Latest news with #VanishingPoint
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scottish-Japanese co-production the big winner at 2025 CATS
The winners for this year's Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) have been revealed. The awards, which celebrate and recognize the best achievements in Scottish theatre, were presented at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre on Sunday. Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, an international collaboration between Glasgow-based Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre of Yokohama, Japan (in association with Tramway), was the big winner, picking up four awards. Based on short stories by the acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki Murakamki, Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey won 'Best Design', 'Best Technical' and 'Best Ensemble' awards, with Sandy Grierson, who played the eponymous monkey, receiving an 'Outstanding Performance' award. Sandy Grierson in the Vanishing Point-Kanagawa Arts Theatre co-production of Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey (Image: Mihaela Bodlovic) CATS co-convenor Mark Brown said: 'Scottish theatre has enjoyed a renaissance in the period since the Second World War. 'Internationalism has been a primary driver of that revival and one of the key exponents of that internationalism – over the past 26 years – has been Glasgow-based theatre company Vanishing Point. Their unique form of international theatre as witnessed in Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey sees the integration of multiple languages and cultures in a single show.' Anna Burnside of Corr Blimey! and Across the Arts said: 'Sandy Grierson was an extraordinary monkey, matter of fact and believable while undeniably an animal. 'His physicality was entirely convincing and, working with a skilled puppeteer, his tail added an extra layer of nuance to an already astounding performance. This was something very special.' READ MORE: Lear, Traverse Theatre: 'mesmerising depiction of one of the world's great tragedies' This Swan Lake not only seizes the audience's imagination - it captures their hearts These could be Scotland's theatre stars of tomorrow The supreme award, 'Best Production', went to Hedda Gabler, the second collaboration between Gordon Barr (director), Kathy McKean (writer) and Nicole Cooper (Hedda) for Bard in the Botanics. This award follows the success of their first collaboration, Medea, which won the 'Best Production' award at the 2022 CATS. CATS co-convenor Joyce McMillan said: 'In recent years, Bard in the Botanics have extended their work beyond Shakespeare to embrace other mighty writers and stories; and there is none greater than Henrik Ibsen. 'Last year, they presented his huge and haunting 1891 tragedy in the perfect surroundings of the Kibble Palace, in a thrilling new version by Kathy McKean, and in a production by Gordon Barr with Nicole Cooper as Hedda that fairly took the breath away with its pace and intensity.' Meanwhile, the first 'Outstanding Panto' award was scooped by the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr's Mother Goose. Mother Goose, Ayr Gaiety (Image: Tommy GA-Ken Wan) Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre said: "This was a panto packed with local references, that oozed love and laughter, and which eschewed a shoe-horned wedding to bring a message of hope and reconciliation at the finale. 'Above all, however, this was a panto which dared. Dared to bring in big topical political comedy, dared to acknowledge societal concerns, dared to name-check the venue's panto greats over the years and dared to have Deaf characters in the cast and company using the fact of their deafness to up the physicality for everyone to see.' The second 'Oustanding Performance' award went to Kirsty Findlay for the title role in Beautiful: The Carole King Story at Pitlochry Festival, where 'she embodied the legendary singer songwriter with a depth and maturity that was riveting to watch'. The 'Best Director' award was won by Andrew Panton for A History of Paper (Dundee Rep/Traverse Theatre). Nicole Cooper in the title role in Kathy McKean's version of Hedda Gabler, directed by Gordon Barr at 2024 Bard in the Botanics (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan) Douglas Maxwell picked up the 'Best New Play' award for the second year in a row. Following his success with The Sheriff of Kalamaki last year, Maxwell won the 2025 award for So Young (Traverse Theatre, Raw Material and Citizens Theatre). CATS co-convenor Michael Cox said: 'Douglas Maxwell proves again that he is one of Scottish theatre's best playwrights. 'This is underlined by the fact that he's not only won this award back-to-back, but for two very distinctive plays which have only their excellence in common.' Yellow Canary, Tashi Gore's powerful family story of survival during the Nazi Holocaust (produced by Glass Performance), won the 'Best Production For Children and Young People' award, and the Royal Lyceum' s Wild Rose won the 'Best Sound and Music' award. In total, around 140 works created in Scotland in 2024-5 were eligible for the 2025 CATS, of which over 120 were new plays.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish-Japanese co-production the big winner at 2025 CATS
Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, an international collaboration between Glasgow-based Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre of Yokohama, Japan (in association with Tramway), was the big winner, picking up four awards. Based on short stories by the acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki Murakamki, Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey won 'Best Design', 'Best Technical' and 'Best Ensemble' awards, with Sandy Grierson, who played the eponymous monkey, receiving an 'Outstanding Performance' award. Sandy Grierson in the Vanishing Point-Kanagawa Arts Theatre co-production of Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey (Image: Mihaela Bodlovic) CATS co-convenor Mark Brown said: 'Scottish theatre has enjoyed a renaissance in the period since the Second World War. 'Internationalism has been a primary driver of that revival and one of the key exponents of that internationalism – over the past 26 years – has been Glasgow-based theatre company Vanishing Point. Their unique form of international theatre as witnessed in Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey sees the integration of multiple languages and cultures in a single show.' Anna Burnside of Corr Blimey! and Across the Arts said: 'Sandy Grierson was an extraordinary monkey, matter of fact and believable while undeniably an animal. 'His physicality was entirely convincing and, working with a skilled puppeteer, his tail added an extra layer of nuance to an already astounding performance. This was something very special.' READ MORE: The supreme award, 'Best Production', went to Hedda Gabler, the second collaboration between Gordon Barr (director), Kathy McKean (writer) and Nicole Cooper (Hedda) for Bard in the Botanics. This award follows the success of their first collaboration, Medea, which won the 'Best Production' award at the 2022 CATS. CATS co-convenor Joyce McMillan said: 'In recent years, Bard in the Botanics have extended their work beyond Shakespeare to embrace other mighty writers and stories; and there is none greater than Henrik Ibsen. 'Last year, they presented his huge and haunting 1891 tragedy in the perfect surroundings of the Kibble Palace, in a thrilling new version by Kathy McKean, and in a production by Gordon Barr with Nicole Cooper as Hedda that fairly took the breath away with its pace and intensity.' Meanwhile, the first 'Outstanding Panto' award was scooped by the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr's Mother Goose. Mother Goose, Ayr Gaiety (Image: Tommy GA-Ken Wan) Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre said: "This was a panto packed with local references, that oozed love and laughter, and which eschewed a shoe-horned wedding to bring a message of hope and reconciliation at the finale. 'Above all, however, this was a panto which dared. Dared to bring in big topical political comedy, dared to acknowledge societal concerns, dared to name-check the venue's panto greats over the years and dared to have Deaf characters in the cast and company using the fact of their deafness to up the physicality for everyone to see.' The second 'Oustanding Performance' award went to Kirsty Findlay for the title role in Beautiful: The Carole King Story at Pitlochry Festival, where 'she embodied the legendary singer songwriter with a depth and maturity that was riveting to watch'. The 'Best Director' award was won by Andrew Panton for A History of Paper (Dundee Rep/Traverse Theatre). Nicole Cooper in the title role in Kathy McKean's version of Hedda Gabler, directed by Gordon Barr at 2024 Bard in the Botanics (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan) Douglas Maxwell picked up the 'Best New Play' award for the second year in a row. Following his success with The Sheriff of Kalamaki last year, Maxwell won the 2025 award for So Young (Traverse Theatre, Raw Material and Citizens Theatre). CATS co-convenor Michael Cox said: 'Douglas Maxwell proves again that he is one of Scottish theatre's best playwrights. 'This is underlined by the fact that he's not only won this award back-to-back, but for two very distinctive plays which have only their excellence in common.' Yellow Canary, Tashi Gore's powerful family story of survival during the Nazi Holocaust (produced by Glass Performance), won the 'Best Production For Children and Young People' award, and the Royal Lyceum' s Wild Rose won the 'Best Sound and Music' award. In total, around 140 works created in Scotland in 2024-5 were eligible for the 2025 CATS, of which over 120 were new plays.
