A guide to some of the biggest moments in Olivier Awards history

Read about some record-setting shows and notable firsts from the prestigious West End theatre awards, established in 1976.

The Olivier Awards are a highly anticipated annual event celebrating the best of London theatre, and are always filled with glamour. However, the Oliviers haven’t always been known by this name. Established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, they were renamed in honour of celebrated actor Laurence Olivier in 1984.

This year’s ceremony on Sunday 6 April 2025 will be held at the Royal Albert Hall and hosted by Beverley Knight (Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical, Sylvia, 2023) and Billy Porter (currently starring as the Emcee in Cabaret). In the meantime, let’s revisit some significant milestones.

1976

The first Society of West End Theatre Awards were presented at Piccadilly’s Café Royale, a former haunt of Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Noël Coward, and more. Play of the Year was awarded to Denis Cannan for Dear Daddy (which has scarcely been revived since), and Musical of the Year went to bona fide modern classic A Chorus Line.

Acting awards went to Paul Copley, Peggy Ashcroft, Alan Howard, Dorothy Tutin, Penelope Keith, and Margaret Courtenay. Jonathan Miller won Director of the Year for his revival of Three Sisters and Algerian-born designer Abd'Elkader Farrah was named Best Designer. The Society Special Award was awarded to Save London Theatre’s Campaign, which saved numerous West End theatre buildings from demolition.

1981

The awards were broadcast on television for the first time, on BBC1. In 1992, the broadcast was moved to BBC2. This lasted until 2003, after which the ceremony was broadcast on the radio. In 2011-12, the BBC broadcast live interactive red-button coverage of the event with a supplementary programme on BBC Radio 2. In 2013, ITV took over broadcasting rights. Last year, a highlights programme was shown after the main event.

1984

Eight years in, actor and director Laurence Olivier agreed to lend his name to the awards. Olivier never won a competitive award as he made his formal retirement from the stage in the early 1970s, only returning for guest appearances (he received a Special Award in in 1979). His wife, the late Joan Plowright, won Actress of the Year in a New Play for Filumena in 1978.

As well as the change of name, the physical award was redesigned. Originally a blue-and-white Wedgwood urn, it’s now a bronze bust depicting Olivier as Henry V at the Old Vic in 1937, designed by sculptor Harry Franchetti.

The first year the awards were named after Olivier, Starlight Express led the nominations with five nods, but lost in all categories – perhaps it will score some wins in 2025? South African actress and singer-songwriter Thuli Dumakade became the first person of colour to win an acting award as Actress of the Year in a New Play for Poppie Nongena. Brian Cox, soon to return to the West End in The Score, won Actor of the Year in a New Play for Rat in the Skull.

1987

Caryl Churchill became the first woman to win Best New Play for Serious Money, and Timberlake Wertenbaker won the following year for Our Country’s Good. Seven women have won to date.

1988

The following year, the 28-year-old Deborah Warner became the first woman to be named Best Director for her staging of Shakespeare’s gory tragedy Titus Andronicus. She won again in 1992 for Hedda Gabler but it wasn’t until 2013 that Marianne Elliott would follow in her footsteps with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The award has now been won on six occasions by women.

1991

For 15 years, design was acknowledged with a single award, usually focusing on set design. Much-deserved individual awards for Best Costume Design and Best Lighting Design were implemented in 1991, and Best Sound Design in 2004. Perhaps it's only a matter of time before an award for video/projections is introduced?

1991 also marked the introduction of Best Musical Revival, won in its first year by Show Boat – arguably the first-ever “musical play”.Oklahoma! and Sweeney Todd have both won this category twice, in 1999 and 2023 and 1994 and 2013 respectively.

1996

Judi Dench is the queen of the Oliviers, having won seven competitive awards, plus a Special Olivier in 2004. In 1996, she won Best Actress in a Play and Best Actress in a Musical for Absolute Hell and A Little Night Music respectively, both at the National Theatre. To date, she is the only performer to win for both a play and a musical in the same year (Simon Russell Beale, Jonathan Pryce, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Sheridan Smith, Janie Dee, Sharon D. Clarke, Sheila Atim, and Eddie Redmayne have also won for plays and musicals, but in different years).

2002

August Wilson became the first writer of colour to win Best New Play for Jitney (written in 1979 and first performed in Pittsburgh in 1982).

2009

The only year in its history in which the Oliviers presented a Best Company Performance award – won by The Histories, directed by Michael Boyd (the other nominees were August: Osage County, Black Watch, The Norman Conquests, and Sunset Boulevard). It’s a real shame that this category was a one-off as ensemble work is essential to theatre and richly deserves to be formally rewarded. This year, Dear Octopus, The Years, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would all be worthy nominees.

2012

The dazzlingly inventive homegrown musical Matilda won seven awards, including Best Actress in a Musical for the four young actresses in the title role: Cleo Demetriou, Kerry Ingram, Eleanor Worthington Cox, and Sophia Kiely. At the age of 10 years 299 days, Worthington-Cox became the youngest-ever Olivier winner. Angela Lansbury is the most senior competitive winner to date for her Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit at the age of 89 (2015).

2017

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child became the most decorated production in Olivier history, winning nine awards out of 11 nominations, including Best New Play, Best Director (Jack Thorne), Best Actor (Jamie Parker), and Best Set Design (Christine Jones). Sunset Boulevard (2024), Cabaret (2022), Hamilton (2018), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2013), and Matilda (2017) each won seven.

2018

Hamilton became the most nominated production to date, with 13 nods, and won seven, including Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Giles Terera), and Outstanding Achievement in Music. And Billie Piper became the first, and so far only, actor to have won all six of the currently available UK Theatre Best Actress awards for a single performance: Evening Standard Theatre Awards, WhatsOnStage Theatre Awards, Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, Broadway UK Theatre Awards, Glamour Awards and Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards, for her performance in Yerma.

2021-22

Live theatre came to a standstill during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Oliviers, like many other awards, were cancelled in 2021. However, they returned in style in 2022 with seven awards for Rebecca Frecknall’s production of Cabaret, and Life of Pi and *Back to the Future: The Musical* winning Best New Play and Best New Musical.

2024

Jamie Lloyd’s minimalist Sunset Boulevard, now on Broadway, was the season’s darling, with seven wins. Will there be an obvious favourite in 2025 or a more even distribution among productions? We’ll have to wait and see!