The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time became the second consecutive play to bring home a massive haul of seven trophies at the Olivier Awards, with the stage adaption of Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel recreating the feat achieved by Matilda last year. It's success provided little opertunity for other successes on the night, except in the case of stage queen Helen Mirren, who came home with a Best Actress win as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience.

Dame Helen Mirren Luke Treadaway Dame Helen Mirren and Luke Treadaway show off their acting awards

Top Hat - the stage re-imagining of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical from 1935 - managed to take home Best New Musical, but it was TCIotDitN-T that finished as the main talking point of the night, winning all the top awards (bar Best Actress) including Best New Play, Best Director for Marianne Elliott and Best Actor for Luke Treadaway, 28, for his depiction of the 15-year-old, Asperger's suffering protagonist. The serious nature of the show meant that it was unable to score a win in the musical category, with A Chorus Line (Best Supporting Role - Leigh Zimmerman), Top Hat (Best New Play, Choreography) and Sweeney Todd (Best Actor - Michael Ball, Actress - Imelda Staunton, Revival) sharing the spoils. In the opera category, Einstein on the Beach took home Best New Opera and Bryan Hymel took home the Outstanding Achievement Award for his roles in Les Troyens, Robert Le Diable and Rusalka.

Other drama wins were Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, which took home Best Revival; Goodnight Mister Tom, the winner of Best Entertainment and Family Show; and the Royal Court theatre, which won Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for its season dedicated to new plays in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.

Marianne Elliott
Marianne Elliott with her Best Director gong