A remarkable year

A feast of new plays and some electric performances gave our panel of critics judging the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2002 some obvious winners and honourable losers, writes Arts Editor Fiona Hughes:

Best Play

Tom Stoppard's mammoth Coast of Utopia trilogy was one of the most eagerly anticipated new works of the year. Nicholas de Jongh welcomed the bracing subject matter of this study of 19th century Russian revolutionaries, but felt that it had a "tendency to display ideas rather than dramatise them". Jane Edwardes shared his reservations, but commended it on the grounds that "below-par Stoppard is better than most".

Benedict Nightingale was impressed by the resurgence of American writing. He singled out Stephen Adly Guirgis's Jesus Hopped the A Train for raising themes "alien to our theatre, of repentance, mercy, redemption", and Lobby Hero, by Kenneth Lonergan, "a fascinating piece about truthtelling". De Jongh and Susannah Clapp praised another American play, Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, about the disaster that befalls a gay baseball star who is outed.

A lively battle was fought over Martin McDonagh's black comedy about terrorism, The Lieutenant of Inishmore: a "dangerous, weird, funny work", said Nightingale; a "bold and brave satire", agreed Clapp. But de Jongh dismissed its "clichèd caricature of Irish fanaticism", and Brown noted that it now felt very much a play of last year.

Edwardes favoured Peter Gill's The York Realist - a "powerful tragedy which brought to life a rural world now pretty well lost for ever". Taylor also commended it, but he was more impressed by the "intellectual reach" of Tony Kushner's "dazzling" Homebody/Kabul. Brown made just as passionate a plea for Boy Gets Girl, a modern psychological thriller concerned with the isolation of those who work at the expense of all else.

But the majority of the judges saved their highest vote for Caryl Churchill's piece about cloning, A Number, the clear winner for Best Play. De Jongh called it "the first play of the 21st century", remarkably dramatised by Stephen Daldry. Clapp admired the way it "pungently combined the metaphysical, the personal and the emotional", and Taylor considered it "a small work of genius".

Best Actor

It has been a good year for actors. The judges praised performances by Lloyd Owen in The York Realist ("an earthy, phlegmatic presence"), Daniel Sunjata in Take Me Out ("a limber ease about his performance") and John Hurt for his remarkable performance in Brian Friel's brilliantly imagined Afterplay.

But the main discussion focused on Tom Georgeson in Frozen, whose murderous paedophile was "terrifyingly wintry", said Nightingale; Daniel Craig in A Number, particularly admired by Edwardes and Taylor; Mark Rylance in the Globe's Twelfth Night and A Golden Ass, one of Clapp's "three great actors of the decade"; and Simon Russell Beale for his roles in Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night at the Donmar.

It was Beale who walked away with the award, convincing all with his Vanya and Malvolio. His Vanya, said de Jongh, was "sometimes even better than Michael Redgrave's - no one has grovelled more amazingly than he does at the feet of Yelena". Clapp added: "He's one of our most intelligent actors, who goes straight to your heart in a way that not many do."

Best Actress

Competition was strong for Best Actress. Edwardes noted Harriet Walter's "terrific Beatrice" in Much Ado About Nothing; Brown was keen to mention Katrin Cartlidge, who sadly died this year, for her role in Boy Gets Girl. Nightingale singled out Eve Best for her three roles in Coast of Utopia.

Two judges commended Anita Dobson's bereaved mother in Frozen, who "caught the mixture of good motives and vengeful motives quite brilliantly" (Taylor). Edwardes praised Sinead Cusack's Cleopatra - "as mercurial as you could wish for". Though Nightingale felt that she had lost some of "the brashness and almost the vulgarity she had shown in Stratford", by the time the RSC's production reached London, he agreed it was a fine performance from a "wonderful actress who has grown a lot in the last few years".

Penelope Wilton was widely admired for her role in Brian Friel's Afterplay, about a chance meeting of two Chekhov characters. Nightingale was smitten by Glenn Close's Blanche DuBois, in A Streetcar Named Desire, which she played "with a convincing desperation", but other judges found her too tough.

