Now the Evening Standard has announced its short list of contenders for the awards on 23 November, the guessing games can begin.

What is odd about all this spurious suspense is that the outright winners have long been decided, even before the long list was announced, so manouevres are already under way to make sure the right people turn up at the Royal Opera House on the day.

While it is always the case that the right people often win awards for the wrong reasons, I’m pretty confident about what will make the cut and take the palm.

I’d be very surprised if Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem didn’t complete a double whammy with the best play award and best actor for Mark Rylance.

That would leave the coast clear for Rupert Goold as best director for Enron, Deanna Dunagan as best actress in August:Osage County (good to see that show has not been forgotten) and Spring Awakening as clearly the best musical.

Even more certain of accolades are John Bausor for his Kursk design at the Young Vic and Alexi Kaye Campbell as most promising playwright for The Pride in his partner Dominic Cooke’s theatre, the Royal Court.

Most promising newcomer is always a lottery but I’d put good money on either Tom Sturridge in Simon Stephens’s Punk Rock or Bel Powley in Polly Stenham’s Tusk Tusk. Both were truly remarkable and a split decision might be the only way forward.

I think the Standard has done pretty well with this list, though the omission of Steve Waters’s two-play The Contingency Plan at the Bush has always been a serious flaw, especially given Standard critic Henry Hitchings’s remarks about climate change being a hot topic.

I like the Theatre Management Association award of “most welcoming venue” in their regional list, and in London you could have  a real bun fight over a “least welcoming venue” award, with a close race to the line between any ATG owned venue, Pizza on the Park, the London Palladium and the King’s Head.

So which theatres in London do I most look forward to visiting, on grounds of atmosphere and sense of excitement the minute you enter?

The long list would include the Young Vic, the Arcola, the Lyric Hammersmith, the Royal Court (great box office staff), the Bush, Wyndham’s, Wilton’s Music Hall, the Orange Tree, the Donmar and the Menier Chocolate Factory.

And now I have a new one: Hoxton Hall, which I visited for the first time on Friday night.

It’s a wonderful place in a buzzy Shoreditch neighbourhood, not as beautiful as Wilton’s, but blessed with marvellous proportions and a perfect acoustic and still retaining the spirit of mid 19th century music hall in its galleried and slender-pillared interior. 
 
Bt my theatre of the year is the Young Vic and I’m amazed that neither Pictures from an Exhibition nor Annie Get Your Gun have featured on the Standard lists, long or short.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Michael Coveney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.