This late addition of a category came out of a couple of things: one a conversation over Christmas mainly about how many of the actors in Cranford I had seen onstage this year but in non-bonnety roles and the realisation whilst watching Twelfth Night that I had seen onstage more than once this year. Hence this award: it's necessarily limited by the number of plays I've seen this year but is still a bit of fun.
Most versatile actor
Nancy Carroll, Arcadia & Twelfth Night / Simon Burke, When The Rain Stops Falling & La Cage aux Folles
From the aristocratic Lady Croom in Arcadia to the convincingly boyish Viola in Twelfth Night, Nancy Carroll impressed me immensely with her range this year, playing flirtatious, upper-class hauteur with as much dexterity as Shakespeare's ambiguous, lovelorn twin.
And in equal first, demonstrating just as much versatility is Simon Burke: the very essence of Australian heterosexual blokeishness in When the Rain Stops Falling, he was barely recognisable as the same actor singing his heart out and flirting with all the boys in La Cage aux Folles
Honourable mentionToby Jones, Every Boy Deserves Good Favour & Parlour Song
From the tormented prisoner with an orchestra in his head to a suburban husband with a cheating wife, Toby Jones displayed a full array of dramtic skills, with a particularly delicious show of comic acting in the latter, with razor-sharp timing and bags full of charisma.
Joseph Millson, Judgment Day & The Priory
James Fleet, The Observer & Twelfth Night
Elliot Cowan, A Streetcar Named Desire & Edmond
Samantha Spiro, Twelfth Night & Hello, Dolly! Labels: Elliot Cowan, fosterIANs, James Fleet, Joseph Millson, Nancy Carroll, Peter de Jersey, Samantha Spiro, Simon Burke, Toby Jones