Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play was an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in professional London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play
Awarded for	Best Newcomer in a Play
Location	England
Presented by	Society of London Theatre
First award	1980
Final award	2008
Website	officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/

This commingled award, covering all roles and responsibilities in a production, was introduced in 1980, and was last presented at the 2008 ceremony, after which it was retired. During its existence, the award was not used for 1991–2003, nor 2005–2007.

On the 12 occasions that this award was given, it was presented eight times to a performer (actor/actress), twice to a director, once to a writer and once to an entire theatre company. The company, and one of the two directors, were honoured based on a collection of works during their award-winning year.

Winners and nominees

1980s

Year	Actor	Play	Role
1980
	Edward Duke	Jeeves Takes Charge	Various Characters
	Alfred Molina	Oklahoma!	Jud Fry
	Gavin Richards	Accidental Death of an Anarchist	Maniac
	Robert Walker	Pal Joey	Director
1981
	Alice Krige	Arms and the Man	Raina
	Catherine Hall	Naked Robots	Gemma
	Jeremy Nicholas	Three Men in a Boat	Various Characters
	Eric Peterson	Billy Bishop Goes to War	Billy Bishop
1982
	Kenneth Branagh	Another Country	Tommy Judd
	Rupert Everett	Another Country	Guy Bennett
	Terry Johnson	Insignificance	Playwright
	Imelda Staunton	The Beggar's Opera	Lucy Lockit
1983
	John Retallack	Quixote and The Provok'd Wife	Director
	Arturo Brachetti	Y	Producer
	Billy McColl	The Slab Boys Trilogy	Phil
	Abigail McKern	As You Like It	Celia
1984
	Tim Flavin	On Your Toes	Junior
	Henry Goodman	The Comedy of Errors	Dromio of Ephesus
	Hilary Blecher, Sandra Kotzé and Elsa Joubert	Poppie Nongena	Directors
	Clare Leach	42nd Street	Peggy Sawyer
1985
	Cheek by Jowl	Andromache, Pericles and Vanity Fair	Company
	Frances Barber	Camille	Marguerite
	Druid Theatre Company	The Playboy of the Western World	Company
	Clive Mantle	Of Mice and Men	Lennie
1986
	Sally Dexter	Dalliance	Mizi
	Simon Curtis	Road and Ourselves Alone	Director
	Anne Devlin	Ourselves Alone	Writer
	Janet McTeer	The Grace of Mary Traverse	Mary Traverse
1987
	Suzan Sylvester	A View from the Bridge	Catherine
	Rudi Davies	A Penny for a Song and A Lie of the Mind	Dorcas Bellboys / Sally
	Nick Dear	The Art of Success	Writer
	Imogen Stubbs	Two Noble Kinsmen and The Rover	Gaoler's Daughter / Helena
1988
	Richard Jones	Too Clever by Half	Director
	Andrew Castell	Journey's End	Raleigh
	Alan Cumming	The Conquest of the South Pole	Slupianek
	Tim Luscombe	Easy Virtue, The Browning Version and Harlequinade	Director
1989/90
	Jeremy Northam	The Voysey Inheritance	Edward Voysey
	Glen Goei	M. Butterfly	Song Liling
	Charlotte Keatley	My Mother Said I Never Should	Writer
	Georgia Slowe	Romeo and Juliet	Juliet

2000s

Year	Actor	Play	Role
2004
	Debbie Tucker Green	Born Bad	Writer
	Tom Hardy	In Arabia We'd All Be Kings	Skank
	Ruth Negga	Duck	Cat
	Lucy Prebble	The Sugar Syndrome	Writer
2008
	Tom Hiddleston	Cymbeline	Posthumus Leonatus / Cloten
	David Dawson	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Smike
	Tom Hiddleston	Othello	Cassio
	Stephen Wight	Dealer's Choice	Mugsy

See also

• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
• Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play