2001: a stage odyssey

Nightingale applauded David Troughton in Henry IV and Simon Russell Beale in Humble Boy. Clapp complimented Samuel West for his verse speaking and was bowled over by Mark Rylance in Life x 3. Paul Taylor praised Rufus Sewell for his "intestinal intensity" as Luther.

Georgina Brown's top choice was Michael Gambon's performance in The Caretaker.

In the end, it was a threeway contest. De Jongh favoured William Houston for "revolutionising the conception of Henry V". Alan Rickman was Edwardes's choice, for transforming himself into a light and funny character in Private Lives. But Nightingale and Taylor successfully put the case for Alex Jennings in The Winter's Tale and The Relapse. As Leontes in the former he was "monomaniac yet vulnerable, giving a rounded portrait in place of a jealous monster", said Nightingale. In The Relapse, he conveyed "the sense that he knows he's a fool," said Edwardes.

Best Actress
De Jongh praised Rachel Weisz in The Shape of Things, Taylor was wowed by Lia Williams in The Homecoming, while Nightingale was smitten by Jessica Lange in A Long Day's Journey into Night. Brown enjoyed Victoria Hamilton in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Several picked out Deborah Finlay as the queen of a gay brothel in Mother Clap's Molly House.

But the hot three were Lindsay Duncan, Penelope Wilton and Fiona Shaw. The female judges were struck by Duncan (in Private Lives and Mouth to Mouth). In Private Lives, Clapp praised her "for glaciating"; Brown spoke of "her emotional intimacy, the way she touched and talked to Rickman". Clapp argued for Penelope Wilton in The Little Foxes. "To see her looking at her husband dying as if she was watching a fly falling down a window pane, was terrific". De Jongh, Edwardes and Taylor tipped the balance in favour of Fiona Shaw for Medea. "She was astonishing as a child murderer, making the act seem physically transforming," said De Jongh. Nightingale said she entered his nightmares. Taylor added: "Lots of Medeas don't indicate the extent to which they're still in love with her husband. She did."

"Everybody who does Medea wins the Awards," mused Max Hastings. (Diana Rigg won as Medea in 1992.)

Best Play
Port Authority by Conor McPherson and Gregory Burke's "snarling and funny" Gagarin Way were praised. Brown commended Caryl Churchill's Far Away; Nightingale put forward Charlotte Jones's Humble Boy. Top of Edwardes' list was Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things, "a mesmerising attack on art and the meaning of art", while de Jongh's first choice was Mouth to Mouth by Kevin Elyot - "a deeply discomforting play in terms not simply of family relations or a man dying of Aids but the culture of secrecy that exists in families and socially". Brown, Taylor and Clapp swayed the vote for Robert Lepage's one-hander The Far Side of the Moon. "I couldn't believe how thrilling it was to be in the theatre," said Brown. Taylor praised its "seamless conception - a wonderful examination of human isolation, of our inner need to explore outer space".

The Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director
Lepage having won Best Play, the race narrowed to five directors. Clapp made Marion McClinton her first choice for Jitney because "while it seemed to be a conventional play it moved like a piece of jazz". Nightingale plumped for Michael Boyd, for Henry VI parts i-iii and Richard III. "The RSC needed this guy and his Scots ballsiness," he said. "A tough, dangerous, feisty production: Shakespeare as Tarantino." Brown argued for Howard Davies and Private Lives, "a definitive production of a play which can be so cocked up". Taylor added his support but said he had been overwhelmed by Deborah Warner's Medea. "A brave attempt to do Greek tragedy in the West End. A shattering account of why a woman would end up killing her children to spite a man." De Jongh's favourite was Jonathan Kent for The Tempest.

But in the end the winner was Deborah Warner.

Best Designer
Several were commended: Tim Hatley for his lush garden in Humble Boy and Christopher Oram for Merrily We Roll Along, while Clapp declared Julian Crouch (The Theft of Sita) the most imaginative designer in Britain. Taylor put the case for Ian MacNeil, for Afore Night Come: "Innumerable light bulbs hung over the stage, anticipating the ghastliness to come. When a crop-sprayer starts spewing poisons and water sprays down the light bulbs, you feel a terrible sense of danger." Taylor's praise of Paul Brown's set for The Tempest as "literal but glorious" got the critics going. "Yes, it is pretty literal," said Edwardes, "but he surprises the audience in the way Prospero surprises the people on the island." Nightingale also liked his design for Platonov. Overwhelmingly, the vote went to Paul Brown.

Outstanding Newcomer
This ended up being between a building, a director and two actors.

Clapp plumped for the new Almeida at King's Cross. Edwardes and Brown applauded. "I'm not in favour of converted tram stations myself," sniffed de Jongh.

More conventional suggestions included Aiden McCardle in Richard III, and Martine McCutcheon for her "lovable Eliza" in My Fair Lady. Clapp's human choice was Lyndsey Marshal for her "extraordinarily naturalistic and persuasive performance in A Boston Marriage". Nightingale put the case for David Oyelowo in Henry VI. "This part is always played as a saint; Oyelowo gave it more weight." Taylor seconded him, but said that his main choice was Rupert Norris, for his "brilliant" direction of Afore Night Come. De Jongh agreed it was a "blast of daring". Their view carried the day.

The Carlton Best Musical
Clapp praised the highly original Jerry Springer the Opera, "a mass confessional and Mass confessional". De Jongh did the same for Closer to Heaven, "the boy musical slammed by homophobic critics" - and was shouted down. There was support for Merrily We Roll Along. "A wonderful production by Michael Grandage," said Clapp, "reinventing Sondheim for sceptics."