A year ago Sam Tutty was one of hundreds of students watching the Evening Standard Theatre Awards from the audience. At last night’s ceremony he was on stage — as one of the star performers.
The actor, starring in musical Dear Evan Hansen, admitted he was thinking about his previous visit to the awards as he performed Waving Through A Window for the audience at the London Coliseum.
Tutty, who was a student at the Italia Conti school last year, said: “It is amazing. I came here as a student for the last two years and now I’m performing. I stood on the stage during the rehearsal and looked up and thought, ‘last year I was sitting up there’.”
His audience included students from colleges such as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
They were invited as part of a scheme promoting future talent, sponsored by Burberry and Bottega Veneta, and posed for pictures with the Standard’s proprietor Evgeny Lebedev and his co-hosts American Vogue editor-in-chief Dame Anna Wintour, Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory. Among those enjoying the night was Bola Akeju, 20, a Rada student studying for an acting BA, who said: “I am so inspired right now, being in the room with so many phenomenal actors.”
Aliyah Odoffin, 19, also from Rada, said: “It is an honour to be here and a real opportunity for me and my fellow students to be inspired.”
The awards have a reputation for spotting and promoting young talent. In 2006, Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield was named most outstanding newcomer — the same award picked up two years earlier by Eddie Redmayne.
Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor and playwrights Conor McPherson, Martin McDonagh and Jez Butterworth have all been similarly acclaimed while starting out on their careers.
Rada is one of the most prestigious acting schools in the world and counts Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Tom Hiddleston and Ben Whishaw among its alumni. Its director Edward Kemp said: “It’s great that our students are able to attend the awards and get inspired by the actors, directors and designers who are celebrated — including many Rada graduates.
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“We’re proud to have close links with the theatre industry around the world and London’s theatres provide fantastic opportunities for our students to see a range of exciting and challenging work while they are developing as artists.”
The Guildhall School has a similarly prestigious history with Daniel Craig, Lily James and Dominic West among the ranks of its former students.
65th Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2019: Winners - In pictures
