The winners will be unveiled at a ceremony at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, on September 28, 2025.
The nominees have now been announced for The Stage Debut Awards for 2025.
With the winners being announced next month, the 46 nominations originate from UK shows staged in all four nations in eight categories. Each category aims to shine a light on on individuals making their professional or West End debuts, and salute excellence in acting, directing, design, writing and musical composition.
Nominees for the hotly contested Best West End Debut Performer award, the only category in which the winner is decided by public vote, features two sets of co-stars among the eight. Rachel Zegler and Diego Andres Rodriguez, the leading actors of Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Evita, are contenders alongside Tosin Cole (Netflix’s Supacell) and Heather Agyepong, the romantic leads of the Olivier-award nominated Shifters. Last summer’s hit love story also claims the most nominees for a single production, three in total with playwright Benedict Lombe in the running for Best Creative West End Debut. Meanwhile, Georgie Buckland’s standout performance in The Devil Wears Prada, Clueless the Musical’s Emma Flynn and Kat Ronney in Titanique are also nominated in this musicals-dominated shortlist alongside actor Samuel Brewer’s turn in Oedipus.
Elsewhere, this year’s Best Performer in a Musical category includes a four-strong all-female line-up. The nominees are Why Am I So Single?’s Leesa Tulley at London’s Garrick Theatre, Dora Gee in The Mad Ones at the Other Palace, London, and Megan Ellis in Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, the stage adaptation of the popular film at Leicester’s Curve theatre, alongside Eve Shanu-Wilson, who took over the lead role of Christine in the long-running The Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre, London.
Among the nominees for Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer category are: Lovestuck’s trio Martin Batchelar, James Cooper (co-creator and star of global comedy podcast hit My Dad Wrote A Porno) and Bryn Christopher at Theatre Royal Stratford East, London; Yve Blake’s Fangirls at the Lyric Hammersmith, London; and One Man Musical by Flo & Joan by Nicola and Rosie Dempsey at the Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh.
The UK’s vibrant theatre scene is evident in this year’s Best Performer in a Play category, with eight nominees represented on all manner of stages across the UK including Hilson Agbangbe for Wonder Boy at Bristol Old Vic and Paula Clarke for her performance in The Tragedy of Richard III at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre; Lucy Karczewski’s performance in Stereophonic in the West End’s Duke of York’s theatre; and Daisy Sequerra’s role in Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre. London fringe theatre also stakes its claim with Eva Morgan in The Glass Menagerie at the Yard and Christopher Neenan in Blood Wedding at Omnibus Theatre.
Meanwhile, the directing category sees Amit Sharma for Ryan Calais Cameron’s Retrograde (in the Best Creative West End Debut category) as well as Adam Karim for Guards at the Taj at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, and visionary Indian film-maker Aditya Chopra for Come Fall In Love at Manchester’s Opera House, who are all in the running for the Best Director category.
This year’s Best Creative West End Debut shortlist includes Mark Rosenblatt for Giant, Jethro Compton and Darren Clark for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eline Arbo (adapter/director) for The Years, Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli for Titanique while novelist Nathan Englander’s Olivier-nominated What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank makes the shortlist as a contender for his debut as Best Writer. Richard Mylan, a Debut Awards’ Best Writer nominee for Sorter (2023), returns this time as a contender in the Best Director category, flexing his multi-disciplinary skills in Mumfighter at Swansea Grand Theatre.
In addition it has been announced that actor and pantomime dame Julian Clary will be the host at this year’s ceremony. Talking about the news he said: “It is a true pleasure to host this annual celebration of emerging talent in the theatre industry where we will honour the artistry, creativity and dedication of the newest voices shaping the future of the stage. I look forward to celebrating the extraordinary promise of these rising stars.”
The Stage editor Alistair Smith comments: “Judging The Stage Debut Awards was as thrilling as it was challenging. The sheer breadth and brilliance of emerging talent across the UK made narrowing down our longlist of more than 200 eligible theatremakers no easy task.
“For the first time, our shortlists include nominees from productions staged in all four nations of the UK — a real testament to the geographical spread and vibrancy of theatremaking today. We’re also proud to recognise artists working at every scale: from performers and creatives in blockbuster West End musicals to those making their mark in some of the UK’s most intimate fringe spaces. This year’s nominees truly embody the future of British theatre, and I can’t wait to celebrate their achievements.”
Votes for Best West End Debut Performer is open now and can be cast online at here with voting closing on September 14. This award honours a performer’s first appearance in London’s West End.