present Laughter, while the 84-year-old Downton Abbey star landed the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress for her role as top Nazi Joseph Goebbels’ secretary in A German Life.

Smith now holds the record for most wins in this category with five, having previously won in 1962, 1970, 1984 and 1994.

Lynn Nottage’s working class drama Sweat was named Best Play, while the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita won in the Best Musical category.

Nowhere Boy star Anne-Marie Duff won the Best Musical Performance accolade, and former Almeida Theatre impresario Robert Icke won Best Director for his productions The Doctor and The Wild Duck.

Acting legend Ian McKellen also accepted the Editor’s Award, given for his Ian McKellen On Stage tour celebrating his 80th birthday, which raised funds for theatres in need. A second special prize went to legendary theatre director, Peter Brook, who was presented with the Lebedev Award for his contribution to theatre.

The ceremony was hosted by Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev, alongside his co-hosts, Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour, The Good Wife star Cush Jumbo, and married couple Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory.

Olivia Colman, Naomi Scott, Lashana Lynch, Taron Egerton, and Glenda Jackson also handed out prizes at the event at the London Coliseum theatre.

The full list of winners is below:

Best Actor
Andrew Scott - Present Laughter

Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress
Maggie Smith - A German Life

Best Play
Sweat - Lynn Nottage

Best Director
Robert Icke - The Doctor & The Wild Duck

Best Musical
Evita

Best Musical Performance
Anne-Marie Duff - Sweet Charity

Best Design
Bunny Christie - A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright
Jasmine Lee-Jones - seven methods of killing kylie jenner Royal Court

Emerging Talent
Laurie Kynaston - The Son

Editor’s Award
Ian McKellen - On Stage Tour

Lebedev Award
Peter Brook

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