Aidan Turner wins best West End debut at The Stage Debut Awards 2018
Aidan Turner has won The Stage Debut Award for best West End debut following his role in Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore early this year.
At a ceremony in London last night (Sunday 24th September), The Stage held the second annual Debut awards, which aim to highlight and recognise actors and creatives at the start of their careers across the theatre industry.
Turner won the big prize of the night - best West End debut - beating the likes of Bryan Cranston, John McCrea, Adrienne Warren, Kelli O'Hara and Ashley Banjo who were also nominated.
Accepting the award, Turner thanked director Michael Grandage "one of the most incredible jobs I've ever worked on and to have you at the helm of the ship was a pretty incredible experience".
Other winners includes Andrew Thompson, who won best writer for In Event of Moone Disaster at Theatre503, Amara Okereke, who won the award for best actress in a musical for playing Cosette in Les Miserables, and Akshay Sharan, who won best actor in a play for the National Youth Theatre production of The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Best designer was won by Khadija Raza, who was recognised for her work on three productions: Hijabi Monologues at the Bush Theatre, Spun at the Arcola Theatre, and Mixtape at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
The Stage Debut Awards were established last year to recognise new talent on the theatre scene, with best West End debut won by Andrew Polec for his starring role in Bat Out of Hell at the London Coliseum.
Full list of The Stage Debut Award winners
Best Actress In A Play
Gemma Dobson for Rita, Sue and Bob Too at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Kitty Archer for One for Sorrow at the Royal Court, London
Lorna Fitzgerald for The Shadow Factory at NST City, Southampton
Grainne O'Mahony for The Elephant Man at Bristol Old Vic
Best Actor In A Play
Akshay Sharan for The Reluctant Fundamentalist at Yard Theatre, London
Seb Carrington for Summer and Smoke at the Almeida Theatre, London
Chris Walley for The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Noël Coward Theatre, London
Alex Wilson for The Elephant Man at Bristol Old Vic
Best Actor In A Musical
Louis Gaunt for Oklahoma! at Grange Park Opera, West Horsley
Will Carey for It's Only Life at the Union Theatre, London
Toby Miles for Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre, London
Simon Oskarsson for Return to the Forbidden Planet at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London
Best Actress In A Musical
Amara Okereke for Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre, London
Teleri Hughes for Spring Awakening at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Eleanor Kane for Fun Home at the Young Vic, London
Rebecca Mendoza for Hairspray, on tour
Best Director
Katy Rudd for The Almighty Sometimes at the Royal Exchange, Manchester
Iwan Lewis for One Minute at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester
Alexandra Moxon for Wreck at Nottingham Playhouse
Oscar Pearce for Great Apes at the Arcola Theatre, London
Best Designer
Khadija Raza for Hijabi Monologues at the Bush Theatre, London, Spun at the Arcola Theatre, London, and Mixtape at the Royal Exchange, Manchester
Basia Binkowska for Devil with the Blue Dress at the Bunker Theatre, London
Fin Redshaw for Pieces of String and Love Me Now at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester and the Tristan Bates Theatre, London
Jasmine Swan for Hyem, The Passing of Third Floor Back, Hanna and The Sleeper at Theatre503, London, the Finborough Theatre, London, the Arcola Theatre, London, and Rialto Theatre, Brighton
Best Composer or Lyricist
Gus Gowland for Pieces of String at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Kate Marlais for Abandon at the Lyric Hammersmith, London
Matt Winkworth for The Assassination of Katie Hopkins at Theatr Clwyd, Mold
Best Writer
Andrew Thompson for In Event of Moone Disaster at Theatre503, London
Georgia Christou for Yous Two at Hampstead Theatre, London
Kendall Feaver for The Almighty Sometimes at the Royal Exchange, Manchester
Natasha Gordon for Nine Night at the National Theatre, London
Joe White for Mayfly at the Orange Tree Theatre, London
The Joe Allen Best West End Debut
Aidan Turner for The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Noël Coward Theatre
Mohammad Amiri for The Jungle at the Playhouse Theatre
Ashley Banjo for Dick Whittington at the London Palladium
Bryan Cranston for Network at the National Theatre
Michelle Greenidge for Nine Night at the National Theatre
John McCrea for Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre
Kelli O'Hara for The King and I at the London Palladium
Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy for The Jungle at the Playhouse Theatre
Lucie Shorthouse for Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre
Adrienne Warren for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre
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