He won the prestigous award for his role in the Iceman Cometh.

Nicole Kidman's The Blue Room failed to pick up any major prizes at the ceremony in the Royal National Theatre - but the stage revival of Oklahoma! won in four categories.

Maureen Lipman's Oklahoma! won four awards

The Blue Room's stars, Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen, were both overlooked in the Best Actor categories. But the play is still in the running for the Best New Play award, which is to be announced over the weekend.

The acclaimed production which took London by storm last year, and is now being staged on Broadway, did however pick up the award for Best Lighting Designer.

But Oklahoma! which stars Maureen Lipman took the prizes for Outstanding Musical Production, Best Theatre Choreographer, Best Set Designer and Best Supporting Performance In A Musical.

Dame Judi Dench: Nominated for Filumena but lost out to Eileen Atkins

Stage veteran Eileen Atkins beat off strong competition from Kidman, Dame Diana Rigg and Oscar nominee Dame Judi Dench for her performance in The Unexpected Man.

In an unusual move the award of Best Actor In A Musical was given to the entire cast of Kat And The Kings - a production which also took the Best New Musical title.

The director Sir Peter Hall, whose repertory company is set to close at the end of this month, was presented with a special award for his contribution to the British arts.

His recent productions have included Kafka's Dick starring Eric Sykes, and Filumena with Dame Judi.

The awards, now in their 23rd year and presented by the Society of London Theatre, were hosted by the TV celebrity Clive Anderson.

The full list of awards

• Best Actress - Eileen Atkins for The Unexpected Man.
• Best Actor - Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh.
• Best New Comedy - Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle And Dick by Terry Johnson.
• Best Entertainment - The Right Size in Do You Come Here Often by Sean Foley, Hamish McColl and Josef Houben.
• Best New Musical - Kat And The Kings.
• Outstanding Musical Production - Oklahoma!
• Best Supporting Performance - Brendan Coyle for The Weir.
• Best Actress In A Musical - Sophie Thompson for Into The Woods.
• Best Actor In A Musical - The cast of Kat And The Kings.
• Best Supporting Performance In A Musical - Shuler Hensley for Oklahoma!
• Best Director - Howard Davies for The Iceman Cometh.
• Best Theatre Choreographer - Susan Stroman for Oklahoma!
• Best Costume Designer - William Dudley for Amadeus and The London Cuckolds.
• Best Lighting Designer - Hugh Vanstone for The Blue Room.
• Best Set Designer - Anthony Ward for Oklahoma!
• Best New Dance Production: Enemy In The Figure.
• Outstanding Achievement In Dance - William Forsythe and his company for their season at Sadler's Wells.
• Outstanding Achievement In Opera - the orchestra of the Royal Opera House for consistently outstanding musicianship in the Royal Opera's Le Nozze Di Figaro, the Bartered Bride and The Golden Cockerel.
• Best New Opera Production - Clemenzo di Tito by Welsh National Opera.
• Special Award - Sir Peter Hall.
• Best New Play - to be presented over the weekend to one of the following: The Blue Room by David Hare; Copenhagen by Michael Frayn; The Unexpected Man by Yasmina Reza; The Weir by Conor McPherson.