Rylance, Cumberbatch up for trophies at Olivier stage awards

London: Academy Award-winner Mark Rylance is a best-actor favourite at London’s Olivier Awards, a celebration of the London stage whose nominees include Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench and Nicole Kidman.

Rylance, who won a supporting-actor Oscar this year for Bridge of Spies, is best-actor nominated for playing an 18th-century Spanish monarch in Farinelli and the King.

He’s up against Cumberbatch — for a heralded Hamlet — Adrian Lester, Kenneth Branagh and Kenneth Cranham.

Kidman is a best-actress nominee for Photograph 51, a drama about the discovery of DNA, while Dench has a supporting-actress nod for Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.

A revival of Gypsy has the most nominations overall — eight — while the high-stepping Broadway hit Kinky Boots has seven.

Kinky Boots lyricist Cyndi Lauper will perform at Sunday’s Royal Opera House ceremony.