Total Theatre Awards announce 2017 shortlist

The shortlist has been announced for this year's Total Theatre Awards, highlighting the best talent at the Edinburgh Festival.

A total of seven awards will be presented across five categories, Physical & Visual Theatre, Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form, Emerging, Circus and Dance.

Speaking about the list, awards co-directors Jo Crowley and Becki Haines said, "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."

A total of 538 eligible shows were 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 nine countries.

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.

The judging panel will announce their decisions at an awards ceremony on Thursday 24 August.

The shortlist in full:

Shows by 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 Genius 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

No Show
Ellie Dubois (Scotland)
Summerhall

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 and Chris Thorpe (England)
Summerhall

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

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