Benedict Cumberbatch has been nominated in the best actor category for the 16th annual WhatsOnStage awards.
The Sherlock actor’s recent production of Hamlet – which sold-out way before the play even started – is the most nominated play of this year’s line-up.
The play’s other nominations include supporting actor nods for Ciaran Hinds, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Sian Brooke and Anastasia Hille, as well as a separate nomination for director, Lyndsey Turner.
Meanwhile, Cumberbatch faces competition from James McAvoy (The Ruling Class), Bradley Cooper (The Elephant Man), Mark Rylance (Farinelli and the King) and Alex Hassel (Henry V) for the best actor prize.
Kinky Boots and In The Heights also have nine nominations each, and will both be up against Elf the Musical, Bend It Like Beckham and Beautiful for best new musical. For best actress, the nominees include Rosalie Craig (As You Like It), Denise Gough (People, Places, Things), Harriet Walter (Death Of A Salesman), Lia Williams (Oresteia) and Nicole Kidman for her performance as a pioneering scientist in Photograph 51.
Photograph 51 has also been nominated for best new play along with Farinelli and the King, Oppenheimer, People, Places and Things and Hangmen.
The winners, chosen by public vote, will be announced on 21st February 2016 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.
