Some 500 members of the Sydney theatre community gathered at the Seymour Centre’s York Theatre last night (19 January) for the presentation of the 2025 Sydney Theatre Awards.
Twenty-nine awards were presented, shared between 19 productions that played on Sydney’s stages in 2025.
The Sydney Theatre Awards are presented annually to celebrate the strength, quality and diversity of theatre in Sydney. This year, for the first time, winners received a trophy rather than the traditional framed certificate. Designed by Brian Thomson, the Sydney Harbour Bridge-like statuette has been affectionately nicknamed the ‘Syd’.
Sydney Theatre Awards – quick links
A feathery spectre of grief and a famous horse sweep the competition
Best Mainstage Production was awarded to Grief is the Thing with Feathers, produced by Belvoir St Theatre and Andrew Henry Presents, which also took home Best New Australian Work, Best Stage Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design and Composition.
Adapted from the novel by British author Max Porter, the play tells the tale of a despondent widower and his two young sons, who fall back on their imaginations as they grapple with their mother’s sudden death.
Best Musical was presented to the Hayes Theatre Co‘s debut production of Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical. Receiving rave reviews, this rollicking, provocative new Australian musical comedy put an absurd new spin on the rags-to-riches story of the nation’s most famous racehorse.
Phar Lap‘s director Sheridan Harbridge was also awarded Best Direction of a Musical, while lead performer Joel Granger took home Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Musical.
Best Independent Production went to Sistren, presented by Green Door Theatre Company in association with Griffin Theatre Company at the Old Fitz Theatre. The production also saw Ian Michael awarded Best Direction of an Independent Production.
Sistren was a chaotic and heart-warming story about two outcasts and self-proclaimed soulmates – the ‘Caribbean diva’ Isla and her ‘Ethel Cain adjacent’ transgender bestie Violet – dealing with the dramas of life and the dismay of their headmaster at their South London high school. It marked the playwriting debut of Iolanthe, who co-stars with her real-life bestie Janet Anderson.
(Hot tip: off the back of its smash-hit sold-out 2025 season, Sistren is returning to the stage for an encore season in April and May.)
Elsewhere, Damien Ryan was awarded Best Direction of a Mainstage Production for his work on The Player Kings for Sport for Jove; Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Mainstage Production went to Kat Stewart for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Best Performance in a Leading Role in an Independent Production was awarded to Fraser Morrison for his phenomenal performance in Cruise, presented by Fruit Box Theatre.
Elizabeth Butcher wins the Lifetime Achievement Award
The Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to Elizabeth Butcher AM. Butcher was General Manager of NIDA for almost 40 years and, alongside director John Clark, helped forge the school into a world-renowned training ground.
Read: How a life at NIDA helped shape Australian talent
Butcher also notably established the Sydney Theatre Company in 1979, then convinced the NSW Government to restore an abandoned wharf in Walsh Bay into the company’s iconic Wharf Theatres, which sparked the Hickson Road precinct’s transformation into a home for both the STC and many of the country’s top arts companies.
You can find a list of all the winners of the 2025 Sydney Theatre Awards below.
All the winners of the 2025 Sydney Theatre Awards
Best Mainstage Production
Grief is the Thing with Feathers (Belvoir and Andrew Henry Presents)
Best Independent Production
Sistren (Green Door Theatre Company in association with Griffin Theatre Company)
Best Direction of a Mainstage Production
Damien Ryan (The Player Kings)
Best Direction of an Independent Production
Ian Michael (Sistren)
Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Mainstage Production
Kat Stewart (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
Best Performance in a Leading Role in an Independent Production
Fraser Morrison (Cruise)
Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Mainstage Production
Angela Mahlatjie (Primary Trust)
Best Performance in a Supporting Role in an Independent Production
Deborah Galanos (Saints of Damour)
Best Stage Design of a Mainstage Production
Nick Schlieper and Simon Phillips with Craig Wilkinson and Jon Weber (Grief is the Thing with Feathers)
Best Stage Design of an Independent Production
Hannah Tayler and Paris Bell (Lost & Finding)
Best Costume Design of a Mainstage Production
Ella Butler and Hailley Hunt (Orlando)
Best Costume Design of an Independent Production
Emelia Simcox (Cowbois)
Read: Cowbois review: no guns, no politics … no purpose?
Best Lighting Design of a Mainstage Production
Nick Schlieper (Grief is the Thing with Feathers)
Best Lighting Design of an Independent Production
Ryan McDonald (Furious Mattress)
Best Sound Design And Composition of a Mainstage Production
Freya Schack-Arnott and Daniel Herten (Grief is the Thing with Feathers)
Best Sound Design And Composition of an Independent Production
Tom Hogan (Birdsong of Tomorrow)
Best New Australian Work
Grief is the Thing with Feathers (Simon Phillips, Nick Schlieper & Toby Schmitz)
Best Newcomer
Danny Howard (Jacky / Whitefella Yella Tree)
Iolanthe (Sistren / The Edit)
Read: Whitefella Yella Tree review: first contact and first love collide
Best Ensemble
The Player Kings (Sport for Jove in association with Seymour Centre)
Best Production of a Musical
Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical (Hayes Theatre Co)
Best Direction of a Musical
Sheridan Harbridge (Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical)
Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Musical
Joel Granger (Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical)
Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Elenoa Rokobaro (Hadestown)
Read: Musical review: Hadestown, Theatre Royal Sydney
Best Musical Direction of a Musical
Guy Simpson (Guys & Dolls)
Best Choreography of a Musical
Kelley Abbey (Guys & Dolls)
Best Design of a Musical
Dann Barber (Set and Costume Design, Candide)
Best Production for Children
Wolfgang in the Stars (Circa and Riverside Theatres)
Best Production For Young People
Converted (ATYP)
Lifetime Achievement Award
Elizabeth Butcher AM
