Gillian Anderson leads acting nominees in Evening Standard Theatre Awards

The awards will be presented by Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon

Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois and Ben Foster as Stanley in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (Rex)

Gillian Anderson, Tom Hiddleston and Kristin Scott Thomas are among the nominees for acting prizes at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

The awards will be presented by Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon at the London Palladium on 30 November. Anderson and Scott Thomas will compete against Billie Piper, Helen McCrory and Tanya Moodie for the best actress prize, while Hiddleston is up against Mark Strong and Ben Miles for best actor.

Hiddleston, who catapulted to international fame as Loki in the Marvel Studio film Thor, is nominated for his performance in the title role of Coriolanus. He is nominated alongside Miles as Thomas Cromwell in the epic double bill of Tudor life, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, and Strong, who will reprise his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge when it transfers from the Young Vic to the West End next year.

In the best actress category Anderson’s Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is up against two ancient tragic heroines – Scott Thomas’s Electra and McCrory’s Medea. They are joined by Billie Piper as tabloid news editor Paige Britain in the phone-hacking satire Great Britain, and Tanya Moodie in Intimate Apparel.

Nominations for best musical include Dogfight and Here Lies Love, by David Byrne with music from Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim). Sunny Afternoon, and The Scottsboro Boys are also nominated.

The best play category includes two royal epics, The James Plays trilogy and King Charles III, alongside Jennifer Haley’s dystopian drama exploring paedophilia, The Nether.

Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the The Independent and Evening Standard and chairman of the Advisory Judging Panel, said: “It’s been an honour to host these awards for the past five years. I take huge pleasure in offering my congratulations to all those shortlisted.”