# Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director

The Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.
Introduced in 1976 as the award for Best Director, it was renamed in 2018 in honor of acclaimed theatre director Sir Peter Hall, beginning with the 2019 award ceremony.
In 1991, the category was briefly retired and divided into the categories Best Director of a Play and Best Director of a Musical. These two categories were in turn retired in 1995, and the Best Director award was reinstated.
Robert Icke became the Best Director award's youngest ever winner at the age of 29 in 2016; the record was previously held by Deborah Warner, the 1988 recipient.
Only five women have ever won the award: Deborah Warner, Marianne Elliott, Lyndsey Turner, Miranda Cromwell, and Rebecca Frecknall.

## Winners and nominees
### 1970s

| Year | Director | Production |
| 1976 |
| 1976 | Jonathan Miller | Three Sisters |
| 1976 | Alan Ayckbourn | Confusions, Shakespeare's People and Yahoo |
| 1976 | Buzz Goodbody | Occupations and King Lear |
| 1976 | Terry Hands | Old World and Henry IV (parts 1 and 2 and Henry V) |
| 1977 |
| 1977 | Clifford Williams | Wild Oats |
| 1977 | Michael Blakemore | Privates on Parade |
| 1977 | Bernard Miles | The Fire that Consumes |
| 1977 | Trevor Nunn | Macbeth |
| 1978 |
| 1978 | Terry Hands | Henry VI |
| 1978 | Bill Bryden and Sebastian Graham-Jones | Lark Rise |
| 1978 | Christopher Morahan | The Philanderer |
| 1978 | Harold Prince | Evita |
| 1979 |
| 1979 | Michael Bogdanov | The Taming of the Shrew |
| 1979 | Michael Elliott | The Family Reunion |
| 1979 | Trevor Nunn | Once in a Lifetime |
| 1979 | Michael Rudman | Death of a Salesman |

### 1980s

| Year | Director | Production |
| 1980 |
| 1980 | Trevor Nunn and John Caird | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby |
| 1980 | John Barton | The Greeks |
| 1980 | Peter Hall | Amadeus |
| 1980 | John Dexter | Life of Galileo |
| 1981 |
| 1981 | Peter Wood | On the Razzle |
| 1981 | Donald McWhinnie | Translations |
| 1981 | Trevor Nunn | Cats |
| 1981 | Harold Pinter | Quartermaine's Terms |
| 1982 |
| 1982 | Richard Eyre | Guys and Dolls |
| 1982 | Michael Bogdanov | Uncle Vanya |
| 1982 | Adrian Noble | A Doll's House |
| 1982 | James Roose-Evans | 84, Charing Cross Road |
| 1983 |
| 1983 | Terry Hands | Cyrano de Bergerac |
| 1983 | Bill Bryden | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 1983 | Barry Kyle | The Taming of the Shrew |
| 1983 | Peter Wood | The Rivals |
| 1984 |
| 1984 | Christopher Morahan | Wild Honey |
| 1984 | John Barton | Life's a Dream |
| 1984 | Michael Blakemore | Benefactors |
| 1984 | Adrian Noble | The Comedy of Errors |
| 1985 |
| 1985 | Bill Bryden | The Mysteries |
| 1985 | Bill Alexander | Richard III |
| 1985 | Garry Hines | The Playboy of the Western World |
| 1985 | Barry Kyle | Golden Girls and Love's Labour's Lost |
| 1986 |
| 1986 | Bill Alexander | The Merry Wives of Windsor |
| 1986 | Howard Davies | Les Liaisons Dangereuses |
| 1986 | Declan Donnellan | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 1986 | Peter Wood | The American Clock |
| 1987 |
| 1987 | Declan Donnellan | Le Cid, Twelfth Night and Macbeth |
| 1987 | Alan Ayckbourn | A View from the Bridge |
| 1987 | Yukio Ninagawa | Macbeth and Medea |
| 1987 | Peter Stein | The Hairy Ape |
| 1988 |
| 1988 | Deborah Warner | Titus Andronicus |
| 1988 | Howard Davies | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Secret Rapture and The Shaughraun |
| 1988 | Max Stafford-Clark | The Recruiting Officer and Our Country's Good |
| 1988 | David Thacker | A Touch of the Poet and An Enemy of the People |
| 1989/90 |
| 1989/90 | Michael Bogdanov | Wars of the Roses |
| 1989/90 | Richard Eyre | Racing Demon and The Voysey Inheritance |
| 1989/90 | Nicholas Hytner | Ghetto and Miss Saigon |
| 1989/90 | Trevor Nunn | Othello |

