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Noël Coward
Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play
Noël Coward ; Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play
Awarded for	Best New Comedy
Location	England
Presented by	Society of London Theatre
First awarded	1976
Currently held by	Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2024)
Website	officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/

The Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

The award was titled Comedy of the Year from its establishment in 1976 until 1990, was renamed to Best Comedy starting in 1991, Best New Comedy starting in 1999, then retitled to its current name for the 2020 Olivier Awards – when "Entertainment" was moved to join Best Comedy Play from the Best Entertainment and Family award, which was renamed Best Family Show at that same time.

Winners and nominees

1970s

Year	Play	Writer
1976
	Donkeys' Years	Michael Frayn
	The Bed Before Yesterday	Ben Travers
	Confusions	Alan Ayckbourn
	Funny Peculiar	Mike Stott
1977
	Privates on Parade	Peter Nichols
	Bedroom Farce	Alan Ayckbourn
	Once a Catholic	Mary O'Malley
	The Kingfisher	William Douglas-Home
1978
	Filumena	Eduardo De Filippo, Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
	Shut Your Eyes and Think of England	John Chapman and Anthony Marriott
	Ten Times Table	Alan Ayckbourn
1979
	Middle-Age Spread	Roger Hall
	Clouds	Michael Frayn
	Outside Edge	Richard Harris

1980s

Year	Play	Writer
1980
	Educating Rita	Willy Russell
	Born in the Gardens	Peter Nichols
	Make and Break	Michael Frayn
	Sisterly Feelings	Alan Ayckbourn
1981
	Steaming	Nell Dunn
	Anyone for Denis?	John Wells
	Can't Pay? Won't Pay!	Dario Fo
	On the Razzle	Tom Stoppard
1982
	Noises Off	Michael Frayn
	Key for Two	John Chapman and Dave Freeman
	Season's Greetings	Alan Ayckbourn
	Trafford Tanzi	Claire Luckham
1983
	Daisy Pulls It Off	Denise Deegan
	Beethoven's Tenth	Peter Ustinov
	Run for Your Wife	Ray Cooney
	Woza Albert!	Barney Simon, Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngema
1984
	Up 'n' Under	John Godber
	Gymslip Vicar	Cliff Hanger
	Intimate Exchanges	Alan Ayckbourn
	Two into One	Ray Cooney
1985
	A Chorus of Disapproval	Alan Ayckbourn
	Bouncers	John Godber
	Love's Labours Lost	William Shakespeare
	Pravda	Howard Brenton and David Hare
1986
	When We Are Married	J.B. Priestley
	Lend Me a Tenor	Ken Ludwig
	The Merry Wives of Windsor	William Shakespeare
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	William Shakespeare
1987
	Three Men on a Horse	John Cecil Holm and George Abbott
	Groucho: A Life in Revue	Arthur Marx and Robert Fisher
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	William Shakespeare
	Twelfth Night	William Shakespeare
1988
	Shirley Valentine	Willy Russell
	Henceforward...	Alan Ayckbourn
	Separation	Tom Kempinski
	The Common Pursuit	Simon Gray
1989/90
	Single Spies	Alan Bennett
	Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell	Keith Waterhouse
	Some Americans Abroad	Richard Nelson
	Steel Magnolias	Robert Harling

1990s

Year	Play	Writer
1991
	Out of Order	Ray Cooney
	Gasping	Ben Elton
1992
	La Bête	David Hirson
	An Evening with Gary Lineker	Arthur Smith and Chris England
	It's Ralph	Hugh Whitemore
1993
	The Rise and Fall of Little Voice	Jim Cartwright
	Lost in Yonkers	Neil Simon
	On the Piste	John Godber
1994
	Hysteria	Terry Johnson
	April in Paris	John Godber
	The Life of Stuff	Simon Donald
	Time of My Life	Alan Ayckbourn
1995
	My Night with Reg	Kevin Elyot
	Beautiful Thing	Jonathan Harvey
	Dead Funny	Terry Johnson
	Neville's Island	Tim Firth
1996
	Mojo	Jez Butterworth
	Communicating Doors	Alan Ayckbourn
	Funny Money	Ray Cooney
1997
	'Art'	Yasmina Reza
	The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)	Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield
	Laughter on the 23rd Floor	Neil Simon
1998
	Popcorn	Ben Elton
	East is East	Ayub Khan-Din
	A Skull in Connemara	Martin McDonagh
1999
	Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick	Terry Johnson
	Alarms and Excursions	Michael Frayn
	Love Upon the Throne	Patrick Barlow, Martin Duncan and John Ramm
	Things We Do for Love	Alan Ayckbourn

