Perth Theatre has received 6 nominations in the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) it was revealed today, Thursday 10 May 2018.
The nominations cover three different productions in the first season following the theatre’s major restoration and redevelopment. Knives in Hens is shortlisted in four categories. Jessica Hardwick is shortlisted in the Best Female Performance award, Lu Kemp is shortlisted for the Best Director Award, Jamie Vartan and Simon Wilkinson are shortlisted for Best Design, and the performance is also shortlisted for the supreme award, Best Production. Meanwhile, Joseph Arkley is nominated in the Best Male Performance award for the title role in Richard III, and acclaimed composer, Gareth Williams, is shortlisted for the Best Music and Sound award for The 306: Day.
“It’s a huge pleasure to see Perth Theatre firing on all cylinders again, after its three-year rebuilding programme,” says CATS co-convenor, Joyce McMillan. “We are especially pleased to be holding the Awards Ceremony at Perth this year, to celebrate the tremendous work that’s been done to make that much-loved theatre into a brilliant 21st century resource for the Perth area, and for the whole of Scottish theatre.”
 “We are delighted to have so many CATS nominations in our first season back in the newly reopened Perth Theatre,” says  Mike Griffiths, interim chief executive for Horsecross Arts, the creative organisation behind Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre. “Lu and the team have produced theatre of a consistently high quality for our audiences here in Perth this season, and our productions have been met positively by audiences and press alike.”
“We are looking forward to hosting CATS 2018 in our beautifully restored and redeveloped theatre, it is a fantastic event both for the theatre community and for theatre lovers, and we would like to pass on our very best wishes to our fellow nominees!”
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh topped the shortlists for the 2018 CATS receiving 12 nominations across four different productions with Rhinoceros – a Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh International Festival, DOT Theatre, Istanbul co-production - being most recognised production (nominated in 7 of the 10 categories). Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre meanwhile received 5 nominations across three different productions, including a Best Male Performance nomination for George Costigan for Long Day’s Journey into Night.
In the Best New Play category Peter Arnott’s new version of Compton MacKenzie’s The Monarch of The Glen was joined by Alan Bissett’s (More) Moira Monologues, Zinnie Harris’s Meet Me at Dawn, and Nursery Crymes, by street theatre specialists Mischief La-Bas.
For tickets and info for CATS in Perth theatre click here, or call Horsecross Arts Box Office on 01738 621031.