I love her: John Ramm and Sian Thomas in The Goat at the Traverse, Edinburgh Pic: Richard Campbell
A play about falling in love with a goat and a play about a paraplegic pole dancer are among the most highly regarded theatre productions in Scotland in the last year, according to Scotland's theatre critics. Both The Goat and The Dark Things were produced by the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh which leads the nominations with fully one quarter of the possible 40 nominations. Dundee Rep has six more, making these two the most widely praised theatres in Scotland.
Larger organizations such as the National Theatre of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival have, respectively, two and one nomination each, as do a number of smaller companies
Other shows which attracted the judges' attention were Communicado’s production of The Government Inspector, which tapped into highly topical concerns about corruption and expenses scandals in government, a radical new version of Cinderella at the Citizens in Glasgow and a musical version of Compton Mackenzie's much loved tale, Whisky Galore! at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
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Mark Fisher, CATS co-convenor and The Guardian’s theatre critic in Scotland, said: “We were, as ever, spoilt for choice when it came to making our selections. The 2010 shortlists represent a truly impressive range of talent, whether it is the most intimate one-person show, such as Theatre Modo’s Sick or, as is the case with Grid Iron and Lung Ha’s Huxley’s Lab, a production with a cast of 30.”
Hill himself, who is artistic director of the Traverse, welcomed the recognition for his theatre: ”We’re over the moon to be nominated for 10 CATS for our productions this year. It’s an honour to have our work recognised by Scotland’s critics and testament to the first rate work of the fantastic writers, actors and theatre artists we’ve worked with over the past twelve months.”
James Brining, the director of Dundee Rep, paid tribute to his permanent company at Dundee, the only one of its kind in Scotland. “It’s about the consistency of the actors that gives you the confidence as a director to go to places you wouldn’t normally be able to go”, he said.
The CATS awards are becoming an increasingly established event in the Scottish theatre calendar. Several individual awards have secured long term commercial sponsors for the first time this year, with stage equipment firm Northern Light supporting the award for Best Technical Presentation, Glasgow based design agency GRP supporting the Best Male Performance and insurers W&P Longreach taking a risk on Best New Play.
Full details of the ceremony, the judges and the way the CATS work can be found at www.criticsawards.theatrescotland.com. The awards ceremony, which is open to the public, will be held at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre on June 13.
