Awards déjà vu (and surprises from the commercial theatre)….

The fact is that there will always be worthy candidates left out; where do you stop? The Best Actor category, for instance, is one that has been expanded to six, but it still leaves Alfred Molina (so brilliant in Red) out of the running, though his co-star Eddie Redmayne qualifies in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role. But the supporting nature of that performance is surely only a technicality, since there are only two actors in the play and he’s onstage the entire time, too. Yet James Earl Jones, in what is surely a supporting role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as Big Daddy, finds himself in the Best Actor category.

But then there’s also the fact that the nominations are, by now, inevitably instilling a feeling of déjà vu. The heavy hitters in both the Critics’ Circle and the Evening Standard Awards are inevitably widely represented, with Jerusalem and Enron earning six nominations apiece including double award winners actor Mark Rylance and director Rupert Goold respectively. The Critics’ Circle best musical, Spring Awakening, wins seven nominations in all - the most for any single production - and the Standard’s best musical, Hello, Dolly!, is of course in the Best Musical Revival list.

In fact, the only winners of the Critics’ Circle Awards not to be nominated here are Alia Bano (Most Promising Playwright for Shades, seen at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs which for the purposes of the Olivier Awards counts as an “affiliate theatre”, from where Cock instead is nominated for outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre) and Tom Sturridge (Most Promising Newcomer other than a Playwright, for his performance in the Lyric Hammersmith’s Punk Rock — again an affiliate theatre), while from the Standard Awards, the only winners not to receive Olivier nominations are Bano, again, plus the Standard’s Outstanding Newcomer Actor Lenny Henry and designer Mamoru Iriguchi (who won for a production at Shoreditch’s Cordy House, a venue not eligible for Olivier consideration).

But while the Oliviers retain the status of Affiliate Theatre to nominate productions at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs, Soho Theatre and the Tricycle under the umbrella of, they seem to have moved the Almeida and the Young Vic into consideration now as full members, with its productions of Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song and Annie Get Your Gun respectively in contention for Best New Comedy and Best Musical Revival.

Much is being made of the 15 nominations for the Royal Court, the most for any single venue: today’s Independent duly trumpets it as a return to form, commenting, “much of which has been put down to the dynamic leadership and astute re-programming by its artistic director, Dominic Cooke”.

There’s no doubt that the Royal Court has had a terrific year; but 12 of those fifteen nominations are for Enron (for which the lead initiative was taken by Headlong in commissioning it, and Chichester’s Minerva Theatre in staging the premiere of it, with the Royal Court only operating as co-producer and its initial London transfer home) and Jerusalem, directed of course by Cooke’s immediate predecessor, Ian Rickson, who has directed every one of Jez Butterworth’s plays, including the aforementioned Almeida premiere of Parlour Song. In fact, both sets of nominations are testament to the longevity of the Royal Court in establishing and maintaining relationships with writers: both Butterworth and Lucy Prebble (who wrote Enron), made their stage debuts at the Court with Mojo and The Sugar Syndrome respectively.

The Donmar’s achievement in scoring ten nominations is perhaps even more notable: every production is entirely homegrown. It’s certainly the place to see great acting, with five nominations of those nominations across the four acting categories, and other major mentions for Best New Play, Best Revival and Director.

The National, who have in previous years often come to dominate the awards, lag somewhat behind this year; there are a couple of supporting actor performances (Michelle Dockery and Rory Kinnear for Burnt by the Sun), a director nod for Bijan Sheibani (for Our Class) and England People, Very Nice being named for Best New Comedy, but its other four nominations are all for design.

In fact, the most reassuring thing this year is the vitality of the commercial sector: though there’s still inevitably a reliance on transfers from other venues, including the Almeida (Duet for One), Lyric Hammersmith (Spring Awakening), Menier Chocolate Factory (A Little Night Music) and even Theatre 503 (The Mountaintop), which between ratcheted up 16 nominations in all, it’s good to note that 30 nominations went to productions that actually came to the West End under purely commercial auspices - including four of the five nods for Best Revival, so they’re not just for musicals. Just as the West End last year set all-time records for both attendance and revenue, it is still not time to call time on the work of commercial producers in driving that result.