And the Winner is...

The London Evening Standard Theatre Awards took place last weekend, highlighting the cream of the crop from a year chock full of exciting and varied content across the UK.

Among the winners was "Sweeney Todd", which deservedly took home the gong in our favourite category, the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical. Stage veteran Michael Ball played the razor-wielding Demon Barber of Fleet Street with a hilariously terrifying panache we haven't seen in the West End for a long time, alongside Imelda Staunton as the pie-mad Mrs Lovett.

Sir Nicholas Hynter, director of the celebrated National Theatre, won two awards -- one for his inventive and innovative direction of "Timon of Athens", and the other for his "dynamic directorship" of the National. The South Bank venue consistently showcases a delectable mix of drama and comedy as well as new and old; if you have never been, it's worth a visit. Snag tickets for one of the National's current plays, "Damned by Despair" -- an adaptation of a 17th-century tale of good versus evil -- for £15.

If you want to catch some of next year's potential winners, we've found a host of amazing offers for the festive season:

• Simon Callow ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") is the solo star of "A Christmas Carol" at the Arts Theatre, and we've negotiated up to £15 off the usual price every weeknight from 29 November-14 December
• Catch the hit adaptation of classic children's book The Snowman by Raymond Briggs at Sadler's Wells' Peacock Theatre for as little as £13.50
• Continuing the theme of favourite reads being adapted for the stage, here's an offer saving over 40% for "Goodnight Mister Tom", now playing at the Phoenix Theatre for a strictly limited time.

Click here for more theatre and show deals.