Laurence Olivier Award for Best Sound Design

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Sound Design is 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 Sound Design
Awarded for	Best Sound Design
Location	England
Presented by	Society of London Theatre
First award	2004
Currently held by	Nick Lidster for Fiddler on the Roof (2025)
Website	officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/

This award was introduced in 2004, 13 years after the 1991 introduction of individual awards for Best Set Design, Best Costume Design and Best Lighting Design.

Winners and nominees

2000s

Year	Designer	Production
2004
	Mike Walker	Jerry Springer
	Paul Arditti	The Pillowman
	Peter Hylenski	Ragtime
	Nick Lidster	Pacific Overtures
2005
	Mick Potter	The Woman in White
	Paul Arditti	Festen
	Adam Cork	Suddenly, Last Summer
2006
	Paul Arditti	Billy Elliot
	Terry Jardine and Chris Full	Guys and Dolls
	Christopher Shutt	Coram Boy
2007
	Gareth Fry	Waves
	Ian Dickinson	Rock 'n' Roll
	Mic Pool	The 39 Steps
2008
	Paul Arditti	Saint Joan
	Simon Baker	The Lord of the Rings
	Terry Jardine and Nick Lidster	Parade
	Steve C. Kennedy	Hairspray
	Christopher Shutt	War Horse
2009
	Gareth Fry	Black Watch
	Simon Baker	Brief Encounter
	Steve Canyon Kennedy	Jersey Boys
	Christopher Shutt, Max Ringham and Ben Ringham	Piaf

2010s

Year	Designer	Production
2010
	Brian Ronan	Spring Awakening
	Andrew Bruce and Nick Lidster	Mother Courage and Her Children
	Ian Dickinson	Jerusalem
	Christopher Shutt	Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
2011
	Adam Cork	King Lear
	Nick Manning	Ghost Stories
	Gareth Owen	End of the Rainbow
	Craig Vear	The Railway Children
2012
	Simon Baker	Matilda
	Bobby Aitken	Ghost
	Ben Ringham and Max Ringham	The Ladykillers
	Underworld and Ed Clarke	Frankenstein
2013
	Ian Dickinson and Adrian Sutton	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
	Paul Groothuis	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
	David McSeveney	Constellations
	Gareth Owen	Top Hat
2014
	Carolyn Downing	Chimerica
	Gareth Owen	Merrily We Roll Along
	Simon Baker	The Light Princess
	Clive Goodwin	Once
2015
	Gareth Owen	Memphis
	Tom Gibbons	A View from the Bridge
	Matt McKenzie	Sunny Afternoon
	Brian Ronan	Beautiful
2016
	Tom Gibbons	People, Places and Things
	George Dennis	The Homecoming
	Christopher Shutt	The Father
		Hamlet
2017
	Gareth Fry	Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
	Paul Arditti	Amadeus
	Adam Cork	Travesties
	Nick Lidster	Jesus Christ Superstar
2018
	Nevin Steinberg	Hamilton
	Tom Gibbons	Hamlet
	Gareth Owen	Bat Out of Hell
	Eric Sleichim	Network
2019
	Gareth Owen	Come from Away
	Paul Arditti and Christopher Reid	The Inheritance
	Mike Beer	A Monster Calls
	Carolyn Downing	Summer and Smoke
	Nick Powell	The Lehman Trilogy

2020s

Year	Designer	Production
2020
	Emma Laxton	Emilia
	Gregory Clarke	Rosmersholm
	Ben Ringham and Max Ringham	Anna
		Cyrano de Bergerac
2021	Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic[A]
2022[A]
	Nick Lidster	Cabaret
	Ian Dickinson	2:22 A Ghost Story
	Carolyn Downing	Life of Pi
	Gareth Owen	Back to the Future: The Musical
2023
	Tony Gayle	My Neighbour Totoro
	Bobby Aitken	Standing at the Sky's Edge
	Drew Levy	Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
	Ben & Max Ringham	Prima Facie
2024
	Adam Fisher	Sunset Boulevard
	Paul Arditti	Stranger Things: The First Shadow
	Dan Balfour & Tom Gibbons	Dear England
	Gareth Fry	Macbeth
2025
	Nick Lidster	Fiddler on the Roof
	Christopher Shutt	Oedipus
	Thijs van Vuure	The Years
	Koichi Yamamoto	Spirited Away

1. Due to late March 2020^[1] to late July 2021^[2] closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022^[3]

See also

• Tony Award for Best Sound Design