### 1990s

| Year | Director | Production |
| 1996 |
| 1996 | Sam Mendes | Company and The Glass Menagerie |
| 1996 | Richard Eyre | Skylight and La Grande Magia |
| 1996 | Adrian Noble | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 1996 | Matthew Warchus | Volpone and Henry V |
| 1997 |
| 1997 | Des McAnuff | Tommy |
| 1997 | Richard Eyre | John Gabriel Borkman |
| 1997 | Anthony Page | A Doll's House |
| 1997 | Matthew Warchus | 'Art' |
| 1998 |
| 1998 | Richard Eyre | King Lear |
| 1998 | Walter Bobbie | Chicago |
| 1998 | Sam Mendes | Othello |
| 1998 | Matthew Warchus | Hamlet |
| 1999 |
| 1999 | Howard Davies | The Iceman Cometh |
| 1999 | Sam Mendes | The Blue Room |
| 1999 | Trevor Nunn | Oklahoma! |
| 1999 | Ian Rickson | The Weir |

### 2000s

| Year | Director | Production |
| 2000 |
| 2000 | Trevor Nunn | Summerfolk, The Merchant of Venice and Troilus and Cressida |
| 2000 | David Levaux | The Real Thing |
| 2000 | Jeremy Sams | Spend Spend Spend |
| 2000 | Julie Taymor | The Lion King |
| 2001 |
| 2001 | Howard Davies | All My Sons |
| 2001 | Michael Grandage | Passion Play |
| 2001 | Nicholas Hytner | Orpheus Descending |
| 2001 | Trevor Nunn | The Cherry Orchard |
| 2001 | Ian Talbot | The Pirates of Penzance |
| 2002 |
| 2002 | Michael Boyd | Henry VI and Richard III |
| 2002 | Michael Blakemore | Kiss Me, Kate |
| 2002 | Howard Davies | Private Lives |
| 2002 | Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch | Shockheaded Peter |
| 2002 | Ian Rickson | Mouth to Mouth |
| 2003 |
| 2003 | Sam Mendes | Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya |
| 2003 | Matthew Bourne | Play Without Words |
| 2003 | Richard Eyre | Vincent in Brixton |
| 2003 | Edward Hall | Rose Rage |
| 2004 |
| 2004 | Michael Grandage | Caligula |
| 2004 | Stafford Arima | Ragtime |
| 2004 | Gary Griffin | Pacific Overtures |
| 2004 | Stewart Lee | Jerry Springer |
| 2005 |
| 2005 | Nicholas Hytner | The History Boys |
| 2005 | Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne | Mary Poppins |
| 2005 | Rufus Norris | Festen |
| 2005 | Susan Stroman | The Producers |
| 2006 |
| 2006 | Richard Eyre | Hedda Gabler |
| 2006 | Stephen Daldry | Billy Elliot |
| 2006 | Michael Grandage | Don Carlos |
| 2006 | Phyllida Lloyd | Mary Stuart |
| 2006 | Melly Still | Coram Boy |
| 2007 |
| 2007 | Dominic Cooke | The Crucible |
| 2007 | Sam Buntrock | Sunday in the Park with George |
| 2007 | Joe Mantello | Wicked |
| 2008 |
| 2008 | Rupert Goold | Macbeth |
| 2008 | Rob Ashford | Parade |
| 2008 | Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris | War Horse |
| 2008 | Jack O'Brien | Hairspray |
| 2009 |
| 2009 | John Tiffany | Black Watch |
| 2009 | Terry Johnson | La Cage aux Folles |
| 2009 | Des McAnuff | Jersey Boys |
| 2009 | Emma Rice | Brief Encounter |

