Best Supporting Actress in a Play
Linda Bassett, Roots
The Donmar proved a powerhouse for female performances this year and in Roots, it was Linda Bassett who took the honours as the rural mother, conveying decades of hardship, making do and a hard-won no-nonsense attitude almost entirely through the minutiae of managing the family home. A breath-taking performance of perfectly studied and understated detail.
Honourable mention: Deborah Findlay, Coriolanus
Tom Hiddleston may have been the big name in the Donmar’s Coriolanus but for me, it was Deborah Findlay’s Volumnia that was the biggest performance, scorching the earth before her as the militaristic mother driving her son’s career and then breath-takingly chastened as the tragic consequences are reaped.
Anna Calder-Marshall, The Herd
Isabella Laughland, The Same Deep Water As Me
Hadewych Minis, Scenes from a Marriage (Toneelgroep Amsterdam)
Cecilia Noble, The Amen Corner
7-10
Claudie Blakley, Chimerica; Kirsty Bushell, Edward II; Naomi Frederick, The Winslow Boy; Fenella Woolgar, Circle Mirror Transformation
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical
Leigh Zimmerman, A Chorus Line
She won the Olivier earlier this year and now she can add a fosterIAN to the list – her dry put-downs as the wise-cracking Sheila enlivened A Chorus Line no end, trying to shield herself a little from the reality of being one of the older members of the group and seeing her last shot at stardom slipping away.
Honourable mention: Nicola Hughes, The Color Purple
In a musical full of strong black women, Hughes proved herself one of the strongest with an extraordinary performance in The Color Purple as singer Shug Avery, utterly self-possessed and ultimately self-obsessed and never less than unmissable when onstage.
Amy Booth-Steel, The Light Princess
Katie Brayben, American Psycho
Cassidy Janson, Candide
Sophia Nomvete, The Color Purple
7-10
Lucyelle Cliffe, When Midnight Strikes; Kaisa Hammarlund, The Boys from Syracuse; Joanna Riding, Stephen Ward; Liz Singleton, Fiddler on the Roof