Among the real contenders was another American, Gwyneth Paltrow, whom de Jongh praised as "real and true" in her role as Catherine, who struggles to come to terms with her father's death, in Proof. Taylor was impressed by the theatricality of the film star's performance, but Nightingale found her "too clean and hinged" for the unhinged character she played.

There was more debate about Helen McCrory, whose Yelena in Uncle Vanya, de Jongh said, "cast an erotic spell over the stage". Clapp agreed she was "like a magnet with iron filings around it - luscious and beguiling", and just as impressive for her Olivia in Twelfth Night. But Taylor was less enamoured with her Olivia, and Nightingale found her Yelena lacking the intelligence that Chekov intended.

In the end, the judges voted Clare Higgins Best Actress by quite a margin. Almost all were bowled over by her depressive widow, Ursula, who falls for Van Gogh in Vincent in Brixton. Edwardes admired her portrayal of "grace under pressure", but it was Clapp who summed up the majority view when she said: "Higgins told you more with the movement of a hand than most do with the kind of fandangos we've seen on the stage recently."

The Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director

Sam Mendes ran away with Best Director award for his two farewell productions after 10 years at the Donmar, Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night. He "gave the characters modern sensibilities" (Brown); he has "such lucidity when he directs, clarity of line without simplifying things" (Nightingale); "he exploits the intimacy of the space" (Edwardes). Though Taylor was disappointed by Twelfth Night ("the characters didn't all have the psychological presence that they should have"), de Jongh argued that "elements of it put Mendes ahead".

Tim Carroll's version of Twelfth Night for the Globe and Dominic Cooke's direction of Plasticine were hotly debated. De Jongh admired Cooke's ingenious use of space, and Edwardes was impressed by the way he "took an incredibly raw script and brought to life a bleak Russian town". Brown enjoyed the rich comedy that Carroll exploited in Twelfth Night, and Taylor thought the director understood the "checks and balances of the light and shade" better than Mendes.

Also commended were Richard Eyre's Vincent in Brixton, David Leveaux's The Distance from Here, and Declan Donellan's Homebody/Kabul (a "phenomenal feat of directing to give architecture to such a difficult piece," said Taylor). Nightingale was the only judge to applaud Adrian Noble for his Pericles, which turned the Roundhouse into "a magic circle"; he also praised Trevor Nunn's A Streetcar Named Desire.

The judges were not spoilt for choice of musicals this year. The four discussed were Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, My One and Only, Bombay Dreams and The Fully Monty. (Jerry Springer the Opera was excluded from consideration for the 2002 Awards as the production is still a work in progress.)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang just missed being short-listed despite de Jongh's heartfelt plea. My One and Only was soon defeated too ("cobbled together," sniffed Nightingale).

While Bombay Dreams was praised for its freshness, originality and music, and seen as the right step in a new direction for musicals, several judges argued that it was "too Westernised" (Taylor), "should have been braver" (Edwardes), and "didn't quite have the courage of its convictions" (de Jongh).

It didn't take long to agree on The Full Monty as Best Musical. "You long for a musical that's this unpretentious," said Taylor. For Brown, it was "camp and jaunty and gorgeous", and, though "too American" for Edwardes, who resented "the depoliticisation of the original movie", she enjoyed its wit. De Jongh delighted in the musical's ability to "be so powerful and persuasive about the fears of men, in a camp, funny, witty and musical fashion".

The Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright

In spite of the large number of new plays this year, few new playwrights caught the judges' attention. Nightingale, Clapp, Brown and Edwardes shared an admiration for David Greig and his Outlying Islands, but decided that he was too well established to be considered.

Nightingale was alone in favouring Owen McCafferty, for Closing Time - "another Irish playwright with terrific dialogue, strong characters". Taylor and Edwardes led the support for Anthony Nielson's "bruising account of a couple consumed by their fetishistic fantasies" in Stitching. "A real original talent," agreed Brown.

