For press enquiries about the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland, please contact Lesley Booth, 0779 941 4474 / lesley@newcenturypr.com
30 June 2016 Stellar Quines
Muriel Romanes receives MBE and CATS Whiskers
WE’RE delighted that Muriel Romanes was awarded an MBE for services to drama in the Queen’s Birthday Honour’s list 2016. The news came out just prior to Muriel also being awarded the CATS Whisker Award at the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for her work in Scottish theatre and in particular leading Stellar Quines as Artistic Director for twenty years. A double celebration and well deserved!
13 June 2016 Royal Lyceum
The Lyceum Celebrates CATS Award Wins
THE LYCEUM is thrilled to have been awarded Best Ensemble and Best Production, both for Waiting for Godot, at the fourteenth annual Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS), on Sunday. The awards underline the superb work of Mark Thomson, director on both The Iliad, which was nominated for one award (Best Female Performance; Emmanuella Cole) and Waiting for Godot, which was nominated for four (further including Best Design for Michael Taylor and Mark Doubleday, and Best Director for Mark Thomson). Having recently stepped down as Artistic Director after 13 years at the helm, Mark’s tenure ended with an extraordinary 50th anniversary season which welcomed audiences of over 105,000 across the year, with Waiting for Godot alone welcoming over 14,000, at least 2500 of whom had never before visited The Lyceum.
13 June 2016 Citizens Theatre
This Restless House & Lanark each scoop a hat-trick at the CATS
AFTER receiving an impressive 12 nominations for the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) we’re thrilled to have won 6 awards – our biggest haul yet! David Greig’s adaptation of of Alasdair Gray’s Lanark scooped three awards as did Zinnie Harris’ epic 5-star retelling of The Oresteia, This Restless House. The CATS are an opportunity for the theatre industry across Scotland to come together and celebrate some of the most successful productions, and best artists over the past 12 months. This year the awards were held in Edinburgh at the Royal Lyceum Theatre and hosted by Citz alumnus Daniela Nardini (Top Girls, 2004) and Still Game’s Sanjeev Kohli.
13 June 2016 AllEdinburghTheatre
Artists plea at CATS: Romanes warns of “sector of administrators”
MURIEL Romanes has used her award of a CATS Whiskers at this year’s Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland to call for the artist to be put at the heart of theatre. Romanes, who was also recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours with an MBE, made a strongly worded call for financial equality across the board in theatre.
13 June 2016 Edinburgh Guide
Edinburgh’s Lyceum and Glasgow’s Citizen’s take lions’ share at 2016 CATS Awards
AT THE annual award ceremony of the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland held on Sunday 12 June 2016, Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre and Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre shared the top honours. This year acclaimed stage and screen actor Daniela Nardini, who will make a welcome return to the stage at the Lyceum with Jumpy in the forthcoming season, and comedian, writer and actor Sanjeev Kohli who wowed audiences as Navid in Still Game Live, were a terrific double act on stage to present the awards.
13 June 2016 BBC Radio Scotland
The Janice Forsyth Show
EDI STARK talks to Zinnie Harris, Mark Thomson, Dominic Hill and Bill Paterson about their CATS wins.
13 June 2016 The Herald
Drama on stage: Scotland’s theatre award winners unveiled
A LAUDED production of Waiting for Godot, and the Citizens and Royal Lyceum theatres, were among the honours at Scotland’s theatre awards last night. This year’s Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) also saw success for Lanark, a production based on Alasdair Gray’s seminal novel, which won three awards. Waiting for Godot, at the Royal Lyceum, won the Best Production and Best Ensemble awards for a show which featured Brian Cox and Bill Paterson in Beckett’s iconic play.
13 June 2016 AllEdinburghTheatre
The #CATS16 winners: Wait ends for Godot at CATS
THE LYCEUM’S production of Waiting for Godot has won the Best Production award at this year’s Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland. The production, which featured Brian Cox, Bill Paterson, John Bett and Benny Young together with a number of members of the Lyceum Youth Company, also won best ensemble.