The Guardian
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey review – gorgeous whimsy from Haruki Murakami
Mizuki Ando has a distressing condition. Played by Rin Nasu, she is not a demonstrative woman, but insists on finding a cure. Referred to a counsellor, she describes her only symptom: she cannot remember her name. Elicia Daly's empathetic therapist takes her seriously. 'Without a name we're nothing,' she says. It is a scene from Haruki Murakami's 2006 short story A Shinagawa Monkey, about a woman fearing for her sense of identity. Here, in this collaboration between Glasgow's Vanishing Point and Yokohama's Kanagawa Arts Theatre , it provides an extra layer of intrigue to an adaptation of the author's more recent Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, which is a magical-realist encounter between a man and a talking animal in a down-at-heel ryokan, the only place the man can find a room for the night. Adapted by director Matthew Lenton and actor Sandy Grierson, these short tales have a dream-like uncertainty, the line blurred between real and imagined. What is less likely: that a monkey might work in a hot-spring bathhouse or that he has a fetish for stealing women's names? Like the set that appears and evaporates – a triumph of stage management – the narrative offers little solid ground. No question this can be beguiling, but on stage, it is also a limitation. What is whimsical and unknowable in just 30 pages of print feels like it is straining for meaning across a 90-minute production. Even on a metaphorical level, loss of identity is not one of the burning issues of the day. It is an intriguing idea for a brief, elliptical story, not a dramatic dilemma. It means a theatrically gorgeous show is thematically slight. But gorgeous it is. Bathed in Simon Wilkinson's dusty orange lights, the stage occupies a space between night and day, wake and sleep, where the unsettling patterns of Mark Melville's sound design slowly give way to the soothing melodies of Bruckner. The actors fade in and out of focus, a shadowy chorus bearing witness to Grierson's astonishing performance as the Shinagawa Monkey, his politeness disrupted by guttural grunts, his human manners overwhelmed by simian impulse. Scratching, tumbling and longing for connection, he could be our darker animal selves. At Tramway, Glasgow, until 1 March; then at Dundee Rep, 6-8 March
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Silent Witness fans call dramatic plane episode 'best ever'
Silent Witness fans have said the latest episode of the crime show was the "best ever". The instalment of the BBC series that aired on Monday, 27 January was the first of a two-parter called Vanishing Point, which saw Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) dealing with an emergency on a plane. Alone without her colleagues at the Lyell, she had to manage the situation as a fellow passenger fell ill mid-air. Viewers were impressed by the "tense" drama, with many saying it was the long-running programme's finest ever episode. In the episode, Nikki was flying to the UK from Mumbai when a passenger named Tony started to experience severe stomach pains. As other panicked passengers looked on, he collapsed and started to cough up blood. Nikki was called upon to help as the only doctor on board, despite the fact that she is more used to dealing with dead bodies. She faced a race against time to keep the man alive until they could get more help - but he died before they touched down. Meanwhile, Nikki stayed in touch with her team, including her fiancé, forensic expert Jack Hodgson (David Caves), and discovered that a hotel worker in India had died in similar circumstances. The discovery added weight to the theory that Tony had died of a contagious illness. Read more: Silent Witness Silent Witness viewers admit they feel sick after 'grisly' scene Emilia Fox drops hint about Silent Witness wedding plans Silent Witness fans 'disappointed' as favourites missing from new series As the episode wrapped up, another woman on the plane started coughing up blood. Silent Witness fans were wowed by the dramatic episode, with one calling it "best of the series so far". "Wildly tense and ultimately quite emotional too," they said on X. "Superb work all round." "Both episodes were outstanding," said another fan of the crime drama. "Viewers watching for the first time tonight and tomorrow night are in for a real treat. Such a gripping storyline and some really lovely moments amongst the high drama." Someone else said it was "a great story". "One of the best Silent Witness storylines we've had!" said someone else. "Amazing! So gripping and tense!" "This has to be the best episode yet," agreed another viewer. "Watched episode 7 & 8 of Silent Witness on BBC iPlayer and I must admit it's one of the best episodes of all time, absolutely sensational," remarked another impressed viewer. "Emilia Fox and David Caves where both absolutely incredible too!" Silent Witness continues at 9pm on BBC One on Tuesday, 28 January.
