Evening Standard announced the shortlist for its annual theatre awards today or the BAFTA's to the Olivier's Oscars as I like to think of it. Here's my pick of winners and which I think will win - I've omitted anything musical/production related and those categories where I've only seen one out of the three shortlisted plays.

BEST PLAY

• Constellations by Nick Payne (Royal Court Upstairs)
• Love and Information by Caryl Churchill  (Royal Court Downstairs)
• This House by James Graham (National’s Cottesloe)

 Stan's choice: Love and Information is my least favourite of the three - it gave me a headache. This House was very good but I think Constellations was clever and moving.

And the winner: Probably be Love and Information just because it Caryl Churchill and it was so different and clever (but it still gave me a headache)

BEST DIRECTOR

• Carrie Cracknell for A Doll’s House (Young Vic)
• Nicholas Hytner for Timon of Athens (National’s Olivier)
• James Macdonald for Love and Information (Royal Court Downstairs)
• Ian Rickson for Hamlet (Young Vic)

Stan's choice: Even though it isn't my favourite I think James Macdonald should win just for the sheer logistics of directing a play of that scope and variety.

And the winner: Love and Information. For reasons I've mentioned above. I think Hamlet and A Doll's House were quite devisive and therefore that will count them out and although Timon was fab not sure it was Hytner's best and award winning work.

BEST ACTOR

• Simon Russell Beale, Collaborators (National’s Cottesloe)
• Charles Edwards, The King’s Speech (Wyndham’s) and This House  (National’s Cottesloe)
• Adrian Lester, Red Velvet (Tricycle Theatre)
• Luke Treadaway, The Curious Incident of the Dog in theNight-time, (National Theatre’s Cottesloe)

Stan's choice: Have only seen SRB, Treadaway and Edwards in This House, in this category. I've heard good things about Lester but as I haven't seen Red Velvet I have to eliminate him from my choice. It's down to SRB and Treadaway. I loved both performances very much and both plays, saw them twice in fact but I think if push came to shove then Treadaway but just by a hair.

And the winner: I have a feeling that Lester will be in with a good chance but he'll be up against Treadaway. It'll definitely be one of those two.

Everyone else has already mulled over the Olivier Awards shortlist I'm sure but I'm not one to miss an opportunity to put in my own two-penneth.

So here are some of my thoughts on the contenders, my predictions for the winners and those I think were shamefully missed off.  (And now with the results added in)

Best New Play

Contenders:

Jumpy - I enjoyed it very much critics were more mixed, not sure I would give it an award though

Ladykillers - Memorable more for the set than the play which was entertaining enough but not the funniest thing around in the West End in the last 12 months.

One Man Two Guvnors - Enjoyed, probably even more second time around when could pay more attention to witty script. Yes this should be here.

Collaborators - Loved this. Very clever as well as funny,  well deserves its place.

OMISSION?  Well most of the new writing I've seen isn't in the West End so I can't add anything that would qualify for this category.

AND THE WINNER IS? I'd like it to be Collaborators but I think it will be One Man Two Guvnors. Hurrah it was the Collaborators

That's the sound of me jumping on the awards bandwagon again and lets face it the only ones I'll ever wholly agree with are my own. So here is my attempt to honour (and dishonour) the theatre world for it's work and effort (or lack of it) in 2011...

The 'Ooo hello' moment award:

Jude Law, Anna Christie

Boat in a storm. A drenched Jude Law struggles aboard and then immediately takes his top off revealing a torso so buff I had to stifle a gasp. I know I'm not alone in this (click on pic for full size). 

Highly commended: The shirt-ripping Oliver Rix and Alex Hassell in Cardenio dubbed Phwoar Cardenio here at the vicarage.

The keeping fake blood manufacturers in business award

Propeller for Richard III

Propeller leads the way when it comes to gore in fact they laugh in the face of dry stabs or armpit stabs. And they don't just stab, they chop and saw and spray, spray, spray stage blood by the bucket loads. 

The upstaged award

The Ladykillers, Gielgud Theatre

When you urge people to go and see a play because the set and what is does is amazing, it does stop and make you think.

The living on a different planet:

Royal Court theatre

Hello marketing/ticket sales/admin people at the Royal Court *waves*. In the world of real people, working normal jobs (that's jobs that start at 9 just in case you weren't aware) we don't reveal details of our new season online at 7am and then put the tickets on sale at 9am as this leaves only 2 hours to organise friends and suitable dates at a time when you are getting ready and going to work. 

By guest writer polyg

Alas, it's not what you think. Mark Rylance didn't attack the Whatsonstage Awards, or indeed the Whatsonstage Awards didn't attack Mark Rylance. But today, among theatre lovers, it's the only two things worth talking about.

Mark Rylance is coming back to the Globe next summer, to play Richard III (or Dick the Shit, as Kevin Spacey calls him) and Olivia in an all-male production of the Twelfth Night. I have had enough of Richard III lately (and for me, Richard Clothier made more of a lasting impression than Kevin Spacey), but Mark Rylance anywhere is a big event, and Mark Rylance at the Globe is huge. If that wasn't enough, the prospect of an all-male Twelfth Night is mouth watering. I missed the original production in 2002, and I don't intend to make the same mistake. Back then, Ed Redmayne had his first big break as Viola, who will play the role this time? (Freddie Fox, if the rumours are true).

And of course, today the Whatsonstage Awards Nominees were announced. At the best of times, I have conflicted feelings towards awards, as they often miss the point entirely. But strangely enough, reading the nominations, I don't feel as irate as I normally feel. Granted, the nominations lean towards the big and the popular (bigger names, bigger productions), but that was a given, and there is a lot I can get behind: Matilda, Jumpy, Collaborators, Tamsin Greig, David Tennant, Sheridan Smith, Josie Rourke, Bertie Carvel, The Passion on the streets of Port Talbot, to name a few. I can live with that.

And I am very happy for at least one nomination: Mark Gatiss in Season's Greetings has been one of my favourite performances in the last year, funny, heartbreaking, fragile. But when it was time to vote, I forgot about it (I voted for Paul Higgins in Luise Miller instead). I don't necessarily regret my vote, but Mark Gatiss deserves all the recognition he can get.