The Harry Potter empire has added domination of the stage to its record breaking book sales and movie takings after the theatre adaptation of the magical universe became the most decorated show in the history of the Olivier awards.

2017 Olivier awards ceremony – in pictures Read more

The two-part West End production, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, picked up a record nine awards at the UK’s most prestigious theatre awards on Sunday night.

The play, which imagines Harry, Hermione and Ron as adults waving their children off to Hogwarts, has been as popular with critics as it has been with Potter fans, ensuring sell-out shows in London for at least a year. The Broadway production of the play is to open next spring.

Other winners announced at the glitzy Royal Albert Hall ceremony were Groundhog Day the Musical, inspired by the Bill Murray film of the same name, English National Opera, and Billie Piper.

But it was Potter that dominated. Jamie Parker, the History Boy alumnus who played the now adult wizard, was named best actor from a shortlist including Tom Hollander, Ian McKellen and Ed Harris.

Parker said the team behind the play had ensured it was not something which was tightly controlled and industrial. “I am just so pleased and proud that the entire team are being celebrated because there was so much potential for cynicism and scepticism

Noma Dumezweni, who was initially the target of online racists because of her casting as Hermione Granger, was named best supporting actress, and Anthony Boyle won best supporting actor for his portrayal of Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Noma Dumezweni arrives at the Olivier awards at the Royal Opera House. Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

Accepting her award Dumezweni said she arrived in the UK as a child refugee. “May 17, 1977, I arrived in this country as a refugee child. My sister and my mother... it is going to be 40 years that we are celebrating being in this country – family, it is all about family, being safe, being in your safe place.”

She said she it was “overwhelming and humbling” to have played the JK Rowling character and had been buoyed by the number of young actors who came to her and said: “I am so pleased that I can see a version of myself on stage.”

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was named best new play, while its director, John Tiffany, won best director, adding to the Olivier he won in 2009 for Black Watch. The play also took awards for lighting, sound, costume, and set design.

Written by Jack Thorne, from an original story by Thorne, JK Rowling and Tiffany, the production has proved a popular, critical and commercial success. Many audience members are first-time theatregoers, and the producers have managed to succeed in their pleas to audiences to keep the secrets and avoid plot disclosures.

Thorne said around 75% of the audience were new to theatre and he hoped the play would be something of a gateway drug.

“I hope they come and see our show and then they go and see Curious Incident down the road, and then The Glass Menagerie and then Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?... and they fall in love with theatre because everything we do is stolen from them.”



It was an evening when speakers repeatedly warned that arts education was being eroded in the UK, that opportunities were not being afforded today’s schoolchildren.

Tiffany said he had enough of cuts. “Government policies think that good people will out, it’s not true. I’m doing what I’m doing because of free guitar lessons, I had a grant to go to university ... if I was graduating from high school now I certainly wouldn’t be holding this.”

The Cursed Child stole the record for the most decorated show in the ceremony’s history from Matilda and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which had both won seven.

The best actress trophy went to Piper for her performance in Yerma, pipping fellow favourite Glenda Jackson, who made her return to the stage as King Lear after a 25-year absence. The shortlist also included Cherry Jones for The Glass Menagerie and Ruth Wilson for Hedda Gabler at the National.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brendan Cowell and Billie Piper in Yerma at the Young Vic. Photograph: Johan Persson

Piper has gone from teenage pop sensation (Because We Want To) to TV stardom as Doctor Who’s assistant to being regarded as one of the most exciting stage actors of her generation. Her performance at the Young Vic, which has been praised by the Guardian’s Michael Billington as “breathtakingly uninhibited”, was so draining and demanding that a West End transfer was ruled out, although Piper is reprising the role in a short run this summer, which has already sold out.

Yerma, based on the 1934 play by Federico García Lorca, also won best revival category, although there were some who believed it would have been a more suitable fit in the best new play category. It beat Travesties, This House and The Glass Menagerie.

In the musical categories, honours were shared more evenly. The Old Vic’s adaptation of Groundhog Day, by Tim Minchin and Danny Rubin, won best new musical, and for its star, Andy Karl, best actor in a musical. The Regent’s Park production of Jesus Christ Superstar won best musical revival, and Dreamgirls won two prizes: best actress in a musical for Amber Riley, and best actor in a supporting role for Adam J Bernard.

Other prizes went to Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, first seen at the Edinburgh fringe in 2015 and West End-bound, which won best comedy; the transgender-themed play Rotterdam won the affiliate award; and Matthew Bourne won best choreographer for The Red Shoes, which also won best entertainment and family show.

English National Opera, which is attempting to climb out of a long period of offstage turmoil, was the biggest winner in the opera categories, with Akhnaten winning best new opera and Mark Wigglesworth, a former music director at the ENO, winning outstanding achievement in opera prize for his conducting of Don Giovanni and Lulu.

In dance, Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s Betroffenheit at Sadler’s Wells won best new production, while English National Ballet won the outstanding achievement award.

The Olivier ceremony, an all-singing, all-dancing affair unrecognisable from its days as a dinner do at a central London hotel, will be broadcast on ITV on Tuesday, with performances by Gary Barlow, Riley, Minchin and the companies of Jesus Christ Superstar and School of Rock. The latter won an outstanding achievement in music award for the children who play instruments live each night.

Kenneth Branagh received the ceremony’s special award from Mark Rylance and was joined on stage by 60 of the actors who appeared in his company’s plays at the Garrick theatre.

Full list of winners

• Best actress: Billie Piper for Yerma (Young Vic)

• Best new comedy: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (National Theatre/Dorfman)

• Outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre: Rotterdam (Trafalgar Studios 2)

• White light award for best lighting design: Neil Austin for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Best sound design: Gareth Fry for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Best costume design: Katrina Lindsay for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Blue-i Theatre technology award for best set design: Christine Jones for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Best actor in a Supporting Role: Anthony Boyle for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Best actress in a supporting role: Noma Dumezweni for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Best new opera production: Akhnaten (London Coliseum)

• Outstanding achievement in opera: Mark Wigglesworth for his conducting of Don Giovanni and Lulu (London Coliseum)

• Best revival: Yerma (Young Vic)

• Best actor: Jamie Parker for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Virgin Atlantic best new play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Best director: John Tiffany for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre)

• Best new dance production: Betroffenheit by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young (Sadler’s Wells)

• Outstanding achievement in dance: English National Ballet for expanding the variety of their repertoire with Akram Khan’s Giselle and She Said (Sadler’s Wells)

• Best theatre choreographer: Matthew Bourne for The Red Shoes (Sadler’s Wells)

• Outstanding achievement in music: School of Rock the Musical (New London Theatre)

• Best entertainment and family: Matthew Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes (Sadler’s Wells)

• Best actor in a supporting role in a musical: Adam J Bernard for Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre)

• Best actress in a supporting role in a musical: Rebecca Trehearn for Show Boat (New London Theatre)

• Magic Radio best musical revival: Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre)

• Best actor in a musical: Andy Karl for Groundhog Day (The Old Vic)

• Best actress in a musical: Amber Riley for Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre)

• Mastercard best new musical: Groundhog Day (The Old Vic)

• Special award winner: Kenneth Branagh