2000s

Year	Play	Writer
2000
	The Memory of Water	Shelagh Stephenson
	Comic Potential	Alan Ayckbourn
	Quartet	Ronald Harwood
2001
	Stones in His Pockets	Marie Jones
	Cooking with Elvis	Lee Hall
	House/Garden	Alan Ayckbourn
	Peggy for You	Alan Plater
2002
	The Play What I Wrote	Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben
	Boston Marriage	David Mamet
	Caught in the Net	Ray Cooney
	Feelgood	Alistair Beaton
2003
	The Lieutenant of Inishmore	Martin McDonagh
	RolePlay	Alan Ayckbourn
	Dinner	Moira Buffini
	Lobby Hero	Kenneth Lonergan
2006
	Heroes	Gérald Sibleyras and Tom Stoppard
	Glorious!	Peter Quilter
	Shoot the Crow	Owen McCafferty
2007
	The 39 Steps	Patrick Barlow, Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon
	Don Juan in Soho	Patrick Marber
	Love Song	John Kolvenbach
2008
	Rafta, Rafta...	Bill Naughton and Ayub Khan-Din
	Absurdia: The Crimson Hotel	Michael Frayn
	Elling	Simon Bent
	Whipping It Up	Stephen Thompson
2009
	God of Carnage	Yasmina Reza
	Fat Pig	Neil LaBute
	The Female of the Species	Joanna Murray-Smith

2010s

Year	Play	Writer
2010
	The Priory	Michael Wynne
	Calendar Girls	Tim Firth
	England People Very Nice	Richard Bean
	Parlour Song	Jez Butterworth
2014
	Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense	Robert Goodale and David Goodale
	The Duck House	Dan Patterson and Colin Swash
	The Full Monty	Simon Beaufoy
	The Same Deep Water as Me	Nick Payne
2015
	The Play That Goes Wrong	Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Lewis
	Handbagged	Moira Buffini
	Shakespeare in Love	Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard and Lee Hall
2016
	Nell Gwynn	Jessica Swale
	A Christmas Carol	Patrick Barlow
	Hand to God	Robert Askins
	Peter Pan Goes Wrong	Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Lewis
2017
	Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour	Lee Hall
	The Comedy About a Bank Robbery	Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Lewis
	Nice Fish	Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins
	The Truth	Florian Zeller in a version by Christopher Hampton
2018
	Labour of Love	James Graham
	Dry Powder	Sarah Burgess
	Mischief Movie Night	Mischief Theatre
	The Miser	Molière in an adaptation by Sean Foley and Phil Porter
2019
	Home, I'm Darling	Laura Wade
	Nine Night	Natasha Gordon
	Quiz	James Graham

2020s

Year	Play	Writer
2020	Emilia	Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
	Fleabag	Phoebe Waller-Bridge
	Magic Goes Wrong	Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Lewis
	The Upstart Crow	Ben Elton
2021	Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic^[A]
2022^[A]	*Pride and Prejudice (sort of)*	Isobel McArthur
	The Choir of Man	Nic Doodson, Andrew Kay, Jack Blume, Ben Norris, Freddie Huddleston
	Pantoland at the Palladium	Michael Harrison
	The Shark Is Broken	Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw
2023
	My Neighbour Totoro	Tom Morton-Smith
	Jack and the Beanstalk	Michael Harrison
	My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?)	Rob Madge
	One Woman Show	Liz Kingsman
2024
	Stranger Things: The First Shadow	Kate Trefry
	Accidental Death of an Anarchist	Dario Fo & Franca Rame, adapted by Tom Basden
	Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends	Stephen Sondheim
	Vardy V Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial	adapted by Liv Hennessy

^ ^a ^b Due to late March 2020^[1] to late July 2021^[2] closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022^[3]

References

^ Johnson, The Rt Hon Boris, MP (2020-03-23). Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020 [transcript] (Speech). Prime Minister's Televised Speech to the United Kingdom. www.gov.uk. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-04-25. From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.{{cite speech}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ McPhee, Ryan (2021-06-14). "U.K. Postpones Reopening Roadmap; West End Theatres Will No Longer Reopen in Full in June". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Step 4 of the roadmap will allow productions to play without capacity restrictions. June 21 was the goal; now, the government is eyeing July 19.
^ Thomas, Sophie (2022-03-08). "Everything you need to know about the Olivier Awards". londontheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Any new production that opened between 19 Feb. 2020 to 22 Feb. 2022 are eligible for categories in the 2022 Olivier Awards. With two years worth of shows set for honours in one year's ceremony, the 2022 Olivier Awards will prove tougher competition than before.

London Theatre Guide (2008). "The Laurence Olivier Awards: Full List of Winners, 1976-2008" (.PDF). 1976-2008. The Society of London Theatre. p. 20. Retrieved 2008-08-30.

External links

Official website

[COVID1-4] Due to late March 2020^[1] to late July 2021^[2] closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022^[3]

[1] Johnson, The Rt Hon Boris, MP (2020-03-23). Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020 [transcript] (Speech). Prime Minister's Televised Speech to the United Kingdom. www.gov.uk. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-04-25. From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.{{cite speech}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[2] McPhee, Ryan (2021-06-14). "U.K. Postpones Reopening Roadmap; West End Theatres Will No Longer Reopen in Full in June". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Step 4 of the roadmap will allow productions to play without capacity restrictions. June 21 was the goal; now, the government is eyeing July 19.

[3] Thomas, Sophie (2022-03-08). "Everything you need to know about the Olivier Awards". londontheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Any new production that opened between 19 Feb. 2020 to 22 Feb. 2022 are eligible for categories in the 2022 Olivier Awards. With two years worth of shows set for honours in one year's ceremony, the 2022 Olivier Awards will prove tougher competition than before.

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