Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow won the awards for Best Ensemble (Blythe Duff, Ann Kidd, Irene McDougall and Joanna Tope), Best Director (Joanna Bowman) and Best Production at the 21st CATS (Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland) at Theatre Royal, Glasgow on Sunday 16 June 2024.
Joyce McMillan of The Scotsman called Bowman's production of Churchill's play, "perhaps the most essential 50 minutes of theatre in Scotland this year, from a mighty playwright who fearlessly spans both the tragic-comical detail of everyday life and the abyss of chaos into which our failing civilisation could fall, from one moment to the next."
Douglas Maxwell's The Sheriff of Kalamaki for A Play, A Pie and A Pint was names Best New Play and also gained the award for Outstanding Performance for Paul McCole who, according to Anna Burnside of Across the Arts and Corr Blimey!, "squeezed a good deal of nuance and emotion into an hour-long performance." Mark Brown of the Sunday National and Daily Telegraph said that playwright Maxwell, "creates a resonating play about brotherhood, fragile masculinity and, in devastating terms, the climate crisis. That he does so without the merest smidgen of polemic or editorialising is testament to the intelligence and humanity of his writing."
Ragnarok from Tortoise in a Nutshell and Figurteatret won for Best Music and Sound and Best Technical Presentation. According to Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre, "the company deconstructed their puppetry to the point that everything was visible—yet they still made the appearance of mystical beasts seem as if by magic."
Catherine Wheels picked up the award for Best Production for Children and Young People for Lightning Ridge, while Best Design went to the Royal Lyceum Theatre's production of Anna Karenina for the set and costumes of Emma Bailey and Mark Henderson's lighting.
The CATS Whisker's award went to Andy Arnold, who, according to Mark Brown, "has made an extraordinary contribution to theatre in Scotland over the last 40 years, particularly through his work with The Arches Theatre Company and at the Tron Theatre. He imprinted his own style and personality on classics of international theatre including The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Brian Friel's Translations and James Joyce's epic Ulysses. He has also championed work by new writers such as Eilidh Loan and Isobel McArthur.
"Andy has also been a tireless advocate for the importance of theatre in particular and the arts in general, especially at a time when funding for the sector is under such intense funding pressures."
CATS co-convenor Joyce McMillan said, “when we launched the CATS awards back in 2003, our aim was simply to celebrate the best of theatre made in Scotland, and to give an extra measure of recognition to a wide range of shows that Scotland’s critics felt were among the most impressive and exciting of the year. We’re delighted that since then—and despite many changes affecting both theatre itself and the reviewing business—the CATS awards, and the annual party to celebrate them, have become a vital part of the Scottish theatre landscape, helping to tell the story of Scottish theatre in ways that endure beyond the run of a play, and a brief series of reviews.
“As writers about theatre, we know that the fragile structures of funding which support theatre production here in Scotland are under threat, in ways we have not seen in two generations; but we hope and trust that by continuing to celebrate theatre made here in Scotland, we can both encourage the wonderful artists and organisations who make the work, and help to raise awareness of the vital role our theatre community plays, in enabling Scotland to remember and reimagine its own stories, and to tell them—and all the great stories of the world—in its own voice.”