Rachel Weisz wins best actress London stage award

Rachel Weisz added a stage accolade to Hollywood stardom yesterday, winning the best-actress prize at London's Laurence Olivier theater awards for her role in "A Streetcar Named Desire," The Associated Press reports.

The prize for a Londoner made good in the United States was fitting on a night that rewarded several Broadway-bound productions, including "Enron," "Red" and "The Mountaintop." The rock musical "Spring Awakening" - which traveled the opposite direction, from New York to London - took four prizes, including best new musical.

Weisz won for playing faded belle Blanche Dubois in the Donmar Warehouse production of Tennessee Williams' steamy Southern drama.

Ruth Wilson, Stella in the same play, was named best supporting actress.

Weisz said it had been a delight to return to the theater after an eight-year absence.

"I think it's the greatest feeling in the world, being on stage," she said. "The adrenaline you get from it . . . I think it's very good for you as an actor."

Mark Rylance was named best actor for playing charismatic rebel Johnny "Rooster" Byron in Jez Butterworth's riotous rural drama "Jerusalem." He beat contenders who included Jude Law, for an acclaimed "Hamlet."

American playwright Katori Hall was the surprise winner in the best play category for "The Mountaintop." The play is a drama about civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., set on the night before his assassination.

The play opened in London at the 65-seat Theatre503 last year before transferring to the West End. It is scheduled to open on Broadway in the fall.

Hall is only the third woman, and the first black woman, to win the best new play prize in the Oliviers' 34-year history.

Her "Mountaintop" beat the heavily favored "Jerusalem" and Lucy Prebble's "Enron," an entertaining account of the Texas energy giant's fall.

Rupert Goold was named best director for "Enron," which opens at New York's Broadhurst Theatre next month.

The best supporting actor prize went to Eddie Redmayne for "Red," John Logan's play about artist Mark Rothko, another Donmar production that is now running on Broadway at the Golden Theater.

The Olivier awards, Britain's equivalent of the Tonys, honor achievements in London theater, musicals, dance and opera.

Winners are chosen by a panel of stage professionals, and one category - most popular play - by the public. Broadway import "Wicked" won the audience prize.