It began with the host Jason Manford joking about the danger of awards ceremony slaps but the Oscars of the theatre industry held few shocks or hard edges. Instead there was plenty of warm feeling about the resilience and can-do spirit shown through the pandemic lockdowns. A surge of pent-up energy was palpable in the room after a three-year hiatus since the last in-person ceremony but the awards themselves felt safe in their focus on big splashy revivals and well-loved adapted stories.
Rebecca Frecknall’s darkly reworked juggernaut, Cabaret, deserved its seven wins, as did Lola Chakrabarti’s Life of Pi for its sensational puppetry (it claimed five awards). But the habit of finding one or two big winners felt oddly tunnel-visioned this year when it might have been the perfect opportunity to spread the love and recognition more widely.
