2023 Best Lead Performance in a Play

Winners

Harriet Walter, The House of Bernarda Alba
Ruth Wilson, The Second Woman
In a sensational year for the National Theatre, Walter tackling Alice Birch’s take on Lorca was an absolute thrill. And just Ruth Wilson. Ruth bloody Wilson!

Honourable mentions

Katie Arnstein, The Long Run
Hattie Morahan, Ghosts
Arnstein has made me cry before but never like this, The Long Run was exquisitely well-observed and painfully close to home. And Morahan’s Helene was perfection in Joe Hill-Gibbins’ reworking of Ibsen.

Other nominees

Samuel Barnett, Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen
Tom Claxton, A Manchester Anthem
Paapa Essiedu, The Effect
Joseph Fiennes, Dear England
Janet McTeer, Phaedra
Sophie Okonedo, Medea
David Paisley, Jock Night
Talia Pick/Emma Lucia, How We Begin

After some reflection and looking at how other theatre awards have addressed the issue of gendered awards, I’ve come up with my own solution. I’ve merged categories but doubled the number of awards, so that I’m still recognising the same number of performances rather than halving them, as so many others seem to have done. Each to their own, but I’d always want to celebrate more than less of the performances I’ve loved throughout the year.