Irish actor Brendan Coyle won an award at the Laurence Olivier Awards ceremony in London yesterday. Coyle won an "Olivier" in the category of Best Supporting Performance for his role in Conor McPherson's play, The Weir. The awards were presented by the Society of London Theatre. Sinead Cusack was a nominee for Best Actress for her role in Our Lady Of Sligo by Irish playwright Sebastian Barry. The award was won by Eileen Atkins for her performance in The Unexpected Man. Jim Norton was nominated as Best Actor for The Weir. This was won by Hollywood star Kevin Spacey for his role in The Iceman Cometh.
The production of Puccini's Il Trittico by the Abbey's artistic director, Patrick Mason, was nominated in the Best New Opera Production category. He directed this trio of one-act operas for English National Opera last spring, when he was on leave from the Abbey. The winner was La Clemenza di Tito by the Welsh National Opera.
McPherson's The Weir, which has been critically acclaimed in London, is nominated for the Best New Play award, which has been held over until Monday night. Also nominated is David Hare's The Blue Room, Michael Frayn's Copenhagen and Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man.
The big winner was the team behind the stage revival of Oklahoma!, which picked up four Oliviers. However, The Blue Room missed out on major honours, picking up the award for Best Lighting Designer only. The play's stars, Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen, were both overlooked for acting awards.
The award for Best New Play will be announced live on BBC2 television on Monday at 7 p.m.