Rachel Weisz wins coveted Olivier award as Best Actress

[HMG] – A favorite guest of both Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon, British actress Rachel Weisz now has even more to chatter about — Last night she won a coveted Laurence Olivier Award for her work in the theatre.

The 30-year old actress won the Brit’s very prestigious equivalent of a ‘Tony’ for her performance as Blanche DuBois in a London production of the Tennessee Williams classic, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’

Rachel’s co-star, Ruth Wilson then made it a twofer when she won for her role as Stella in the same show.

And the pair beat some high-class competition — Also up for Best Actress were X-Files icon, Gillian Anderson, ‘Harry Potter’ star, Imelda Staunton and ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’s Juliet Stevenson.

In other news, 28-year old Katori Hall became the first black female playwright to win a major award when she scooped the ‘Best New Play’ prize for her new work, ‘The Mountaintop,’ which follows Martin Luther King through his last night alive.

Dame Maggie Smith, whom you’ll know best as Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter series was also honored for her ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Theatre.’

And while Broadway’s ticket sales are collapsing, the UK seems unaffected — The Brit’s spent $1.3-billion on theatre tickets last year – just in London. Over 14 million Londoners regularly attend plays, operas, musicals and ballet.

“These awards reflect a year of outstanding creativity which brought the public rushing to the theatre, taking our box office records to another high.” Nica Burns, President of the Society of London Theatre told the UK’s Telegraph.

And the proof is right there in their papers — other than ‘Streetcar’ the Brits can also indulge in live theatre revivals of Williams’ other classic, ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’  Arthur Miller’s ‘A View from the Bridge, the classic 17th century French comedy ‘The Misanthrope,’ or the time-travel drama, ‘Three Days of Rain’ to name but a few.