There was a stronger consensus for Hampstead Theatre press officer Charlotte Eilenberg's "well-written and promising" debut piece, The Lucky Ones, about the aftermath of the Holocaust. "She illustrated not just one generation of survivors but the way their guilt affected subsequent generations as well," said Edwardes. De Jongh agreed that the playwright "showed us something interesting and fresh about the impact of exile and displacement of two generations of Jews in London".

The final winner was the 25-year-old, "very talented" Russian Vassily Sigarev for Plasticine. Taylor admired his "clear-eyed tragi-comic look at a post-Soviet small town in the Urals"; Clapp praised the "interesting raw data". De Jongh called it an "important piece of work", though Nightingale thought the writing was not as good as the production.

Best Designer

The race for Best Designer was close. Honourable mentions were made of Anthony Ward (Uncle Vanya/Twelfth Night), Francis O'Connor (The Daughter in Law), Giles Cadel (The Distance from Here), Bunny Christie (A Streetcar Named Desire), Peter Macintosh (Pericles) and Mark Thompson (Bombay Dreams), but the real contest was between three others.

Stephen Brimson Lewis was praised for his "completely joyous" Much Ado About Nothing set (Brown) and William Dudley's designs for The Coast of Utopia were "dazzling in the variety of locations they had to cope with" (Edwardes).

Ian MacNeil finally won for Plasticine and for his "tactful and unobtrusive" design of A Number.

If it's "total immersion" you want, said Taylor, "call for MacNeil, who turned the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs into a thrilling, heaving compression centre".

Outstanding Newcomer

Nightingale and Taylor both mentioned Alison Pargeter for her three roles in Alan Ayckbourn's Damsels in Distress trilogy. Brown predicted that she would become "our next big comedian".

In the final vote, though, Jochum ten Haaf, with his "amazing talent to blush at will", just lost out as Outstanding Newcomer. Clapp praised the "autistic-artistic thing he did so brilliantly" as the young Van Gogh in Vincent in Brixton. De Jongh agreed, "he's a remarkable actor in the making".

The winner was the American film star Jake Gyllenhaal, making his stage debut in This Is Our Youth, in which, remarked Edwardes, he played a young man "on the cusp of adulthood beautifully".

Also commended was Paul Chahidi for his Maria in Twelfth Night; Rebecca Hall (Mrs Warren's Profession); Richard Clothier for an "amazing display of silent psychopathic evil" in Rose Rage; Selina Boyak for "total commitment to the part" in Stitching; and Joanna Holden in Meeting Myself Coming Back.

It's the judges' prerogative to propose a Special Award, to a person or institution, for outstanding contribution to the theatre. It has not been given since 1998, but this year Clapp's suggestion to use it to honour Shakespeare's Globe was enthusiastically received. "In an age when people talk about increasing access to theatre," she said, "the Globe effortlessly transmits Shakespeare's plays to a wide range of people." It is, she added, "a truly London experience". Edwardes seconded, pointing out that "where the relationship used to be pantomimic, the audience and actors now work together in a subtle way". Taylor praised the Globe's triumphant production of Twelfth Night and welcomed the new direction with a commissioned work, Peter Oswald's The Golden Ass. They all agreed with Nightingale that artistic director and actor Mark Rylance had made a great success of the theatre. "They have an acting genius at the helm," Taylor concluded, "who uses the space like a subtle instrument and is very inspiring for the rest of the company."

The judging panel

The judges were Nicholas de Jongh (Evening Standard), Georgina Brown (The Mail on Sunday), Susannah Clapp (The Observer), Jane Edwardes (Time Out), Benedict Nightingale (The Times) and Paul Taylor (The Independent). Veronica Wadley, editor of the Evening Standard, chaired their meeting, and this is how the judges made their final decisions.

The ceremony will be shown by Carlton TV on Thursday at