The Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, known as the Drama Theatre Awards until 1990, are British theatrical awards presented annually for the closing year's theatrical achievements. The winners, from theatre throughout the United Kingdom, are selected via vote by the professional theatre critics of The Critics' Circle.
History
The Critics' Circle Theatre Awards were established by the drama section of The Critics' Circle. The Circle were initially against the idea of giving out awards due to the belief that criticisms are a matter of personal opinions, and that minority views would not be represented in a collective pronouncement in the form of an award. A referendum in 1956, voted by roughly 20% of the Circle's members, rejected the idea of the body giving out awards. This was, however, reversed in another referendum in 1980.
The first Critics' Circle Theatre Awards ceremony was held in 1989. A special anniversary ceremony was held for its 25th anniversary in 2014.
Current categories
As of 2025, the Critics' Circle Theatre awards include the following categories:
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Director
- Most Promising Playwright
- Best Designer
- The Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer: Named after critic Jack Tinker, known for his work at the Daily Mail.
- The Michael Billington Award for Best New Play: Named after Michael Billington, known for his 50-year tenure as chief critic at The Guardian.
- The Peter Hepple Award for Best Musical: Named after Peter Hepple, former editor of The Stage and former Honorary General Secretary of the Critics’ Circle. often dubbed "the seminal text of modern theatre".
Recipients
Best Actor
1980s
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Recipient
!Work
!Ref
|-
|1982
|Bob Hoskins
|Guys and Dolls
|
|-
|1983
|Derek Jacobi
|Cyrano de Bergerac and Much Ado About Nothing
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1984
|Brian Cox
|Rat in the Skull and Strange Interlude
| rowspan=2|
|-
|Antony Sher
|Richard III
|-
| rowspan="2" |1985
|Anthony Hopkins
|Pravda
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Gary Oldman
|The Pope's Wedding
|-
| rowspan="2" |1986
|Bill Fraser
|When We Are Married
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Hugh Quarshi
|The Great White Hope
|-
|1987
|Brian Cox
|Fashion, Taming of the Shrew and Titus Andronicus
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1988
|Alex Jennings
|Too Clever by Half
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Tom Wilkinson
|An Enemy of the People
|-
|1989
|Ian McKellen
|Othello
|
|}
1990s
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Recipient
!Work
!Ref
|-
!1990
|Michael Gambon
|Man of the Moment
|
|-
!1991
|Nigel Hawthorne
|The Madness of George III
|
|-
!1992
|Paul Eddington
|No Man's Land
|
|-
!1993
|Ian Holm
|Moonlight
|
|-
!1994
|Tom Courtenay
|Moscow Stations
|
|-
!1995
|Daniel Massey
|Taking Sides
|
|-
!1996
|David Suchet
|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
|
|-
!1997
|Ian Holm
|King Lear
|
|-
!1998
|Kevin Spacey
|The Iceman Cometh
|
|-
!1999
|Henry Goodman
|The Merchant of Venice
|
|}
2000s
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Recipient
!Work
|-
!2000
|Michael Gambon
|The Caretaker
|-
!2001
|Ian McDiarmid
|Faith Healer
|-
!2002
|Simon Russell Beale
|Uncle Vanya
|-
!2003
|Michael Sheen
|Caligula
|-
!2004
|Richard Griffiths
|The History Boys
|-
!2005
|Simon Russell Beale
|The Philanthropist
|-
!2006
|Rufus Sewell
|Rock 'n' Roll
|-
!2007
|Charles Dance
|Shadowlands
|-
!2008
|Kenneth Branagh
|Ivanov
|-
!2009
|Mark Rylance
|Jerusalem
|}
2010s
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Recipient
!Work
!Ref
|-
|2010
|David Suchet
|All My Sons
|
|-
|2011
|Benedict Cumberbatch
|Frankenstein
|
|-
|2012
|Adrian Lester
|Red Velvet
|
|-
|2013
|Lenny Henry
|Fences
|
|-
|2014
|Mark Strong
|A View from the Bridge
|
|-
|2015
|Kenneth Cranham
|The Father
|
|-
|2016
|Stephen Dillane
|Faith Healer
|
|-
|2017
|Bryan Cranston
|Network
|
|-
|2018
|Kyle Soller
|The Inheritance
|
|-
|2019
|Andrew Scott
|Present Laughter
|
|-
|2023
|Giles Terera
|Blues for an Alabama Sky and Othello
|
|-
|2024
|Andrew Scott
|Vanya
|
|-
|2025
|Mark Strong
|Oedipus
|
|-
|2026
|Brendan Gleeson
|The Weir
|
|}
Best Actress
1980s
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Recipient
!Work
!Ref
|-
|1982
|Judi Dench
|The Importance of Being Earnest and A Kind of Alaska
|