Critics' kisses for Kate

Kiss Me Kate is a Tony award winner

The West End production of Kiss Me Kate has won the best musical prize at the prestigious Critics' Circle Theatre Awards.

The Broadway revival of the Cole Porter classic, playing at the Victoria Palace in London, beat Trevor Nunn's My Fair Lady to take the award.

Lindsay Duncan wins best actress award

Humble Boy, written by Charlotte Jones, won the best new play award and receives its press night on Tuesday.

Ian McDiarmid and Lindsay Duncan walked off with the prizes for best actor and best actress for their roles in Fair Healer and Private Lives respectively.

Political comedy

Gregory Burke was named most promising playwright for Gagarin Way, which made a huge splash at the Edinburgh Festival last year, before transferring to London.

His play is a political comedy centring on the ill-fated kidnapping of an executive of an international firm by disaffected workers.

His award augurs well for the future - two years ago Charlotte Jones won the same award.

Michael Blakemore's Tony-winning production Kiss Me Kate was written by Sam and Bella Spewack, and relates the tale of a theatre company putting on a touring production of Taming of the Shrew.

Staring Marin Mazzie and Brent Barrett, it has already picked up the London Evening Standard theatre award for best musical and has nine nominations for the Olivier awards.

The Critics' Circle was established in 1913 and has about 80 members in the drama section, including all of Britain's leading theatre critics.

The winners in full:

Best new play
Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones
(Royal National Theatre, London; Gielgud Theatre, London)

Best musical
Kiss Me Kate
(Victoria Palace, London)

Best actor
Ian McDiarmid for Faith Healer
(Almeida at King's Cross, London)

Best Actress
Lindsay Duncan for Mouth to Mouth & Private Lives
(Royal Court Jerwood Theatre, London; Albery Theatre, London)

The John and Wendy Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance
Samuel West for Hamlet
(Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford upon Avon; Barbican Theatre, London)

Best director
Robert Lepage for The Far Side of the Moon (Cultural Industry, Playhouse, Newcastle upon Tyne; Royal National Theatre, London)

Best designer
Paul Brown for Platonov
(Almeida at King's Cross, London)

Most promising playwright
Gregory Burke for Gagarin Way
(Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh; Royal National Theatre, London)

The Jack Tinker award for most promising newcomer
Lyndsey Marshal for Redundant & Boston Marriage
(Royal Court Jerwood Theatre, London; Donmar Warehouse, London)