Sarah Snook wins Olivier Award for one-woman show
The Adelaide-born Succession star played all 26 roles in Sydney Theatre Company’s innovative adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Sarah Snook, who plays all 26 roles in the one-woman show The Picture of Dorian Gray on London’s West End, has won the esteemed Olivier Award for best actress.
The 36-year-old actor, best known for her Golden Globe and Emmy-winning turn as Shiv Roy in the HBO hit Succession, triumphed in a star-stuffed category, beating out the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker for Plaza Suite and Sophie Okonedo for Medea.
“It’s an incredible honour to be on the stage in the West End and this is not something that I thought would come along with that,” Snook said in accepting her win at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
“It’s billed as a one-woman show but it’s not. It’s the crew who are on stage with me all the time every night and they are a vital and constant support and inspiration. So thank you to the crew for being there in this show with me.”
This is Snook’s first Olivier win and nomination. She made her West End debut in 2016, starring alongside Ralph Fiennes in a production of The Master Builder.
The adaptation by the Sydney Theatre Company, directed by Kip Williams, incorporates live acting with prerecorded and live video elements.
The innovative production, which debuted in Sydney in 2020 with actor Eryn Jean Norvill, received further accolades as Australian designer Marg Horwell was honoured with the Best Costume Design award for her contributions.
Both Snook and Horwell used their acceptance speeches to praise director Williams, who last week resigned from STC after eight years at the helm, for his “very big brain.”
“I thank my lucky stars I get to play inside that mad world you’ve created every night,” Snook said.
Williams said that he was leaving the STC as The Picture of Dorian Gray will be heading to Broadway next year.
Olivier recognition serves as a much-needed boon for the STC, which is benefiting from royalties generated by the production.
The theatre company reportedly lost $1.5m in donations and ticket sales following a backlash from Jewish donors and customers following a guerrilla pro-Palestinian protest, whereby three actors wore keffiyeh scarves during an opening night curtain call for The Seagull in November last year.
Since then, seven staff redundancies have been announced.
A reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, starring the former The Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond, was the major winner at this year’s Olivier Awards.
The musical won seven awards including best musical revival, best actress in a musical for Scherzinger, best actor in a musical for Tom Francis, and best director for Jamie Lloyd.
Mark Gatiss won the best actor prize, beating Andrew Scott’s hotly-tipped one-man Vanya, with his performance in The Motive and the Cue.
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