Cool for Edinburgh CATS
Edinburgh companies dominate in this year’s Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland
Most nominated: Gail Watson, Paul Thomas Hickey and Eileen Walsh in Quiz Show. Photo by Eoin Carey
By Thom Dibdin
Edinburgh’s theatres and theatre companies dominate the shortlists for the 2012/13 CATS, the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, which have just been announced. Eighteen of the 41 nominations are for Edinburgh-based productions with a further eight for shows touring to the city.
The Royal Lyceum does particularly well, picking up eight nominations in total, for five of its shows, with the Traverse getting six nominations for three productions – four of them for Quiz Show. Nominations are in ten categories with four shortlisted in each, apart from best play which has five.
“This has been a terrific year for some of Scotland’s best-known theatre companies, with the Lyceum, the Citizens, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse leading a very strong field,” said CATS co-convenor, Joyce McMillan. “There are signs that the trend towards co-productions between major companies is producing shows of outstanding scale and quality.”
There is a first-time nod to the Gilded Balloon for its fringe production of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, with Grant O’Rourke nominated for his performance as Mike Daisey. A deserved recognition for Karen Koren’s fringe venue which, although headlining comedy, produces a solid theatre programme every year.
Summerhall makes it onto the nominations list for the first time too, by virtue of Stellar Quines’ The List. Not strictly a Summerhall production, the nominations really belong to Muriel Romanes’ fantastic company. But the play was designed specifically for the venue’s Anatomy Lecture Theatre and picks up a best female performance nomination for Maureen Beattie and a best production nomination for the show itself.
Lyceum dominates the best ensemble category
Richard Conlon, Irene Macdogall, Emily Winter, Jessica Tomchak and Andy Clark in Time and the Conways at the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Photo © Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
The Lyceum Shows are spread across the theatre’s year, but it dominates the best ensemble category with nods for Takin’ Over the Asylum, The Guid Sisters and Time and the Conways. Interestingly, all three are co-productions: Asylum with the Glasgow Citizens, Guid Sisters with the NTS and the Conways with Dundee Rep.
All three are also nominated in two categories. Iain Robertson is nominated for his role as Eddie in Takin’ Over the Asylum – incidentally going up against the headline-grabbing Alan Cumming for his solo take on Macbeth for the NTS. Ti Green (set) and Mark Doubleday (lighting) are up for the best design award for their work on Time and the Conways. The Guid Sisters is nominated in the best technical category.
Still at the Lyceum, Amy Manson, who won the best female performance award in 2008 for her role in Six Characters in Search of an Author, is nominated in the same category for her portrayal of Nora Vaughan in the recently closed NTS/Lyceum co-production of A Doll’s House. The theatre’s final nomination goes to John Sampson for his music and sound in this January’s revival of A Taste of Honey.
The Traverse dominates the best new play category, as you would hope, with three of the four nominations either Traverse productions or co-productions.
Morna Pearson is nominated for her dark and twisted The Artist Man and the Mother Woman, Rob Drummond for the much-nominated Quiz Show and Douglas Maxwell for the foul-mouthed and utterly hilarious A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity, an Oran Mor play for which the Traverse gets co-production plaudits.
All the rest is Quiz Show which, with four nominations, is the most nominated show in the awards. Eileen Walsh is recognised for her performance as Sandra, as is Hamish Pirie for his direction, while the play is up against The List in the best production category.
Twisting, challenging and thoroughly stimulating
Lesley Hart in Magnetic North’s Sex and God. Photo © Colin Hattersley
The final Edinburgh nomination is in the best new play category. It goes to Linda McLean for her twisting, challenging and thoroughly stimulating script of Sex & God, produced by Edinburgh-based company Magnetic North.
There are a further six touring shows which were not produced in Edinburgh but were seen here over the CATS year, which runs from May 1 to April 30.
Designer Kai Fisher is involved in two: the quasi installation Entartet which was seen at the old Ambulance Station and is recognised for design, and Vanishing Point’s controversial Wonderland, seen at the Royal Lyceum at last year’s EIF, which is up for best technical production.
