Ian Charleson Awards 2008
The Sunday Times and the National Theatre collaborate annually to commemorate and celebrate the life of Ian Charleson by presenting Awards in his name for outstanding performances anywhere in the UK by actors under the age of thirty in a classical role.
At the 2008 Ian Charleson Awards, held at the National on 8 May, Tom Burke was awarded first prize for his role as Adolph in Creditors at the Donmar Warehouse. Second prize went to Edward Bennett, who played Navarre in Love's Labour's Lost and the title role in Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company; John Heffernan was awarded third prize for his role as Stephen Undershaft in Major Barbara at the National Theatre.
Tom Hiddleston and Andrea Riseborough (respectively Lvov and Sasha in Ivanov at the Donmar West End) and Mariah Gale (Ophelia in the RSC's Hamlet) won Special Commendations from the judges. Charles Aitken, David Ajala, Hayley Atwell, Beth Cooke, Tom Davey, Natalie Dew, Ryan Gage, Oliver Le Sueur, Gwilym Lee, Ella Smith and Alex Waldmann were all awarded Commendations.