13 June 2016 The Times
Grierson leads Lanark charge in stage awards
AN ADAPTATION of Alasdair Gray’s seminal novel Lanark helped the Citizens Theatre gain six prizes at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland. The production won three awards for bringing Gray’s dystopian vision to life, including best male performance for Sandy Grierson, as well as best design and best technical presentation. In another prize for the Glasgow theatre, Pauline Knowles won best female for her portrayal of Clytemnestra in Zinnie Harris’s This Restless House, which judges said was “a combination of bleak, poetic wit, erotic power and decisive brutality”.
13 June 2016 The National
Double delight as Waiting For Godot wins big at Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland
AN EDINBURGH theatre’s production of Waiting For Godot featuring actors Brian Cox and Bill Paterson has won the top prize at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (Cats). The Royal Lyceum’s version of the Beckett drama took the Best Production award while the cast, also including John Bett and Benny Young, scooped the Best Ensemble Award.
13 June 2016 Evening News
Lyceum Theatre’s Godot scoops prestigious Critics Award
IT WAS the highly acclaimed swansong of theatre director Mark Thomson, who is soon to step down from the helm of one of Edinburgh’s best-known theatres after 13 years in the role. Now his production of Waiting for Godot has scooped a top industry award after its run as part of the Royal Lyceum’s 50th anniversary celebrations this year.
12 June 2016 Glasgow Live
Citizens Theatre plays scoop six gongs at Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland
TWO plays performed at Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre have picked up six awards between them at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland. This Restless House which is a reworking of the ancient Greek trilogy The Oresteia three. Write Zinnie Harris took home Best New Play, Dominic Hill won Best Director and Pauline Knowles was considered Best Female Performance.
12 June 2016 Aberdeen Press and Journal
Waiting For Godot production takes top prize at Cats awards
AN EDINBURGH theatre’s production of Waiting For Godot featuring actors Brian Cox and Bill Paterson has won the top prize at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (Cats). The Royal Lyceum’s version of the Beckett drama took the Best Production award
12 June 2016 The Stage
Double hat-trick for Glasgow Citizens at Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland
GLASGOW’S Citizens Theatre has scooped six prizes at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland, where the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh’s production of Waiting for Godot took the best production gong. Waiting for Godot, the company’s 50th anniversary production, also scooped best ensemble for its cast, including Brian Cox, Bill Paterson, John Bett and Benny Young. Describing it as “one of the triumphs of the Scottish theatre calendar”, CATS co-convenor Mark Fisher said: “Mark Thomson’s lucid, precisely choreographed production got under the skin of a modern classic, ensuring it was not just a star vehicle for two very well-known actors, but a full-blooded ensemble performance.”
12 June 2016 Evening Times
Glasgow scoops top awards at prestigious theatre ceremony
A CITY theatre has come up trumps at a prestigious awards ceremony. Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre tonight picked up six of the ten awards at the 2016 Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS). The half dozen gongs were split equally between two shows held at the playhouse – Lanark: A Life in Three Acts and This Restless House. Lanark, based on Alistair Gray’s epic novel, won the Best Design, Best Technical Presentation and Best Male Performance awards.
12 June BBC News
Lyceum in Edinburgh wins top Scottish theatre prize
AN EDINBURGH theatre’s production of Waiting For Godot has won the top prize at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (Cats). The Royal Lyceum’s version of the Beckett drama featured Scottish actors Brian Cox and Bill Paterson. It took the Best Production award while the cast, also including John Bett and Benny Young, scooped the Best Ensemble Award. Glasgow’s Citizens’ Theatre picked up six awards split between two shows.
