Dundee Rep’s Peer Gynt sweeps Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland

Published Monday 16 June 2008 at 11:50 by Thom Dibdin

Dundee Rep led the way at this year’s Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, taking four of the ten awards on offer, including Best Production for its staging of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.

Gynt, a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland, also garnered an award for director Dominic Hill, in what was his final production at the Rep before moving to Edinburgh’s Traverse theatre. Naomi Wilkinson won best design while Keith Fleming and Gerry Mulgrew were awarded jointly for their portrayal of the young and old versions of Gynt himself.

Success at the CATS might come too late for the Ayr-based company Borderline, which has been denied by the Scottish Arts Council in its two most recent funding rounds. The company took the ensemble award for its popular touring hit, The Wall.

The awards ceremony was held at Oran Mor, the venue in Glasgow’s West End which has become Scotland’s leading commissioner for new plays, in numerical terms at least, for its Play, Pie and a Pint lunchtime theatre. However, the critics saw fit to send the New Play award east, to the Traverse for Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Alan Wilkins.

The NTS continues to make its mark across the spectrum of Scottish theatre, with a further two of its co-productions receiving awards. Edinburgh’s Wee Stories took the best children’s theatre award for The Emperor’s New Kilt, while Amy Manson was named the best female performer for her role in Six Characters in Search of an Author at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum and the Glasgow Citizens.

Winners of the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2008

Best Performance (Female): Amy Manson as the Stepdaughter in Six Characters in Search of an Author - Royal Lyceum Theatre/Citizens’ Theatre/National Theatre of Scotland (NTS)

Best Performance (Male): Keith Fleming and Gerry Mulgrew as Peer Gynt in Peer Gynt - Dundee Rep/NTS

Best Ensemble: The Wall - Borderline Theatre

Best Design: Naomi Wilkinson for Peer Gynt - Dundee Rep/NTS

Best Technical Presentation: Angels in America - Citizens Theatre/Headlong/Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith

Best Use of Music and Sound: Alasdair MacRae for Subway - Vanishing Point

Best Show for Children and Young People: The Emperor’s New Kilt - Wee Stories/NTS

Best New Play: Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Alan Wilkins - Traverse Theatre

Best Director: Dominic Hill for Peer Gynt - Dundee Rep/NTS

Best Production: Peer Gynt - Dundee Rep/NTS