Anjana Vasan, Zubin Varla and Waleed Akhtar win Olivier awards

Anjana Vasan, Zubin Varla, and Waleed Akhtar won Olivier awards last Sunday. Vasan won for her performance in the critically acclaimed play, A Streetcar Named Desire.

Paul Mescal, who was nominated this year for an Oscar and a BAFTA for his leading role in the film Aftersun, was named best actor and Vasan won the best supporting actress award in their performances as Stanley and Stella, respectively, in Tennessee Williams’ drama A Streetcar Named Desire, which played at The Almeida Theatre and is currently on at The Phoenix Theatre in London.

“Streetcar is an amazing play that has such depth of feeling. No other playwright writes the way Tennessee Williams does – he explores love without judgment, including all its darkest sides,” said Vasan.

A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the most critically acclaimed plays of the 20th century, first being performed on Broadway in 1947.

“There have been so many versions of this play, but there is still meaning to mine from it. Our show is going to be different because we’re three very different people. There are not many Stellas who look like me, so our story will be surprising and it will hopefully feel urgent,” added Vasan.

The Bush Theatre’s The P Word won the outstanding achievement in the affiliate theatre award.

The play charts the parallel lives of two gay Pakistani men – Zafar, who flees homophobic persecution in Pakistan to seek asylum in the UK; and Londoner Bilal (or Billy, as he prefers to be called), who is ground down by years of Grindr and the complexity of being a brown gay man.

“It would be remiss of me not to say, please, stand up and oppose what the government is doing with regards to asylum seekers. And if I wasn’t fasting, I’d probably say eff the Tories,” said Waleed Akhtar, who wrote The P Word, as he collected the award.

Zubin Varla collected the award for best-supporting actor in a musical for as pastor Jerry Fallwell in Tammy Faye.

Based on the life of Tammy Faye, the TV evangelist who captured the hearts of Christian America and then had a monumental fall from grace, the show boasts a score by musical legend Elton John.

Other notable winners were TV and film star Jodie Comer, who won the best actress in a play award for the one-person show Prima Facie, which also won best new play.

A stage adaptation of the Japanese animated classic My Neighbor Totoro won six trophies, including best entertainment or comedy play.