Total Theatre Awards Announces 2017 Shortlist

As the Edinburgh Festival and Festival Fringe celebrate 70th birthdays in 2017, it's also a landmark year for the Total Theatre Awards. We are delighted to announce today the shortlist for the Total Theatre Awards 2017. From the shortlist announced today, a total of seven awards will be awarded across five categories: "Physical & Visual Theatre"; "Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form"; "Emerging"; "Circus"; and "Dance".

Speaking about the awards, Awards Co-Directors Jo Crowley and Becki Haines said, "In a transforming world, where the power of speech, expression, creativity and free movement is being challenged; where underrepresented voices are often lost, marginalised and censored; and in a festival year when many International Artists have been denied visas to enter the UK to perform at the Fringe, Total Theatre continues to champion the vital contribution independent artists and independent voices make.

"Much of the work considered across the Total Theatre Assessment process and the outstanding work featured on the shortlist demonstrates the vital democratic space theatre and live performance offers to explore the complex world we live in - cutting across boundaries of background, nationality, language and class to communicate, entertain and inspire audiences.

"The work has been inclusive, inviting; and in responding to an increasingly challenging world has created a coalition between artists and audiences to discuss, debate and share. Much of this work has been made in challenging circumstances, with limited resource and could easily slip through the gaps. Total Theatre Awards continues to recognise, champion and give visibility to this work."

The Total Theatre Awards are committed to a thorough assessment process of dialogue and debate to recognise excellence and artists pushing the boundaries of independent performance. In order to produce this shortlist, a total of 538 eligible shows have been assessed over the first 11 days of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. These shows have been viewed between two and four times by a curated panel of 28 peer assessors from 9 countries, comprising artists, producers, programmers, curators, critics and academics, alongside a number of senior industry supporters and advisors. Meeting every two days, the Total Theatre Awards Producing and Assessment team have engaged in 35 hours of collective discussion of all eligible productions in depth, across specialism and across discipline.

Following a shortlisting meeting on 16 August, a total of 23 productions from ten countries have been selected as the 2017 Shortlist for the Awards across five categories.

Following the shortlisting process, the shortlisted shows will now move to a judging panel where shows are seen by leading arts industry figures from seven countries including critics, academics, artists and programmers. Seven awards will be given across five categories and the judging panel will announce their decisions at an awards ceremony on Thursday 24th August. This year the Total Theatre Awards Ceremony will be presented with The Edinburgh Playhouse. The judges for the Total Theatre Awards reserve the right to award further productions that open at the festival after the shortlisting has taken place.

The full shortlist for the 2017 awards is below:

Total Theatre & Farnham Maltings Award for an Emerging Company / Artist

Five Encounters on a Site Called Craigslist
YesYesNoNo (England)
ZOO

Power Ballad
Julia Croft and Nisha Madhan presented by Zanetti Productions (New Zealand)
Summerhall

Physical / Visual Theatre

Sigma
Gandini Juggling (England)
Assembly

Snigel and Friends
Caroline Bowditch and Company (Scotland)
DanceBase

The Narrator
Spitfire Company (Czech Republic)
ZOO

Total Theatre & Jacksons Lane Award for Circus

All Genuis All Idiot
Svalbard Company with Aurora Nova and Follow the Rabbit (Sweden)
Assembly

All the Fun
Cie Ea Eo in association with Aurora Nova (Belgium)
Underbelly

Fauna
Fauna in association with Aurora Nova and Follow the Rabbit (Sweden)
Assembly

Total Theatre & The Place Award for Dance

Arab Arts Focus: Dance Double Bill
Shaymaa Shoukry / Yazan Iwidat (Egypt)
Summerhall

Dollhouse
Bill Coleman and Gordon Monahan (Canada)
DanceBase

Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus
Oona Doherty (Northern Ireland)
DanceBase

Out
Rachael Young, created with Dwayne Antony (England)
Underbelly

Taiwan Season: Together Alone
Chen-Wei Lee x Art B&B (Taiwan - Republic of China)
DanceBase

Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form

£¥€$ (LIES)
Ontroerend Goed, Big in Belgium, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Vooruit, Richard Jordan Productions (Belgium)
Summerhall

Break Up (We Need To Talk)
Binge Culture (New Zealand)
Summerhall

Give Me Your Love
Ridiculusmus (England)
Summerhall

Our Carnal Hearts
Rachel Mars (England)
Summerhall

Palmyra
Bertrand Lesca & Nasi Voutsas (England)
Summerhall

salt.
Selina Thompson Ltd (England)
Northern Stage @ Summerhall

The Believers Are But Brothers
Javaad Alipoor (England)
Northern Stage @ Summerhall

The Shape of the Pain

China Plate, Rachel Bagshaw, Chris Thorpe, Melanie Wilson, Madeleine Girling, Joshua Pharo and Hannah McPake (England)

Summerhall

Wild Bore
Zoe Coombs Marr, UrsulA Martinez & Adrienne Truscott, Soho Theatre and Malthouse Theatre (England)
Traverse

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