Paapa Essiedu wins at UK Theatre Awards

Old Forester Paapa Essiedu has received ‘Best Performance’ at the prestigious UK Theatre Awards.

Paapa, who played the Prince of Denmark earlier this year, won the accolade at a ceremony which took place in London on Sunday 9 October.

Speaking about his award, Paapa said it was “significant and insignificant at the same time” that he was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s first black actor to play Hamlet.

He added: “It’s significant in that the RSC is a national organisation that should represent everything in our country regardless of your creed, colour, religion, sexuality, whatever.”

Paapa, who was a pupil at Forest from 1997 to 2008, won critical acclaim for his role in the famous Shakespeare play.

The Times said he gave an “utterly engaging performance,” while the Guardian described the Old Forester as an “intensely likeable Hamlet.”