Suki Waterhouse, Kim Cattrall and Helen Mirren put on backstage show at Evening Standard Theatre Awards

Helen Mirren shows her royal credentials, Suki Waterhouse strikes a model’s pose and Kim Cattrall gets up close and personal with fellow actress Vanessa Kirby.

These behind-the-scenes photographs reveal what really went on at the 60th Evening Standard Theatre Awards as contenders, past winners and other guests mingled before the ceremony at the London Palladium.

Dame Helen returned as a presenter a year after being honoured for playing the Queen in The Audience to see Gillian Anderson named best actress for A Streetcar Named Desire. Anderson posed with a mask while her co-star Kirby fooled around with Cattrall in the photographs, published in ES Magazine tomorrow and Friday.

Helen McCrory and Billie Piper, who were nominated in the best actress category, posed with husbands Damian Lewis and Laurence Fox, while masters of ceremonies Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan took a laidback approach.

Eddie Redmayne, now garnering rave reviews for The Theory Of Everything, also posed for the cameras.

Last month’s ceremony was co-hosted by Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue and Condé Nast artistic director, and Christopher Bailey, chief creative and chief executive officer of Burberry.