Blythe Duff is nominated for her performance as Fay Black in Iron, seen at the Traverse but a production from new Borders company Firebrand in association with Heart of Hawick.
The final three are all nominated in the best show for children and young people category. The NTS’s fantastic The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish is coming to the Museum of Scotland this week as part of Imaginate. While both Random Accomplice’s The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam and Greg Sinclair’s Sonata for a Man and a Boy, produced by macrobert, were seen at the Traverse. Sam is also nominated for best technical and Sonata for best music.
The CATS nominations list in full:
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE
Alan Cumming (all parts), Macbeth, National Theatre of Scotland
Gerard Murphy (Krapp), Krapp’s Last Tape, Citizens Theatre Company, Glasgow
Grant O’Rourke (Mike Daisey), The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh
Iain Robertson (Eddie), Takin’ Over the Asylum, a co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE sponsored by STV
Maureen Beattie (Narrator), The List, Stellar Quines, Edinburgh
Eileen Walsh (Sandra), Quiz Show, Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh
Blythe Duff (Fay Black), Iron, Firebrand Theatre Company in association with Heart of Hawick
Amy Manson (Nora Vaughan), A Doll’s House, a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
BEST ENSEMBLE sponsored by Equity
The Guid Sisters, a co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh and the National Theatre of Scotland
The Seafarer, a co-production between Perth Theatre and the Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Takin’ Over the Asylum, a co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh and the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Time and the Conways, a co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh and Dundee Rep Ensemble
BEST DIRECTOR
Dominic Hill, Krapp’s Last Tape/Footfalls, Citizens Theatre Company, Glasgow
Stewart Laing, The Maids, Citizens Theatre Company, Glasgow
Rachel O’Riordan, The Seafarer, a co-production between Perth Theatre and the Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Hamish Pirie, Quiz Show, Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh
BEST DESIGN
Kai Fischer (set), Entartet, Kai Fischer developed in association with Vanishing Point, Glasgow and the CCA, Glasgow
Ti Green (set) and Mark Doubleday (lighting), Time and the Conways, a co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh and Dundee Rep Ensemble
Rachana Jadhav (set), Karsten Tinapp (lighting), Kevin Pollard (costume) and Gail Sneddon (concept and video), Ménage à Trois, Claire Cunningham in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland
Charlotte Lane (set), Sergey Jakovsky (lighting), Ulysses, Tron Theatre Company, Glasgow in association with Project Arts Centre, Dublin and the Everyman, Cork
BEST MUSIC AND SOUND
Hilary Brooks, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas: The Musical, Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Hugh Nankivell, Ignition, National Theatre of Scotland in association with Shetland Arts
John Sampson, A Taste of Honey, Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh
Greg Sinclair, Sonata for a Man and a Boy, Greg Sinclair and the macrobert, Stirling
BEST TECHNICAL PRESENTATION sponsored by Northern Light
Wonderland, a co-production between Vanishing Point, Glasgow, Fondazione Campagnia Dei Festival – Napoli Teatro Festival Italia and Tramway, Glasgow in association with Eden Court, Inverness
Ménage à Trois, Claire Cunningham in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland
The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam, Random Accomplice, Glasgow
The Guid Sisters, a co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh and the National Theatre of Scotland
BEST SHOW FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, National Theatre of Scotland
The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam, Random Accomplice,
Sonata for a Man and a Boy, Greg Sinclair and the macrobert, Stirling
The Ugly Duckling, created by Andy Manley, a co-production between the Arches, Glasgow and Catherine Wheels
BEST NEW PLAY sponsored by W&P Longreach – Theatre Insurance Brokers
Rob Drummond, Quiz Show, Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh
Linda McLean, Sex & God, Magnetic North, produced in association with Platform, Glasgow
Douglas Maxwell, A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity, a co-production between A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Glasgow and the Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh
Morna Pearson, The Artist Man and the Mother Woman, Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh
BEST PRODUCTION
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas: The Musical, Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Krapp’s Last Tape/Footfalls, Citizens Theatre Company, Glasgow
The List, Stellar Quines, Edinburgh
Quiz Show, Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh
The Seafarer, a co-production between Perth Theatre and the Lyric Theatre, Belfast
ENDS
