Evening Standard names Turner best actress

LONDON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- At the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in London Monday, Kathleen Turner was named best actress for her role in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

The "Romancing the Stone" actress received the best actress award at the 52nd rendition of the awards ceremony at London's Savoy Hotel, while Rufus Sewell took home the event's best actor award, the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, the annual awards show presented Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll" with its best play award and recognized Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon" with a special editor's award.

Evening Standard theater critic, Nicholas de Jongh, said that through honoring Marianne Elliott as best director for "The Pillars of the Community" and similar noted presentations, the judges were making a statement about the state of theater.

"There is a running theme in this year's awards' list," he told the BBC. "It reflects the concern of both the judges and the Evening Standard itself that the straight plays are in danger of being squeezed out of the West End; that they enjoy a valuable, historic role there and their survival should not be left to the subsidized playhouses like the National and The Royal Court."