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When Scotland's theatre critics gathered at the Festival Theatre last weekend to hammer out the shortlists for this year Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) - ten shortlists of four, over categories ranging from Best Music and Sound to Best Show of The Year - discussion raged as fiercely as ever. There were almost 160 professional shows made in Scotland over the past year on the long list of eligible productions, and the number of actors, writers, directors, designers, music-makers and technical staff involved must have been close to a thousand. Some shows that had attracted positive reviews suddenly failed to arouse that extra surge of enthusiasm needed to propel them onto shortlists, while others that only a few critics had seen proved so memorable and powerful, in discussion, that they shot through the ranks to claim well-deserved recognition.
These shortlists can never be definitive, of course; it's always been the hope of the CATS critics, since the CATS began in 2003, that their existence would inspire others to set up their own awards for theatre in Scotland, using a range of different judging methods. Nonetheless, by the end of the day, a craggy and debatable outline of the year in Scottish theatre had emerged; and its most striking feature is the huge achievement of the Traverse Theatre, in Orla O'Loughlin's final year as artistic director, in winning an outstanding ten nominations across six categories.
There are four nominations for the...