‘W
hen you are in work,
being an actor is the best
job in the world,” Rory
Kinnear told a gathering
of some of the biggest
names in the theatre
industry. But often, he added, the
reality for a young actor is spending a
lot of time out of work and then being
forced to decide between “the job that
rewards you well” and “the one that
pays you well”.
Kinnear was the guest of honour at
Monday’s Ian Charleson Awards, which
celebrate the best stage performances
by actors under 30 in a classical role —
Kinnear won the award in 2007. The
awards honour the actor Ian Charle-
son, who died in 1990 aged 40, months
after performing an extraordinary
Hamlet at the National Theatre. They
have been supported by the National
Theatre and The Sunday Times since
they were established 32 years ago.
We can reveal that this year’s winner
is Gloria Obianyo for her role as Neoptol-
emus in Paradise by Kae Tempest at the
National Theatre — a performance that
“never put a foot wrong”, judges said.
Obianyo said that she was delighted
to win the award, particularly when the
cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic
have compounded the challenges of
making it as a young actor.
“When you’re not in work all of your
demons come out and you start worry-
ing about whether you will ever work
again,” she said. “It’s been a tumultuous
time. You do spend time figuring out
how to make it to the end of the week.”
She joins an extraordinary list of past
winners that includes Rebecca Hall,
David Oyelowo and Tom Hollander.
This year’s judges were the actors
Emma Fielding and Ashley Zhangazha,
the National Theatre casting director
Alastair Coomer and the former
Times theatre critic
Kate Bassett.IAN CHARLESON AWARDS
A former X Factor contestant, a child
dancer and a man who had to dress as
a coffee cup — Jake Helm presents this
year’s Ian Charleson award-winners
young, gifted and H
Gloria Obianyo, 27
Awarded first prize
for Neoptolemus
in Paradise,
National Theatre
Obianyo intended
to be an engineer when she was
younger. It wasn’t until she saw
High School Musical when she was 12
that she realised she wanted to act.
Her first role was in Jesus Christ
Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air
Theatre before she had even finished
drama school. Paradise was her first
big role and she says “it’s cool” that it
has been recognised. She recently
finished filming the second series of
Good Omens with David Tennant and
Michael Sheen.Dream role
“I understudied Sophie Okonedo as
Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra at
the National Theatre and I would
love to experience actually playing
that role.”Aimee Lou Wood, 28
Awarded second
prize for Sonya in
Uncle Vanya, Harold
Pinter Theatre
Wood was shy when
she was younger and started doing
drama to make friends at secondary
school in Manchester. “It helped me
fit in. I wanted to feel like I belonged,”
she says. She is best known as Aimee
in Netflix’s Sex Education, but she
started out in theatre — playing a
handmaiden in Mary Stuart at the
Almeida in 2016. She says playing
Sonya, the self-doubting daughter in
Uncle Vanya, at the Harold Pinter in
2020, was “life changing”. Her nextproject is Seize Them! — a comedy
series set in the Dark Ages.Dream role
“In Sex Education everything is stylised,
so I would love to do something quite
real. I know everybody says they
would like to be in Succession, but I’d
love to do something like that. Or
anything with Ncuti Gatwa, my
Sex Education co-star, who has
just been cast in Doctor Who.
He is one of my favourite
people in the world and I
would do anything to spend
time with him.”Lorn Macdonald, 29
Awarded third prize
for Segismundo in
Life Is a Dream,
Lyceum
He was praised for
his “passionate” performance as
Segismundo in Life Is a Dream at the
Lyceum in Edinburgh last year. He is
playing Albion Finch in the Netflix
romp Bridgerton. “I haven’t done a
sex scene yet but they don’t bother
me,” he says.Favourite actors I’ve worked with
“I was in Deadwater Fell with DavidPHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK BOURDILLONCentre stage
Gloria Obianyo
with, from left,
Sinéad Cusack,
Jeremy Irons,
Rory Kinnear,
Ian McKellen10 22 May 2022