Knightley made her West End debut with Martin Crimp's version of Molière's comedy "The Misanthrope". Starring Knightley, Damian Lewis, Tara Fitzgerald, and Dominic Rowan, the play was staged at London's Comedy Theatre in December 2009. Knightley decided to act in a theatre production as she felt that "if I don't do theatre right now, I think I'm going to start being too terrified to do it". While she described it as an "extraordinary and incredibly fulfilling" experience, she was sceptical of her performance. Charles Spencer of "The Daily Telegraph" described her performance as revealing "both power and poignancy" and Paul Taylor of "The Independent" called it "not only strikingly convincing, but, at times, rather thrilling in its satiric aplomb".</ref> However, "The Guardian"s Michael Billington noted that due to the nature of the role, "one could say that she is not unduly stretched". In recognition of her theatre debut, Knightley was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and an "Evening Standard" Award.