The Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) has announced the nominations for its 11th year, with the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh and National Theatre of Scotland sharing the top spot with 8 nominations each and a record twelfth nomination for Glasgow Citz artistic director Dominic Hill.
Hill, who moved to the Citz from the Traverse in Edinburgh two years ago, gets his twelfth Best Director nomination for his production of Beckett's plays Krapp's Last Tale and Footfalls. NTS and Lyceum are represented in most categories either individually or in co-productions, but there are also newcomers to the nominations including established Edinburgh Fringe venue Gilded Balloon, Random Accomplice in Glasgow, the new Firebrand Theatre Company based in the Borders, and dance artist and theatremaker Claire Cunningham.
Once again, more than half of the eligible productions (106 out of around 180) were of new plays, and plays aimed specifically at children and young people were well-represented with 36 productions.
Scotsman critic and CATS co-convenor Joyce McMillan said, "with more than twenty companies represented on our nominations list—and work performed everywhere from Brae in Shetland to Hawick in the Borders—we are delighted to be able to reflect the astonishing diversity and range of Scotland's theatre scene, and the growing importance of new work in our theatre life.
"Almost half of our 2013 nominations involve brand new work created by Scottish-based theatre artists over the last year. That is a tremendous tribute to the vitality of Scotland's theatre scene, and to its terrific future potential."
The awards will be presented at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh on Sunday 9 June as part of that theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Expressing her delight at hosting the event, Traverse artistic director Orla O'Loughlin said, "the celebration of exciting theatrical voices has been key to the Traverse for fifty years, and in playing an integral part of this year’s event, we herald the next fifty years of supporting new and innovative theatrical talent."
The full list of nominations:
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
- 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
- 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, the National Theatre of Scotland in partnership with Claire Cunningham and Gail Sneddon
- 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
- 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, the National Theatre of Scotland in partnership with Claire Cunningham and Gail Sneddon
- 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
- 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