Helpmann Award for Best Play

The Helpmann Award for Best Play is a theatre award, presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2001.^[1] The award is for a production of a play, which may be a new work or a revival of an existing work. This is a list of winners and nominations for the Helpmann Award for Best Play.

Helpmann Award for Best Play
Awarded for	Best Play
Location	Australia
Presented by	Live Performance Australia
Currently held by	Counting & Cracking (2019)
Website	HelpmannAwards.com.au

Winners and nominees

   Winners are listed first and marked in a separate colour.

• Source:^[2][3]

2000s

Year	Title	Production compan(y/ies)
2001 (1st)
	Life After George	Melbourne Theatre Company
	'Art'	Melbourne Theatre Company
	Jimmy and Pat Meet the Queen	Deckchair Theatre
	The Small Poppies	Company B Belvoir
2002 (2nd)
	Cloudstreet	Company B Belvoir and Black Swan Theatre
	Master Class	International Concert Attractions
	The Tempest	Melbourne Theatre Company
	Three Sisters	Sydney Theatre Company
2003 (3rd)
	Copenhagen	Sydney Theatre Company
	Soft	Back to Back and Melbourne Festival
	The Comedy of Errors	The Bell Shakespeare Company
	Waiting for Godot	Company B Belvoir and Sydney Festival
2004 (4th)
	Inheritance	Melbourne Theatre Company
	Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America - A Drama in 30 Scenes	Playbox Theatre
	The Servant of Two Masters	The Bell Shakespeare Company
	Frozen	Melbourne Theatre Company
2005 (5th)
	The Sapphires	Melbourne Theatre Company
	Twelve Angry Men	Arts Projects Australia and Adrian Bohm
	Hedda Gabler	Sydney Theatre Company
	Three Furies	Sydney Festival
2006 (6th)
	Stuff Happens	Company B Belvoir and Newtheatricals
	Away	Queensland Theatre Company and Griffin Theatre Company
	The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?	State Theatre Company of South Australia
	Le Dernier Caravansérail	Melbourne International Arts Festival and Théâtre du Soleil
2007 (7th)
	The Lost Echo	Sydney Theatre Company
	Holding the Man	Griffin Theatre Company
	Parramatta Girls	Company B Belvoir
	The Season At Sarsaparilla	Sydney Theatre Company
2008 (8th)
	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Company B Belvoir
	Black Watch	National Theatre of Scotland, Sydney Festival and Perth International Arts Festival
	When The Rain Stops Falling	Brink Productions
	Toy Symphony	Company B Belvoir
2009 (9th)
	War of the Roses	Sydney Theatre Company
	Women of Troy	Sydney Theatre Company
	Ivanov	Katona Jozsef Theatre and Sydney Festival
	Gatz	Sydney Opera House and Brisbane Powerhouse

2010s

Year	Title	Production compan(y/ies)
2010 (10th)
	Richard III	Melbourne Theatre Company
	August: Osage County	Melbourne Theatre Company
	Happy Days	Malthouse Theatre
	The Book of Everything	Company B Belvoir and Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image
2011 (11th)
	The Wild Duck	Belvoir
	The Diary of a Madman	Belvoir
	Uncle Vanya	Sydney Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare
	Do not go gentle	fortyfivedownstairs
2012 (12th)
	Ganesh Versus the Third Reich	Back to Back Theatre, Malthouse Theatre and Melbourne Festival
	Neighbourhood Watch	Belvoir
	The Boys	Griffin Theatre Company and Sydney Festival
	The Importance of Being Earnest	Melbourne Theatre Company
2013 (13th)
	The Secret River	Sydney Theatre Company, The Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, Sydney Festival, The Centenary of Canberra, Perth International Arts Festival
	Medea	Belvoir and Australian Theatre for Young People
	Death of a Salesman	Belvoir
	Hedda Gabler	State Theatre Company of South Australia
2014 (14th)
	Angels in America	Belvoir
	Roman Tragedies	Toneelgroep Amsterdam presented by Adelaide Festival in association with Adelaide Festival Centre
	The Shadow King	Malthouse Theatre in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals (Adelaide Festival, Brisbane Festival, Melbourne Festival, Perth International Arts Festival and Sydney Festival)
	Waiting for Godot	Sydney Theatre Company
2015 (15th)
	The Glass Menagerie	Belvoir
	Calpurnia Descending	Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company
	Suddenly Last Summer	Sydney Theatre Company
	Endgame	Sydney Theatre Company
2016 (16th)
	The Bleeding Tree	Griffin Theatre Company
	North by Northwest	Melbourne Theatre Company and Kay + McLean Productions by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures
	Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster	Performing Lines and Nicola Gunn
	Prize Fighter	La Boite Theatre Company and Brisbane Festival
2017 (17th)
	The Drover's Wife	Belvoir
	Jasper Jones	Melbourne Theatre Company
	Once in Royal David's City	Queensland Theatre and Black Swan State Theatre Company
	Things I Know To Be True	State Theatre Company of South Australia and Frantic Assembly
2018 (18th)
	The Children	Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company
	The Irresistible	Side Pony Productions and The Last Great Hunt
	The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man	Malthouse Theatre
	Black is the New White	Sydney Theatre Company
	The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui	Sydney Theatre Company
	Laser Beak Man	Brisbane Festival, La Boite Theatre Company and Dead Puppet Society in association with PowerArts
2019 (19th)[4][5]
	Counting and Cracking	Belvoir and Co-Curious
	Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owner of Death	Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre
	The Harp in the South: Part One and Part Two	Sydney Theatre Company
	Song for a Weary Throat	Rawcus
	Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Parts One and Two)	Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, and Michael Cassel
	The Second Woman	Nat Randall and Anna Breckon and Performing Lines

See also

• Helpmann Awards