Collaborators has fought off stiff competition from Jumpy, One Man, Two Guvnors and The Ladykillers to take home the MasterCard Best New Play Olivier Award.
One of the most hotly anticipated awards of the night, the win marks the first Olivier Award for John Hodge, the Trainspotting screenwriter who made his playwriting debut last November with the National Theatre production.
Set in Moscow during Stalin’s rule, Collaborators tells the story of a writer commissioned to write a play about the Russian leader to celebrate his 60th birthday. But in a time of censorship, the commission proves to be a poisoned chalice.
Starring Simon Russell Beale and Alex Jennings – which the Daily Telegraph described as “A truly tremendous double act which thrills, chills and makes you laugh out loud” – Collaborators began life in the NT’s Cottesloe space but will later this month be restaged in the larger Olivier theatre for a limited run.
Collaborators was directed by the NT’s Nicholas Hytner and was nominated for two awards at this year’s Olivier Awards.