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Adrian Lester has won Best Performance in a Play at the UK Theatre Awards 2026 for Cyrano de Bergerac, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production that sold out in Stratford-upon-Avon before transferring to London’s West End. The awards were presented on Monday 12 October at a ceremony in London hosted by La Voix.
The UK Theatre Awards recognise work across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and this year’s acting awards also went to Julianne Pundan (Miss Saigon) and Gloria Obianyo (As You Like It, Theatre Royal Bath). The RSC had a second nominee in Adrian Lester’s category: Isis Hainsworth for the company’s Measure for Measure.
About the production
The RSC’s Cyrano de Bergerac is a new version of Edmond Rostand’s play by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson, directed by Simon Evans, with Adrian Lester as the poet-soldier Cyrano and Susannah Fielding as Roxane. It was a co-production with Wessex Grove and Gavin Kalin Productions. After its sold-out run in Stratford it moved to the Noël Coward Theatre in London, where it played until 5 September.
Other local winners
Two other winners are a short drive from Stratford: Birmingham Rep’s Sweeney Todd won Best Musical Production, and The Theatre Chipping Norton won Excellence in Inclusivity.
To see what’s on at the RSC’s Stratford theatres now, see our guide to the RSC in Stratford, which has the current listings, and our events calendar.
Alex Harrington
Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.
