Mark Rosenblatt's Giant and Robert Icke's Oedipus were the big winners at this year's Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, revealed yesterday (27 March 2025) at a ceremony at the National Theatre in London.

The Best New Play Award went to Rosenblatt's Giant, a dark portrait of the fiendishly complex icon of children's literature, Roald Dahl, which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2024 in a production directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring John Lithgow. Rosenblatt also won the Most Promising Playwright Award for his play, which has had critics and audiences raving, and transfers to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End from 26 April.

The Best Director Award went to Robert Icke for his own version of Sophocles' Oedipus, which opened at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End last year. The production, which is headed to Broadway, also took the Best Actor and Best Actress Awards for its leads, Mark Strong and Lesley Manville.

Both plays are proudly published by Nick Hern Books.