A VERY EXPENSIVE POISON, Lucy Prebble’s ambitious drama about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, has won the Michael Billington award for best new play at the Critics’ Circle theatre awards. The prize, newly renamed to honour the Guardian’s former chief theatre critic, was handed out at a ceremony on Tuesday in London. The Old Vic production, which Billington admired for its “kaleidoscopic variety of tone”, was based on Guardian journalist Luke Harding’s book of the same name and also earned Tom Scutt the award for best designer.
The Critics’ Circle theatre awards were founded in 1989 and there are more than 100 members of its drama section. Critics independently cast their votes for the awards categories based on personal choice, free of any panel discussion.
Congrats to Lucy!