James Corden's the Guvnor at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards

 
Louise Jury|Alistair Foster26 September 2012

The Evening Standard has teamed up with two of the biggest names in fashion to make this year’s Theatre Awards the most glittering yet.

Burberry will be the official partner of the 58th annual ceremony — celebrating the best of British theatre —which will also be co-hosted by editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour.

One of this year’s biggest stage stars, James Corden, will present the ceremony at The Savoy. The awards will be one of the 34-year-old actor’s first engagements since his return from a Tony-winning stint on Broadway in One Man, Two Guvnors and his wedding to Julia Carey this month.

Burberry’s chief creative officer Christopher Bailey will join Wintour and Standard chairman Evgeny Lebedev as co-hosts. Wintour’s father, Charles, was a former Standard editor and the most promising playwright award is presented in his memory.

The partnership with Burberry will see a new award this year, for emerging director. The new category represents the Standard and the luxury fashion label’s shared support for London’s creative, theatrical talent.

The evening will also see the presentation of The Lebedev Special award, which can be awarded to a writer, performer, director or institution as a lifetime achievement honour.

Sarah Sands, editor of the Standard, said: “We are hugely excited about this new partnership with Burberry and look forward to celebrating the fantastic theatre talent for which London is internationally renowned.”

The longlist for the awards, whose previous winners include Sir Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton and Gwyneth Paltrow, will be unveiled in coming weeks.

Last year Sheridan Smith won best actress for her performance in Terence Rattigan’s wartime drama, Flare Path. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller shared the best actor award for alternating in the roles of the scientist and his creation in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein.

The London Evening Standard Theatre Awards in association with Burberry will take place on November 25 with full coverage in the following day’s paper.

The judging panel is Sands with critics Henry Hitchings of the Standard, Susannah Clapp of The Observer, Matt Wolf of the International Herald Tribune, Georgina Brown of the Mail on Sunday, Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph and Libby Purves of The Times, with Mr Lebedev as chairman.

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