Analysis: NTS and Traverse ride the floodtide of powerful work

Published on Wednesday 11 May 2011 15:56

IF THERE is an ebb and flow of energy in Scottish theatre, then there's no doubt about which companies are riding high this year, on a floodtide of powerful work.

The first is the National Theatre of Scotland, whose long-term policy of nourishing theatrical talent at the grass roots is beginning to pay off. This year, the national company wins not only four nominations for David Greig's touring pub-theatre show The Strange Undoing Of Prudencia Hart - an inspired reworking of the Border Ballad tradition for our times - but also earns a mention for its terrific Aberdeen community project Nothing To See Here, which involved a company of 250 people; and for Love Letters To The Public Transport System, an exquisite monologue by Molly Taylor.

All of which should help compensate for the generally muted or negative response to some of the NTS's recent big mainstage projects, including the badly received Caledonia in last year's Edinburgh Festival.

The other big winnner this year is Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum, where a bright young company on stage, and a thrilling joint project with the female-led company Stellar Quines, have helped to create the most exciting Lyceum season for years. The company picks up four nominations for the Stellar Quines co-production The Age of Arousal, one for its glittering autumn staging of The Importance of Being Earnest, and one for Peter Forbes's powerful performance as Arnolphe, in Liz Lochhead's Educating Agnes.

Elsewhere, there are still plenty of rich pickings for Dundee Rep and the Traverse, excellent CATS performers in previous years. And there are five nominations for Ankur Productions of Glasgow's huge 2010 Fringe success Roadkill, the show that brought the story of global people-trafficking home to the elegant streets of central Edinburgh, and left audiences shaken, stirred and changed for good.