8 June 2016 The Herald
Daniela Nardini and Sanjeev Kohli to present Scotland’s leading theatre awards
THE actress Daniela Nardini and writer and comedian Sanjeev Kohli are to present the leading theatre awards in Scotland. Nardini and Kohli are to present the prestigious Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland this year. It was recently announced that Nardini, who shot to fame as Anna in his Life, would be making a return to the stage later this year. She will be performing in Jumpy as part of David Grieg’s first season as artistic director of the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh.
8 June 2016 Reviewsphere
Daniela Nardini and Sanjeev Kohli to present the 2016 CATS
ACCLAIMED actor Daniela Nardini and comedian, writer and actor Sanjeev Kohli are to present the prestigious Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland this year it was revealed today, 8 June. It was recently announced that Nardini, who shot to fame as Anna in the cult series This Life, would be making a welcome return to the stage later this year. She will be performing in Jumpy as part of David Greig’s first season as artistic director of the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh.
7 June 2016 Broadway World
US Premiere of OUR LADIES OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR at New Haven Festival
THE International Festival of Arts & Ideas, June 10-25, in New Haven celebrates the arts, ideas, and community with innovative performances and provocative conversations with leading artists, thought-leaders, and innovators from around the world. The events take place in a variety of venues and over 80% are free admission. The rollicking musical play OUR LADIES OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR, a critically acclaimed production from the celebrated National Theatre of Scotland, will have its US premiere and run through the entire Festival at Yale Rep. Adapted by Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) with musical director Martin Lowe (Once) from the cult novel The Sopranos, the play has just been nominated for three Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland.
6 June 2016 The Herald
Arts News: Oor Wullie revamped, special theatre award for Muriel Romanes, Tony McManus on tour
MURIEL Romanes, former artistic director of Stellar Quines, is to be presented with the special CATS Whiskers Award at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland on June 12. Stellar Quines was established in 1993 by a group of artists led by Gerda Stevenson. Romanes joined the company as a co-operative member in 1994, acting in the first production, Night Sky, and going on to become its first artistic director, a role she gave up this year.
24 May 2016 Cassarotto
Zinnie Harris and Rob Drummond are nominated for Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland
FOUNDED in 2002, the annual Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland celebrate the year’s greatest achievements in Scottish theatre. The shortlist for the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland were announced on Monday 16th May, with both Zinnie Harris and Rob Drummond gaining nominations.
19 May 2016 Ayrshire Post
Gaiety production in the frame for top award
AYR’S Gaiety Theatre has been nominated for a prestigious critics’ award. Along with Ayr-based Borderline Theatre, they are in the running for the best production for children and young people.
19 May 2016 Daily Business
Scots theatre punching above its weight
FEW would argue against the claim that Scotland creates more quality theatre per head of population that any of the other constitent countries in the UK. In the Traverse and the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh, the Citizens in Glasgow, Dundee Rep and the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) it boasts six world-class producing companies. For a nation of barely more than five million people, Scotland is seriously punching above its weight.
17 May 2016 The Agency
Nominations Announced for the 2016 CATS Awards
CONGRATULATIONS to Gary McNair whose play A GAMBLER’S GUIDE TO DYING has been nominated for Best New Play at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland.
17 May 2016 EdinburghGuide
CATS 2016 Shortlist Announced – Another Fabulous Year for Scottish Theatre!
NOW in its 14th year, the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) again celebrates the best in Scottish theatre achievements. This year’s awards will see 12 nominations going to Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre that include Lanark: A Life in Three Acts and This Restless House with Edinburgh’s Lyceum having 4 including Waiting for Godot that starred Brian Cox and Bill Paterson and is also nominated for Best Director, Best Production and Best Ensemble.
17 May 2016 Traverse Theatre
CATS Shortlist Announced
AS THE Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2015 – 2016 (CATS) shortlist is announced, the Traverse is delighted to have been featured across a number of categories including a nomination for Maureen Beattie as Best Female Performance for her role as Juliette in our most recent co-production, Right Now by Catherine-Anne Toupin. Alongside the Traverse’s own productions, there are a number of plays shortlisted that the theatre has had the honour of presenting and staging.
