Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial 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 New Play
Awarded for	Best New Play
Location	England
Presented by	Society of London Theatre
First awarded	1976
Currently held by	Dear England (2024)
Website	officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/

The award was titled Play of the Year from its establishment in 1976, and was first retitled to its current name for the 2001 Olivier Awards.

Winners and nominees

1970s

Year	Play	Writer
1976
	Dear Daddy	Denis Cannan
	For King and Country	John Wilson
	Funny Peculiar	Mike Stott
	Old World	Aleksei Arbuzov and Ariadne Nicolaeff
1977
	The Fire that Consumes	Henry de Montherlant, Vivian Cox and Bernard Miles
	Cause Célèbre	Terence Rattigan
	Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi	Pam Gems
	State of Revolution	Robert Bolt
1978
	Whose Life Is It Anyway?	Brian Clark
	Half-Life	Julian Mitchell
	Lark Rise	Flora Thompson and Keith Dewhurst
	Plenty	David Hare
1979
	Betrayal	Harold Pinter
	Night and Day	Tom Stoppard
	The Crucifer of Blood	Arthur Conan Doyle and Paul Giovanni
	Undiscovered Country	Arthur Schnitzler and Tom Stoppard

1980s

Year	Play	Writer
1980
	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Charles Dickens and David Edgar
	A Lesson from Aloes	Athol Fugard
	Duet for One	Tom Kempinski
	The Dresser	Ronald Harwood
1981
	Children of a Lesser God	Mark Medoff
	Passion Play	Peter Nichols
	Translations	Brian Friel
	Quartermaine's Terms	Simon Gray
1982
	Another Country	Julian Mitchell
	Insignificance	Terry Johnson
	84, Charing Cross Road	Helene Hanff and James Roose-Evans
	Our Friends in the North	Peter Flannery
1983
	Glengarry Glen Ross	David Mamet
	Pack of Lies	Hugh Whitemore
	The Slab Boys Trilogy	John Byrne
	Tales from Hollywood	Christopher Hampton
1984
	Benefactors	Michael Frayn
	"Master Harold"...and the Boys	Athol Fugard
	Poppie Nongena	Elsa Joubert, Sandra Kotze and Hilary Blecher
	Rat in the Skull	Ron Hutchinson
1985
	Red Noses	Peter Barnes
	Doomsday	Tony Harrison
	The Road to Mecca	Athol Fugard
	Torch Song Trilogy	Harvey Fierstein
1986
	Les Liaisons Dangereuses	Christopher Hampton
	The American Clock	Arthur Miller
	The Normal Heart	Larry Kramer
	Ourselves Alone	Anne Devlin
1987
	Serious Money	Caryl Churchill
	Lettice and Lovage	Peter Shaffer
	A Lie of the Mind	Sam Shepard
	Sarcophagus	Vladimir Gubaryev
1988
	Our Country's Good	Timberlake Wertenbaker
	A Walk in the Woods	Lee Blessing
	Mrs. Klein	Nicholas Wright
	The Secret Rapture	David Hare
1989/90
	Racing Demon	David Hare
	Ghetto	Joshua Sobol
	Man of the Moment	Alan Ayckbourn
	Shadowlands	William Nicholson

1990s

Year	Play	Writer
1991
	Dancing at Lughnasa	Brian Friel
	Singer	Peter Flannery
	The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus	Tony Harrison
	White Chameleon	Christopher Hampton
1992
	Death and the Maiden	Ariel Dorfman
	Angels in America	Tony Kushner
	The Madness of George III	Alan Bennett
	Three Birds Alighting on a Field	Timberlake Wertenbaker
1993
	Six Degrees of Separation	John Guare
	Someone Who'll Watch Over Me	Frank McGuinness
	The Gift of the Gorgon	Peter Shaffer
	The Street of Crocodiles	Bruno Schulz and Theatre de Complicite
1994
	Arcadia	Tom Stoppard
	Oleanna	David Mamet
	Angels in America: Perestroika	Tony Kushner
	The Last Yankee	Arthur Miller
1995
	Broken Glass	Arthur Miller
	Dealer's Choice	Patrick Marber
	900 Oneonta	David Beaird
	Three Tall Women	Edward Albee
1996
	Skylight	David Hare
	Pentecost	David Edgar
	The Steward of Christendom	Sebastian Barry
	Taking Sides	Ronald Harwood
1997
	Stanley	Pam Gems
	The Beauty Queen of Leenane	Martin McDonagh
	Blinded by the Sun	Stephen Poliakoff
	The Herbal Bed	Peter Whelan
1998
	Closer	Patrick Marber
	Amy's View	David Hare
	Hurlyburly	David Rabe
	The Invention of Love	Tom Stoppard
	Tom & Clem	Stephen Churchett
1999
	The Weir	Conor McPherson
	The Blue Room	David Hare
	Copenhagen	Michael Frayn
	The Unexpected Man	Yasmina Reza

