Cate Blanchett up for Evening Standard Theatre Award

Cate Blanchett is in the race for the best actress prize at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her first UK stage role for more than 13 years.

The Australian actress is shortlisted for her role as Lotte in Big and Small at The Barbican.

She goes up against Eileen Atkins for All That Fall; Laurie Metcalf for Long Day's Journey Into Night; and Hattie Morahan for A Doll's House.

The winners will be announced at the Savoy Hotel on 25 November.

Blanchett's nomination came as she received an honorary doctorate from Sydney University for her services to the arts at the weekend.

She has been the director of the Sydney Theatre Company since 2008.

The Evening Standard theatre awards ceremony will be presented by One Man, Two Guvnors star James Corden.

The Young Vic is shortlisted more than any other theatre. It has two nods for best director, two for best design and one for best actress.

Its production of Ibsen's A Doll's House is up for three awards in total - best director, best actress, and best design.

Elsewhere, husband and wife team Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti are both shortlisted for Red Velvet at the Tricycle Theatre.

A Doll's House scandalised audiences when it premiered in 1879 with its take on marriage and motherhood

Lester is up for best actor with his portrayal of the African-American actor Ira Aldridge, while Chakrabarti is shortlisted for most promising playwright.

Also in the best actor race are Simon Russell Beale, for Collaborators; Charles Edwards, for The King's Speech and This House; and Luke Treadaway, for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Meanwhile, Chakrabarti goes head-to-head with playwright John Hodge for Collaborators at the National Theatre and Tom Wells for The Kitchen Sink (Bush Theatre).

In contention for best play are Constellations by Nick Payne (Royal Court Upstairs), Love and Information by Caryl Churchill (Royal Court Downstairs) and This House by James Graham (National's Cottesloe).

Sarah Sands, editor of the London Evening Standard, said: "This year's shortlist serves to remind what is so great about London's theatre - new plays by young writers, classic drama reimagined in the most exciting ways and a host of unforgettable performances."

SHORTLIST

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)

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)

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 the Night-Time, (National Theatre's Cottesloe)

NATASHA RICHARDSON AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS

- Eileen Atkins, All That Fall (Jermyn Street)

- Cate Blanchett, Big and Small (Sydney Theatre Company for Barbican)

- Laurie Metcalf, Long Day's Journey Into Night (Apollo)

- Hattie Morahan, A Doll's House (Young Vic)

NED SHERRIN AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL

- Singin' In the Rain (Chichester Festival and Palace Theatre)

- Swallows and Amazons (A Bristol Old Vic production presented by the National Theatre in association with The Children's Touring Partnership at the Vaudeville Theatre)

- Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival and Adelphi)

BEST DESIGN

- Miriam Buether, Wild Swans (A Young Vic/American Repertory Theatre/Actors Touring Company co-production)

- Soutra Gilmour, Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse) and Antigone (National's Olivier)

- Ian MacNeil, A Doll's House (Young Vic)

CHARLES WINTOUR AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT

- Lolita Chakrabarti, Red Velvet (Tricycle)

- John Hodge, Collaborators (National's Cottesloe)

- Tom Wells, The Kitchen Sink (Bush)

THE MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER

- Denise Gough, Our New Girl (Bush) and Desire Under the Elms (Lyric Hammersmith)

- Abby Rakic-Platt, Vera Vera Vera (Royal Court Upstairs and Theatre Local Peckham)

- Matthew Tennyson, Making Noise Quietly (Donmar Warehouse)