### 2010s

| Year | Director | Production |
| 2010 |
| 2010 | Rupert Goold | ENRON |
| 2010 | Michael Grandage | Hamlet |
| 2010 | Lindsay Posner | A View from the Bridge |
| 2010 | Ian Rickson | Jerusalem |
| 2010 | Bijan Sheibani | Our Class |
| 2011 |
| 2011 | Howard Davies | The White Guard |
| 2011 | Dominic Cooke | Clybourne Park |
| 2011 | Michael Grandage | King Lear |
| 2011 | Thea Sharrock | After the Dance |
| 2012 |
| 2012 | Matthew Warchus | Matilda |
| 2012 | Sean Foley | The Ladykillers |
| 2012 | Nicholas Hytner | One Man, Two Guvnors |
| 2012 | Rufus Norris | London Road |
| 2013 |
| 2013 | Marianne Elliott | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
| 2013 | Jeremy Herrin | This House |
| 2013 | Simon McBurney | The Master and Margarita |
| 2013 | Stephen Daldry | The Audience |
| 2014 |
| 2014 | Lyndsey Turner | Chimerica |
| 2014 | Richard Eyre | Ghosts |
| 2014 | Maria Friedman | Merrily We Roll Along |
| 2014 | Susan Stroman | The Scottsboro Boys |
| 2015 |
| 2015 | Ivo van Hove | A View from the Bridge |
| 2015 | Rupert Goold | King Charles III |
| 2015 | Jeremy Herrin | Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies |
| 2015 | Josie Rourke | City of Angels |
| 2016 |
| 2016 | Robert Icke | Oresteia |
| 2016 | Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh | The Winter's Tale |
| 2016 | Matthew Dunster | Hangmen |
| 2016 | Jonathan Kent | Gypsy |
| 2017 |
| 2017 | John Tiffany | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child |
| 2017 | Simon Stone | Yerma |
| 2017 | John Tiffany | The Glass Menagerie |
| 2017 | Matthew Warchus | Groundhog Day |
| 2018 |
| 2018 | Sam Mendes | The Ferryman |
| 2018 | Dominic Cooke | Follies |
| 2018 | Marianne Elliott | Angels in America |
| 2018 | Rupert Goold | Ink |
| 2018 | Thomas Kail | Hamilton |
| 2019 |
| 2019 | Stephen Daldry | The Inheritance |
| 2019 | Christopher Ashley | Come from Away |
| 2019 | Marianne Elliott | Company |
| 2019 | Rebecca Frecknall | Summer and Smoke |
| 2019 | Sam Mendes | The Lehman Trilogy |

### 2020s

| Year | Director | Production |
| 2020 |
| 2020 | Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell | Death of a Salesman |
| 2020 | Jamie Lloyd | Cyrano de Bergerac |
| 2020 | Trevor Nunn | Fiddler on the Roof |
| 2020 | Ian Rickson | Uncle Vanya |
| 2021 | Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic | Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2022 |
| 2022 | Rebecca Frecknall | Cabaret |
| 2022 | Michael Longhurst | Constellations |
| 2022 | Kathleen Marshall | Anything Goes |
| 2022 | Max Webster | Life of Pi |
| 2023 |
| 2023 | Phelim McDermott | My Neighbour Totoro |
| 2023 | Rebecca Frecknall | A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 2023 | Robert Hastie | Standing at the Sky's Edge |
| 2023 | Justin Martin | Prima Facie |
| 2023 | Bartlett Sher | To Kill A Mockingbird |
| 2024 |
| 2024 | Jamie Lloyd | Sunset Boulevard |
| 2024 | Stephen Daldry & Justin Martin | Stranger Things: The First Shadow |
| 2024 | Rupert Goold | Dear England |
| 2024 | Sam Mendes | The Motive and the Cue |
* 1 2 Due to late March 2020 to late July 2021 closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022

## Multiple awards and nominations

Note: This list of multiple awards and nominations includes individuals awarded and nominated for the Best Director award (1976–1990, 1996–present), as well as the short-lived (1991–1995) more granular pair of awards for Best Director of a Play and Best Director of a Musical.

### Awards
#### Three awards

* Howard Davies
* Stephen Daldry
* Declan Donnellan
* Richard Eyre
* Sam Mendes

#### Two awards

* Michael Bogdanov
* Rupert Goold
* Terry Hands
* Nicholas Hytner
* Trevor Nunn
* Deborah Warner
* Marianne Elliott
* John Tiffany

### Nominations
#### Eleven nominations

* Sam Mendes

#### Ten nominations

* Richard Eyre
* Trevor Nunn

#### Six nominations

* Stephen Daldry
* Howard Davies
* Nicholas Hytner

#### Five nominations

* Declan Donnellan
* Rupert Goold
* Michael Grandage
* Adrian Noble
* Marianne Elliott

#### Four nominations

* Michael Blakemore
* Ian Rickson
* Matthew Warchus

#### Three nominations

* Michael Bogdanov
* Bill Bryden
* Dominic Cooke
* Terry Hands
* Simon McBurney
* Peter Wood
* Rebecca Frecknall
* John Tiffany

#### Two nominations

* Bill Alexander
* Alan Ayckbourn
* John Barton
* Matthew Bourne
* John Caird
* Jeremy Herrin
* Ian Judge
* Barry Kyle
* Jamie Lloyd
* Phyllida Lloyd
* Justin Martin
* Sean Mathias
* Des McAnuff
* Christopher Morahan
* Rufus Norris
* Steven Pimlott
* Harold Prince
* Susan Stroman
* David Thacker
* Deborah Warner
* Phelim McDermott