It was called "career changing"[1], "astonishing[2]", and "emotionally shattering"[3] and now Denise Gough's memorable performance in People, Places & Things at the National Theatre has won her a top award from theatre critics.
Gough was named best actress at a lunchtime ceremony for the Critics' Circle theatre awards 2015 in London.
She won the best newcomer prize in the same awards three years ago, for Desire Under the Elms at the Lyric Hammersmith[4], but has admitted nearly giving up on acting after a year of rejections before she got the National part.
"Times were really tough," she told the Sunday Times[5]. "And I was thinking, I can't afford to go on living like this. In my mid-20s, I was, like, fuck it, I'll do waitressing. But I found it too depressing. I was helping my sister out with her kids, but it was mortifying to be charging my sister to look after my own nephews and nieces because I was broke."
Then came the role as a recovering addict in Duncan Macmillan's play, which first showed in the National's Dorfman theatre and is due to transfer to the West End in the spring.
Other Critics' Circle award winners included Kenneth Cranham, who won the best actor award for what judges called "the role of a lifetime".The award was presented by the Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington for Cranham's role as 80-year-old Andre in the Alzheimer's drama The Father[6].
There were three awards for the Royal Court theatre including best new play, going to Martin McDonagh's black comedy Hangmen[7], which is enjoying a West End run at Wyndham's theatre. The play also won Anna Fleischle the best designer award.
The theatre's third prize went to the actor David Moorst, who won the Jack Tinker award for best newcomer for his role in Violence and Son[8].
Judi Dench added to her awards collection with the best Shakespearean performance prize for her role as Paulina in Kenneth Branagh's The Winter's Tale[9].
Judges gave the best musical award to Bend It Like Beckham[10], based on the film of the same name. It was a production critics loved but was not enjoyed in sufficient numbers by the public. It is due to close in March after a nine-month run.
The other awards went to Robert Icke, winning best director for his version of Oresteia at the Almeida, three hours 40 minutes of gripping Greek tragedy that made a surprise transfer to the West End[11]; and the most promising playwright prize went to James Fritz for Four Minutes Twelve Seconds at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs and Trafalgar Studios.
References
- ^ "career changing" (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ astonishing (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ "emotionally shattering" (www.standard.co.uk)
- ^ for Desire Under the Elms at the Lyric Hammersmith (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ � ��Times were really tough," she told the Sunday Times (www.thesundaytimes.co.uk)
- ^ The Father (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Hangmen (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ his role in Violence and Son (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ her role as Paulina in Kenneth Branagh's The Winter's Tale (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Bend It Like Beckham (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ three hours 40 minutes of gripping Greek tragedy that made a surprise transfer to the West End (www.theguardian.com)