17 May 2016 The Courier
Tayside theatre groups up for Critics’ Awards
DUNDEE and Perth theatre companies have lived up to great expectations, after their joint production of the Dickens classic received three nominations for a prestigious award. Horsecross Arts, based at Perth Theatre and Concert Hall, and the Dundee Rep ensemble have been shortlisted for best director, best ensemble and best design for the show at this year’s Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS). Horsecross received an extra nod for its production of Beauty and the Beast, whilst the Rep finished its haul with a place on the shortlist for Little Red and the Wolf.
16 May 2016 BBC Radio Scotland
The Janice Forsyth Show
JANICE Forsyth tunes into what is happening in arts, culture and music across Scotland. Co-convenors Mark Fisher and Joyce McMillan talk about the CATS 2016 shortlist.
16 May 2016 Scottish Drama Training Network
SDTN Sponsors Best Male Performance at CATS Awards
THE Scottish Drama Training Network are pleased to announce that this year we will be sponsoring the award for Best Male Performance at the Critic’s Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS). The awards, now in their 14th year, are organised annually and awarded by the theatre critics of Scotland to celebrate the best Scottish theatre achievements in the theatre year. The judges shortlist nominees into 11 categories; Best Male Performance, Best Female Performance, Best Ensemble, Best Director, Best Design, Best Music and Sound, Best Technical Presentation, Best Show for Children and Young People, Best New Play, Best Production and CATS Whiskers. We are thrilled to be a part of an event that recognises the hard work that actors, directors, designers, musicians, producers, technicians and many more put into theatre in Scotland.
16 May 2016 Coulter Management Agency
CATS Awards 2016 Shortlist Announced
THE CATS Awards 2016 shortlist has been announced with a number of CMA clients involved with nominated productions.
16 May 2016 Citizens Theatre
The CAT’S Pyjamas
THE Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) nominations have been announced and we received a whopping 12 nominations this year which must be some sort of record for us, right? Well we dusted off our old photo albums and got out our calculators to bring you the Citz’ CATS nominations by numbers. Join us on a number filled trip down memory lane!
16 May 2016 The Stage
Glasgow Citizens leads Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland nominations
THE Glasgow Citizens dominates the shortlist for this year’s Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland, with 12 nominations for four productions. The 2016 CATS contain nominations for 20 productions across its 10 categories, with half these being concentrated in only five shows. Sandy Grierson receives his third nomination in the CATS’ best male performer category for his performance in the title role of Lanark: A Life in Three Acts. The Citizens co-production with the Edinburgh International Festival receives five nods, including best production.
16 May 2016 The Scotsman
Play about riotous schoolgirls in running for Scots theatre awards
A MUSICAL play about a group of schoolgirls running riot, a revival of the Samuel Beckett classic Waiting for Godot and an adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s iconic novel Lanark are among the contenders for Scotland’s annual theatre awards. Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum, which has been celebrating its 50th anniversary but grappling with funding cuts, and the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow dominate the nominations for the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (Cats).
16 May 2016 The Herald
Best in shows: Lanark, Waiting for Godot among plays honoured in Scottish critics awards short lists
THE theatrical version of one of the great Scottish novels, Lanark by Alasdair Gray, leads the nominations for this year’s Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS). Lanark: A Life in Three Acts, This Restless House and Waiting for Godot lead the nominations, which in total encompass 20 different productions. Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre – Lanark: A Life in Three Acts and This Restless House are nominated in five categories.
16 May 2016 AllEdinburghTheatre
Edinburgh CATS: Strong showing in noms for annual theatre awards
EDINBURGH companies and festivals make a strong showing in the shortlist for the 2016 Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, announced today, Monday 16 May. The shortlist features 20 different productions, nominated across ten categories. A full dozen productions have a strong Edinburgh connection, thanks to the large number of co-productions recognised.