Andrew Scott made his first public appearance since the death of his mother at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards yesterday. The Fleabag star picked up the Best Actor award and gave a tearful tribute to mother Nora, who died earlier this month after a sudden illness. “She was my real hero, my absolute best friend and she was the most compassionate and generous and discerning of all the critics in my eyes,” he said. “The arts really were her lifeblood.”
Scott received his award for playing eight different characters in Vanya, the West End play based on Chekhov. His mother watched a National Theatre live showing of the play just three days before she died. “She sent me her review on a voice note. And, with respect to everybody here,” the actor said to the roomful of critics, “her review is the one I listen to the most — even though she might have been somewhat biased.”
At the Critics’ Circle Film Awards last month, Scott was also voted best actor for his role in All of Us Strangers, making him the first actor to win both critics’ awards in the same year. The film follows Scott’s character as he revisits the grief and trauma of losing his parents as a child, against the backdrop of a love story with his neighbour, played by fellow Irish actor Paul Mescal.
Scott spoke emotively about how the arts can provide solace, describing them as a “lifeline” in difficult times. “It’s the artists that really have given me some respite and given me somewhere to go and get a break from the horrible shock and the despair of grief,” he said. “Particularly for me, the compassion and skill of the writers, the playwrights and poets who can hold up a mirror to you when you’re not able to have the strength to sum it up for yourself. They do it for you.”
The actor is critical of West End ticket prices, and has described rising costs as “frustrating” and “elitist” in the past. “The arts are not a luxury or an entertainment or a diversion,” he said. “A lot of people need it. I need it, and we all do, so the arts should be protected, and they should be celebrated and they should be funded.”
He finished by thanking his mother, who introduced him to the arts. “She was the source of practically every joyful thing in my life,” he said.
