In the early years the winners received Wedgwood porcelain vases as trophies — it was exactly such a vase (teasingly nicknamed “little urns”) that Laurence Olivier himself received in 1979 for his contribution to British theatre. The award only later acquired his name: in 1984 Sir Laurence personally gave permission for it to be used. Since then the “urns” disappeared and the prize took on the form familiar today — a heavy (over a kilogram) bronze statuette depicting Olivier as Henry V, his legendary role performed at the Old Vic in 1937. Each statuette is cast in a mould and then finished by hand.

Over the years the ceremony has moved several times. From Café Royal it began wandering between venues — including hotels such as Grosvenor House Hotel, as well as theatres like London Palladium and Royal Opera House — until the UK’s main theatre prize finally settled in its current home, Royal Albert Hall. The hosts have been just as varied over the past fifty years: from Richard Briers to James Corden (who, incidentally, helped turn the industry ceremony into a show “for everyone”), from Hugh Jackman to Beverley Knight. This year the ceremony at Royal Albert Hall will be hosted by British actor Nick Mohammed — Mr. Swallow, Shelley from Ted Lasso, and creator of Intelligence.

But what about the nominees? The full list can be found anywhere, so we’ve selected the shows that are still running in London. Two clear favourites have emerged: Paddington: The Musical and Into the Woods, each with 11 nominations. What else is worth seeing? Before the big night arrives, several of the nominated productions can still be caught live.

Inter Alia

Wyndham’s Theatre

The play by Suzie Miller, starring Rosamund Pike, tells the story of a woman navigating multiple social roles. Her life is turned upside down when her son is accused of rape. Personal and professional identities become inseparably entangled — something that clashes completely with the heroine’s own beliefs about justice and responsibility.

Inter Alia continues themes Miller explored in her previous play Prima Facie. What is the justice system? What do fairness and impartiality really mean? And what happens when legal principles collide with human emotions? Miller, notably, does not provide a clear answer as to whether the son is guilty. The point of the play is not the verdict but the painful question of what to do when law, facts and love for one’s child begin to contradict each other.

Paddington: The Musical

Savoy Theatre

Nominations: Best New Musical, Best Director, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Theatre Choreographer, Best Costume Design, Best Set Design, Best Sound Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Video Design, Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical, Outstanding Musical Contribution

An unusual situation: a family commercial musical is suddenly threatening to become the best show of the season. The familiar story of the bear who arrives in London acquires a modern — but not modernised — resonance. Even in today’s world, the most important things remain love, kindness, warmth and support.

Children are delighted, adults find themselves in tears — whether from tenderness or from a bittersweet nostalgia for a childhood that seemed lost but suddenly returns. Technically complex, the production turned out not to be a mere spectacle but genuine theatre.

Director Luke Sheppard is nominated for Best Director. The joint performance of James Hameed and Arti Shah, who share the role of Paddington, earned a shared nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Judy Kaye — incidentally a two-time Tony Award winner (1988 and 2012) — is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs Brown.

Into the Woods

Bridge Theatre

Into the Woods is a fairy-tale musical in which the stories of well-known characters intertwine. A baker and his wife dream of having a child but are prevented by a curse cast by a witch. To break the spell, they must venture into an enchanted forest where they encounter Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack of the beanstalk, and Rapunzel.

Gradually the fairy-tale plots intertwine and, just as it seems that the story has reached a happy ending, reality proves far darker. The musical asks what happens after the fairy tale ends — after “they lived happily ever after.”

Despite its philosophical undertones, the production is visually enchanting and utterly absorbing. Jamie Parker and Katie Brayben are nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical, Anna Francolini for Best Supporting Actress, and Liam Steel for choreography.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Theatre Royal Haymarket

An ordinary retiree, Harold Fry, receives a letter from an old friend with whom he long ago lost contact — not out of malice, simply because life happened. The letter reveals that she is dying of a serious illness. Harold sets out to send a reply but, on the way to the postbox, makes an unexpected decision.

Instead of posting the letter, he keeps walking — across the whole of England — convinced that as long as he continues his journey, nothing bad will happen. Along the way he meets strangers, reflects on his life, his mistakes and lost relationships.

It is a moving story about how the simplest decision — to take a step and keep walking — can change a life. The music was written by singer Passenger, best known for the global hit Let Her Go. He had long wanted to try writing a full theatrical score, and his acoustic folk style proves perfectly suited to this gentle road-movie-like story of an ageing traveller.

Arcadia

The Old Vic

The famous play by Tom Stoppard takes place in the same English country house, Sidley Park in Derbyshire, but across two eras — the early nineteenth century and the present day. Scholars and historians attempt to unravel the mysteries of the past, discovering that passions, love and mistakes repeat themselves across generations.

Thomasina Coverly, a brilliant young girl — almost a child prodigy — begins to glimpse ideas resembling chaos theory while falling in love with her tutor, Septimus Hodge. Yet nothing is simple. The play, layered and intricate, has always been both irresistible and daunting for theatres.

It combines science, romance and history: the characters discuss mathematics, chaos, poetry and landscape gardening while trying to understand events that took place in the house two centuries earlier. The present-day characters seek to understand the past and find order in the chaos of life.

The current Arcadia at the Old Vic opened just weeks after the death of the playwright in November 2025, and the nomination feels almost like a tribute to a great playwriter.

Oh, Mary!

Trafalgar Theatre

This absurd historical comedy imagines Mary Todd Lincoln dreaming not of politics or domestic duties but of becoming a cabaret performer. The action takes place in the White House on the eve of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

The characters behave eccentrically, quarrel, plot ridiculous schemes and constantly undermine the historical seriousness of the situation. Carnival laughter turns from delight into something almost sinister — the play becomes a comedy about vanity, ambition and the theatricality of life itself.

Oh, Mary! is deliberately grotesque, almost cabaret-like in tone. The role of Mary Todd Lincoln was originally conceived as an exaggerated drag performance — played off-Broadway by the playwright himself, Cole Escola. In London the role is performed by Mason Alexander Park until 25 April; afterwards — plot twist! — it will be taken over by Catherine Tate, the British comedian known for The Catherine Tate Show and for playing Donna Noble in Doctor Who.

The Producers

Garrick Theatre

The London revival of the musical by Mel Brooks tells the story of two theatrical schemers: producer Max Bialystock (Andy Nyman) and timid accountant Leo Bloom (Marc Antolin). They devise a brilliant fraud — to stage a guaranteed flop and keep the investors’ money. Unfortunately for them, their appallingly bad show unexpectedly becomes a hit.

The production contains everything that made the original famous: burlesque humour, theatrical parody and the notorious number “Springtime for Hitler,” turning a story about Broadway fraud into a riotous, unapologetically outrageous theatrical farce. Director Patrick Marber is nominated for Best Director, while Andy Nyman and Marc Antolin are nominated for leading roles. Trevor Ashley, who plays the flamboyant and hilariously eccentric director Roger De Bris, is nominated for Best Supporting Actor.