# Helpmann Award for Best Play

The Helpmann Award for Best Play is a theatre award, presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2001. The award is for a production of a play, which may be a new work or a revival of an existing work. This is a list of winners and nominations for the Helpmann Award for Best Play.

## Winners and nominees

* Source:

### 2000s

| Year | Title | Production compan(y/ies) |
| 2001 (1st) |
| 2001 (1st) | Life After George | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2001 (1st) | 'Art' | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2001 (1st) | Jimmy and Pat Meet the Queen | Deckchair Theatre |
| 2001 (1st) | The Small Poppies | Company B Belvoir |
| 2002 (2nd) |
| 2002 (2nd) | Cloudstreet | Company B Belvoir and Black Swan Theatre |
| 2002 (2nd) | Master Class | International Concert Attractions |
| 2002 (2nd) | The Tempest | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2002 (2nd) | Three Sisters | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2003 (3rd) |
| 2003 (3rd) | Copenhagen | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2003 (3rd) | Soft | Back to Back and Melbourne Festival |
| 2003 (3rd) | The Comedy of Errors | The Bell Shakespeare Company |
| 2003 (3rd) | Waiting for Godot | Company B Belvoir and Sydney Festival |
| 2004 (4th) |
| 2004 (4th) | Inheritance | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2004 (4th) | Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America - A Drama in 30 Scenes | Playbox Theatre |
| 2004 (4th) | The Servant of Two Masters | The Bell Shakespeare Company |
| 2004 (4th) | Frozen | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2005 (5th) |
| 2005 (5th) | The Sapphires | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2005 (5th) | Twelve Angry Men | Arts Projects Australia and Adrian Bohm |
| 2005 (5th) | Hedda Gabler | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2005 (5th) | Three Furies | Sydney Festival |
| 2006 (6th) |
| 2006 (6th) | Stuff Happens | Company B Belvoir and Newtheatricals |
| 2006 (6th) | Away | Queensland Theatre Company and Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2006 (6th) | The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? | State Theatre Company of South Australia |
| 2006 (6th) | Le Dernier Caravansérail | Melbourne International Arts Festival and Théâtre du Soleil |
| 2007 (7th) |
| 2007 (7th) | The Lost Echo | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2007 (7th) | Holding the Man | Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2007 (7th) | Parramatta Girls | Company B Belvoir |
| 2007 (7th) | The Season At Sarsaparilla | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2008 (8th) |
| 2008 (8th) | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Company B Belvoir |
| 2008 (8th) | Black Watch | National Theatre of Scotland, Sydney Festival and Perth International Arts Festival |
| 2008 (8th) | When The Rain Stops Falling | Brink Productions |
| 2008 (8th) | Toy Symphony | Company B Belvoir |
| 2009 (9th) |
| 2009 (9th) | War of the Roses | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2009 (9th) | Women of Troy | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2009 (9th) | Ivanov | Katona Jozsef Theatre and Sydney Festival |
| 2009 (9th) | Gatz | Sydney Opera House and Brisbane Powerhouse |

### 2010s

| Year | Title | Production compan(y/ies) |
| 2010 (10th) |
| 2010 (10th) | Richard III | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2010 (10th) | August: Osage County | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2010 (10th) | Happy Days | Malthouse Theatre |
| 2010 (10th) | The Book of Everything | Company B Belvoir and Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image |
| 2011 (11th) |
| 2011 (11th) | The Wild Duck | Belvoir |
| 2011 (11th) | The Diary of a Madman | Belvoir |
| 2011 (11th) | Uncle Vanya | Sydney Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare |
| 2011 (11th) | Do not go gentle | fortyfivedownstairs |
| 2012 (12th) |
| 2012 (12th) | Ganesh Versus the Third Reich | Back to Back Theatre, Malthouse Theatre and Melbourne Festival |
| 2012 (12th) | Neighbourhood Watch | Belvoir |
| 2012 (12th) | The Boys | Griffin Theatre Company and Sydney Festival |
| 2012 (12th) | The Importance of Being Earnest | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2013 (13th) |
| 2013 (13th) | The Secret River | Sydney Theatre Company, The Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, Sydney Festival, The Centenary of Canberra, Perth International Arts Festival |
| 2013 (13th) | Medea | Belvoir and Australian Theatre for Young People |
| 2013 (13th) | Death of a Salesman | Belvoir |
| 2013 (13th) | Hedda Gabler | State Theatre Company of South Australia |
| 2014 (14th) |
| 2014 (14th) | Angels in America | Belvoir |
| 2014 (14th) | Roman Tragedies | Toneelgroep Amsterdam presented by Adelaide Festival in association with Adelaide Festival Centre |
| 2014 (14th) | The Shadow King | Malthouse Theatre in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals (Adelaide Festival, Brisbane Festival, Melbourne Festival, Perth International Arts Festival and Sydney Festival) |
| 2014 (14th) | Waiting for Godot | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2015 (15th) |
| 2015 (15th) | The Glass Menagerie | Belvoir |
| 2015 (15th) | Calpurnia Descending | Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2015 (15th) | Suddenly Last Summer | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2015 (15th) | Endgame | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2016 (16th) |
| 2016 (16th) | The Bleeding Tree | Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2016 (16th) | North by Northwest | Melbourne Theatre Company and Kay + McLean Productions by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures |
| 2016 (16th) | Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster | Performing Lines and Nicola Gunn |
| 2016 (16th) | Prize Fighter | La Boite Theatre Company and Brisbane Festival |
| 2017 (17th) |
| 2017 (17th) | The Drover's Wife | Belvoir |
| 2017 (17th) | Jasper Jones | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2017 (17th) | Once in Royal David's City | Queensland Theatre and Black Swan State Theatre Company |
| 2017 (17th) | Things I Know To Be True | State Theatre Company of South Australia and Frantic Assembly |
| 2018 (18th) |
| 2018 (18th) | The Children | Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2018 (18th) | The Irresistible | Side Pony Productions and The Last Great Hunt |
| 2018 (18th) | The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man | Malthouse Theatre |
| 2018 (18th) | Black is the New White | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2018 (18th) | The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2018 (18th) | Laser Beak Man | Brisbane Festival, La Boite Theatre Company and Dead Puppet Society in association with PowerArts |
| 2019 (19th) |
| 2019 (19th) | Counting and Cracking | Belvoir and Co-Curious |
| 2019 (19th) | Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owner of Death | Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre |
| 2019 (19th) | The Harp in the South: Part One and Part Two | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2019 (19th) | Song for a Weary Throat | Rawcus |
| 2019 (19th) | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Parts One and Two) | Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, and Michael Cassel |
| 2019 (19th) | The Second Woman | Nat Randall and Anna Breckon and Performing Lines |