We’re delighted to be winners at the 2023 Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATs AWARDS) whre we won four awards at Sunday’s prestigious ceremony at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.
The acclaimed co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland of May Sumbwanyambe’s powerful play Enough of Him won three awards for Best Production, Best New Play, and the Best Director prize for Orla O’Loughlin. Enough of Him was inspired by the true story of Joseph Knight, an African slave brought from the Caribbean to Perthshire to work in the home of a plantation owner – and after being freed from ‘perpetual servitude’ helped to abolish slavery in Scotland.
We were also recognised at the awards when Sally Reid was honoured for Outstanding Performance for her starring role in the Theatre’s production of Willy Russell’s iconic play Shirley Valentine. The play, which was presented in association with An Tobar and Mull Theatre, opened in Pitlochry in October last year and then toured to the Isles of Mull and Iona in November. Sally, who is best known for playing PC Sarah Fletcher in the hit BBC Scotland comedy series Scot Squad, will be returning to the Theatre in August to appear alongside John Michie (Taggart, Holby City and Coronation Street) in the world première of Peter Arnott’s new play Group Portrait in a Summer Landscape.
Elizabeth Newman, Artistic Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre said:
“It was a great privilege to be at the CATS Awards yesterday. I would like to thank everyone who arranged the awards. It was such a special celebration of Scottish Theatre. Pitlochry Festival Theatre is thrilled that Sally won one of the Outstanding Performance awards this year for playing the title role in Shirley Valentine. It was an unforgettable performance, and we are very proud of this production made in Association with An Tobar and Mull Theatre. We were equally as thrilled and proud that Enough of Him received such acknowledgement by the CATS Team. It was such an important piece of work for us to make with the National Theatre of Scotland and we hope it’ll be the first of many more collaborations to make great work for the people of Scotland and beyond.
This week we will be opening our third production of the season with the first in-house theatre staging in Scotland of Emma Rice’s stage adaptation of Noël Coward’s screenplay for the film Brief Encounter, based on his one-act play Still Life.