With a panel of judges which includes some of Scotland’s most well-known commentators, the Critics’ Awards For Theatre In Scotland (CATS) presents its 19^th edition. Familiar categories range from Best Male and Best Female Performance, through technical shortlists to the ultimate prize for Best Production, offering a handy outline of the landscape of theatre made in Scotland. 

Despite covid’s challenges, the CATS’ return signals continued creativity and imagination of Caledonia theatre-makers and, while the nominations are missing some winners from previous years, the selection speaks both of this community’s general health and the kind of work that Scotland is producing.

The nominations do suggest a preference, at least amongst the panel, for a certain type of performance. Life Is A Dream, directed with gusto by Wils Wilson, has multiple nominations (including Lorn Macdonald for Best Male Performance, Alison Peebles for Best Female Performance plus Best Ensemble and Best Production), Bard In The Botanics’ Medea has several, and two productions of Shakespeare have one apiece. Together, these suggest an affinity for a theatre still based around ‘classic’ scripts (although Life Is A Dream is perhaps more obscure) and, as the presence of a category for Best New Play attests, the CATS cleave to a relatively traditional notion of performance. 

^{Alison Peebles and Lorn Macdonald are both nominated for Life Is A Dream (picture by Ryan Buchanan) while Doppler (top, picture by Janeanne Gilchrist) appears on two CATS shortlists}

While Sex Education Xplorers (S.E.X) from Independent Arts Projects, which features in the Best Production For Children And Young People category, comes from a performance-art pedigree and matches its challenging content with an innovative dramaturgy, and Grid Iron’s Doppler had a site-responsive staging, the overall impression is of a theatre founded firmly on the past and located in familiar venues.

This isn’t to disparage the works selected, although the omission of Niqabi Ninja, which overlaid the streets of Edinburgh with a cauldron of misogynistic violence, was astonishing. After all, companies like Grid Iron, theatres of the calibre of Lyceum and Tron, and festivals such as Bard In The Botanics have been most able to maintain their output after the pressure of lockdown. Smaller companies and experimental theatre are more likely to have suffered, lacking the infrastructure and consistency of funding. Plus, the selection showcases scripted theatre’s diverse styles, from This is Paradise’s taut, emotional monologue through to the large ensemble and innovative staging of Life Is A Dream. 

In the nature of the categories, CATS tends towards a conservative notion of theatre and its division of labour. Nevertheless, in a year which has posed questions about the very future of theatre, these awards are a reminder that Scotland is home to a thriving and dynamic community of actors, musicians, designers, directors, writers and technicians. 

Critics’ Awards For Theatre In Scotland takes place at Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Sunday 11 September.

Full shortlists:

Best Female Performance

Nicole Cooper in Medea (Bard In The Botanics)

Amy Molloy in This Is Paradise (Traverse Theatre)

Alison Peebles in Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum Theatre)

Naomi Stirrat in Every Brilliant Thing (An Tobar and Mull Theatre)

Best Male Performance

Brian Ferguson in White Nights (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)

Keith Fleming in Doppler (Grid Iron Theatre Company)

Lorn Macdonald in Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum Theatre)

Alan Steele in The Tempest (Bard In The Botanics)

Best Ensemble

The Comedy Of Errors (Citizens Theatre)

Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum Theatre) 

Moorcroft (Tron Theatre)

Sweet FA (This Is My Story Productions)

Best Director

Gordon Barr, Medea (Bard In The Botanics)

Elizabeth Newman, Adventures With The Painted People (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)

Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir, Me And My Sister Tell Each Other Everything (Tron Theatre)

Wils Wilson, Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum Theatre)

Best Design

Emily James (set and costumes) and Lizzie Powell (lighting), Orphans (National Theatre Of Scotland)

Becky Minto (set and costumes), Fergus Dunnet (illusions), Simon Wilkinson (lighting), The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, (Perth Theatre, Helen Milne Productions and The Roald Dahl Story Company)

Georgia McGuinness and Alex Berry (set and costumes) and Kai Fischer (lighting), Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum Theatre)

Jamie Vartan (set and costumes) and Simon Wilkinson (lighting), I Am Tiger (Perth Theatre and Imaginate)

Best Music And Sound

Hilary Brooks and the company, Underwood Lane (Tron Theatre)

John Kielty (musical director), Garry Boyle (sound design), Calum and Rory MacDonald (songs), The Stamping Ground (Raw Material and Eden Court Theatre)

Pippa Murphy (sound), Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly (songs), Orphans (National Theatre Of Scotland)

Julia Taudevin (in collaboration with Nerea Bello, Mairi Morrison and Beldina Odenyo), Move (Disaster Plan in association with Slung Low and Traverse Theatre)

Best Technical Presentation

Doppler (Grid Iron Theatre Company)

Orphans (National Theatre Of Scotland)

Sweet FA (This Is My Story Productions)

The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar (Perth Theatre, Helen Milne Productions and The Roald Dahl Story Company) 

Best Production For Children And Young People

I Am Tiger (Perth Theatre and Imaginate)

Sex Education Xplorers (S.E.X) (Independent Arts Projects)

The Wind In The Willows (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)

The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar (Perth Theatre, Helen Milne Productions and The Roald Dahl Story Company)

Best New Play

David Greig, Adventures With The Painted People (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)

Eilidh Loan, Moorcroft (Tron Theatre)

Johnny McKnight, Joke (A Play, A Pie And A Pint)

Michael John O’Neill, This Is Paradise (Traverse Theatre)

Best Production

Adventures With The Painted People (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)

The Comedy Of Errors (Citizens Theatre)

Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum Theatre)

Medea (Bard In The Botanics)