2000s

Year	Play	Writer
2000
	Goodnight Children Everywhere	Richard Nelson
	Perfect Days	Liz Lochhead
	Rose	Martin Sherman
	The Lady in the Van	Alan Bennett
	Three Days of Rain	Richard Greenberg
2001
	Blue/Orange	Joe Penhall
	Dolly West's Kitchen	Frank McGuinness
	Life x 3	Yasmina Reza
	My Zinc Bed	David Hare
2002
	Jitney	August Wilson
	Boy Gets Girl	Rebecca Gilman
	Gagarin Way	Gregory Burke
	Humble Boy	Charlotte Jones
	Mouth to Mouth	Kevin Elyot
2003
	Vincent in Brixton	Nicholas Wright
	Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train	Stephen Adly Guirgis
	The Coast of Utopia	Tom Stoppard
	The York Realist	Peter Gill
2004
	The Pillowman	Martin McDonagh
	Democracy	Michael Frayn
	Elmina's Kitchen	Kwame Kwei-Armah
	Hitchcock Blonde	Terry Johnson
2005
	The History Boys	Alan Bennett
	By the Bog of Cats	Marina Carr
	Festen	David Eldridge
	The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?	Edward Albee
2006
	On the Shore of the Wide World	Simon Stephens
	Coram Boy	Helen Edmundson
	Harvest	Richard Bean
	Paul	Howard Brenton
2007
	Blackbird	David Harrower
	Frost/Nixon	Peter Morgan
	Rock 'n' Roll	Tom Stoppard
	The Seafarer	Conor McPherson
2008
	A Disappearing Number	Simon McBurney
	The Reporter	Nicholas Wright
	Vernon God Little	Tanya Ronder
	War Horse	Nick Stafford
2009
	Black Watch	Gregory Burke
	August: Osage County	Tracy Letts
	The Pitmen Painters	Lee Hall
	That Face	Polly Stenham

2010s

Year	Play	Writer
2010
	The Mountaintop	Katori Hall
	ENRON	Lucy Prebble
	Jerusalem	Jez Butterworth
	Red	John Logan
2011
	Clybourne Park	Bruce Norris
	End of the Rainbow	Peter Quilter
	The Little Dog Laughed	Douglas Carter Beane
	Sucker Punch	Roy Williams
	Tribes	Nina Raine
2012
	Collaborators	John Hodge
	Jumpy	April De Angelis
	One Man, Two Guvnors	Richard Bean
	The Ladykillers	Graham Linehan
2013
	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Simon Stephens
	Constellations	Nick Payne
	The Audience	Peter Morgan
	This House	James Graham
2014
	Chimerica	Lucy Kirkwood
	1984	Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan
	The Night Alive	Conor McPherson
	Peter and Alice	John Logan
2015
	King Charles III	Mike Bartlett
	Taken at Midnight	Mark Hayhurst
	The Nether	Jennifer Haley
	Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies	Hilary Mantel and Mike Poulton
2016
	Hangmen	Martin McDonagh
	Farinelli and the King	Claire van Kampen
	People, Places and Things	Duncan MacMillan
	The Father	Florian Zeller
2017
	Harry Potter and the Cursed Child	Jack Thorne
	Elegy	Nick Payne
	The Flick	Annie Baker
	One Night in Miami…	Kemp Powers
2018
	The Ferryman	Jez Butterworth
	Ink	James Graham
	Network	Lee Hall
	Oslo	J. T. Rogers
2019
	The Inheritance	Matthew Lopez
	The Lehman Trilogy	Stefano Massini
	Misty	Arinzé Kene
	Sweat	Lynn Nottage

2020s

Year	Play	Writer
2020
	Leopoldstadt	Tom Stoppard
	A Very Expensive Poison	Lucy Prebble
	The Doctor	Robert Icke
	The Ocean at the End of the Lane	Joel Horwood
2021	Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic[upper-alpha 1]
2022 [upper-alpha 1]
	Life of Pi	Lolita Chakrabarti
	2:22 A Ghost Story	Danny Robins
	Best of Enemies	James Graham
	Cruise	Jack Holden
2023 [4]
	Prima Facie	Suzie Miller
	For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy	Ryan Calais Cameron
	Patriots	Peter Morgan
	To Kill a Mockingbird	Aaron Sorkin
2024 [5]
	Dear England	James Graham
	The Hills of California	Jez Butterworth
	The Motive and the Cue	Jack Thorne
	Till the Stars Come Down	Beth Steel

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]

Multiple awards and nominations for Best New Play

Awards

Two awards

• David Hare
• Martin McDonagh
• Simon Stephens
• Tom Stoppard

Nominations

Seven nominations

• David Hare
• Tom Stoppard

Four nominations

• James Graham

Three nominations

• Jez Butterworth
• Athol Fugard
• Christopher Hampton
• Conor McPherson
• Martin McDonagh
• Peter Morgan

Two nominations

• David Edgar
• Michael Frayn
• Brian Friel
• Pam Gems
• Ronald Harwood
• Terry Johnson
• Julian Mitchell
• Frank McGuinness
• Simon Stephens
• Jack Thorne

See also

• Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play
• Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play
• Tony Award for Best Play

References

1. Johnson, The Rt Hon Boris, MP (2020-03-23). Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020 [transcript] (Speech). Prime Minister's Televised Speech to the United Kingdom. www.gov.uk. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-04-25. From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.{{cite speech}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. McPhee, Ryan (2021-06-14). "U.K. Postpones Reopening Roadmap; West End Theatres Will No Longer Reopen in Full in June". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Step 4 of the roadmap will allow productions to play without capacity restrictions. June 21 was the goal; now, the government is eyeing July 19.
3. Thomas, Sophie (2022-03-08). "Everything you need to know about the Olivier Awards". londontheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Any new production that opened between 19 Feb. 2020 to 22 Feb. 2022 are eligible for categories in the 2022 Olivier Awards. With two years worth of shows set for honours in one year's ceremony, the 2022 Olivier Awards will prove tougher competition than before.
4. "Olivier awards 2023: full list of winners". The Guardian. 2023-04-02. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
5. "Olivier Awards 2024: nominations in full". The Stage. Retrieved March 12, 2023.

• London Theatre Guide (2008). "The Laurence Olivier Awards: Full List of Winners, 1976-2008" (.PDF). 1976-2008. The Society of London Theatre. p. 20. Retrieved 2008-08-30.

External links

• Official website