The Stage

Traverse leads nominations for CATS Awards

Published Thursday 13 May 2010 at 13:47 by Thom Dibdin

Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre has garnered a quarter of all the nominations in the shortlist for this year’s Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, which was announced this morning.

The Traverse’s ten nominations include six for Ursula Rani Sarma’s new play, The Dark Things, which is also the most nominated production on the shortlist. With the company’s production of Edward Albee’s The Goat receiving three nominations it leaves artistic director Dominic Hill going head to head with himself in two categories - best director and best production.

A co-production of The Government Inspector from Glasgow’s Tron Theatre and Communicado is the second most lauded production with nominations in four categories, including ensemble, use of music and best overall production.

Dundee Rep is also strongly represented with productions of The Elephant Man and A Christmas Carol receiving three nominations each. Jemima Levick is up for best director for her work on the former, while the latter is up for best overall production.

This year’s shortlist sees several firsts among the 21 different shows which are nominated for the awards, which are in their eighth year and which celebrates those who have made the most thrilling contributions to the theatre industry over the previous 12 months.

An inclusive company for people with learning difficulties has been nominated for the first time, with the co-production between Lung Ha’s and Gridiron of Huxley’s Lab. The boundary between live art and theatre has been further blurred with the first ever inclusion of a Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art commission: the 13-hour, improvised piece The Darktown Cakewalk: Celebrated From the House of FAME.

Speaking about the awards, Dominic Hill said: “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. I am delighted to have been nominated for two awards as director.”

Co-convenor of the CATS, Mark Fisher, added: “It has been a bumper year for great theatre in Scotland and we were spoilt for choice when it came to making our selections. The 2010 shortlist represents a truly impressive range of talent, whether it is the most intimate one-person show like Suzie Ferguson in Sick by Theatre Modo or, as is the case with Huxley’s Lab, a production with a cast of 30.”

Winners of the CATS will be announced at a public ceremony in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre on Sunday 13 June. Tickets are available from the EFT box office.

The nominations in full are:

Best Actor (Male)

John Bett as the Governor, The Government Inspector, Communicado/Tron Theatre

Brian Ferguson as Daniel, The Dark Things, Traverse Theatre

Kevin Lennon as John Merrick, The Elephant Man, Dundee Rep

Jimmy Yuill, Testament Of Cresseid, Edinburgh International Festival

Best Actor (Female)

Suzanne Donaldson as LJ, The Dark Things, Traverse Theatre

Suzie Ferguson, Sick, Theatre Modo

Cara Kelly as Maureen Folan, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Royal Lyceum

Sian Thomas as Stevie, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Traverse Theatre

Best Ensemble

A Christmas Carol, Dundee Rep

The Darktown Cakewalk: Celebrated from the House of FAME, Sorcha Dallas, The Work Room, Tramway, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art

The Government Inspector, Communicado/Tron Theatre

Huxley’s Lab, Grid Iron/Lung Ha’s

Best Director

Ken Alexander, Whisky Galore, Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Dominic Hill, The Dark Things, Traverse Theatre

Dominic Hill, The Goat, Traverse Theatre

Jemima Levick, Elephant Man, Dundee Rep

Best Design

Kai Fischer (set and lighting) and Finn Ross (projection and video design), The Beggar’s Opera, Royal Lyceum, Vanishing Point and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in association with Tramway

Alex Lowde (set) and Colin Grenfell (lighting), The Elephant Man, Dundee Rep

Jason Southgate (set) and Graham Sutherland (lighting), Cinderella, Citizens Theatre

Neil Warmington (set) and Lizzie Powell (lighting), The Dark Things, Traverse Theatre

Best Use of Music and Soung

Jon Beales, Shona McKee McNeil, Ian Hammond Brown and the company, Whisky Galore, Pitlochry Festival Theatre

David Paul Jones, The Songbird, Giant

Alasdair Macrae, The Government Inspector, Communicado/Tron Theatre

Stuart McCallum, The Darktown Cakewalk: Celebrated from the House of FAME, Sorcha Dallas, The Work Room, Tramway, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art

Best Technical Presentation

Bright Black, Vox Motus (in association with Platform and supported by Cumbernauld Theatre and Fife Arts Trust)

A Christmas Carol, Dundee Rep

Jane Eyre, Perth Theatre

Mr Write, National Theatre of Scotland

Best Production for Children and Young People

Cinderella, Citizens Theatre

Mr Write, National Theatre of Scotland

Pobby and Dingan, Catherine Wheels

The Songbird, Giant

Best New Play

Alan Bissett, Turbo Folk, A Play, a Pie and a Pint

Kieran Hurley, Hitch (Full Version), The Arches

Dennis Kelly, Orphans, Traverse Theatre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre in association with Paines Plough

Ursula Rani Sarma, The Dark Things, Traverse Theatre

Best Production

A Christmas Carol, Dundee Rep

The Dark Things, Traverse Theatre

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Traverse Theatre

The Government Inspector, Communicado/Tron Theatre