I Am Tiger, Imaginate's Festival commission produced by Perth Theatre has won Best Production for Children and Young People at the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS).
The show triumphed in a hotly contested category which also included Sex Education Xplorers (S.E.X.) by Mamoru Iriguchi, a show he started devloping following his participation in Imagiante's Creative Europe funded PUSH Gender Lab in 2017.
Written by Oliver Emanuel, I Am Tiger was inspired by two facts – that the number one killer of men in the UK under 40 is suicide, and that there are now more tigers kept as pets than live in the wild. Heart-breaking, comic and thought-provoking, I Am Tiger is a drama about trying to live with loss which highlights why keeping silent is not always the best solution.
Freelance journalist and theatre critic, Thom Dibdin who presented the award at the CATS Awards ceremony at Tron Theatre on Sunday 11 September said:
“I Am Tiger is an immense and important play that dares to speak frankly about a big issue - the suicide of an older sibling. This award is for the whole Tiger Team.”
Lu Kemp, Perth Theatre’s Artistic Director who directed I Am Tiger, which premiered at Perth Theatre in May 2022 before enjoying a run at the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival said:
“I couldn’t be more proud of this show. Creating a piece of theatre which delivered a physical, visceral experience of the chaos of grief was a powerful and exciting journey. The conversations it engendered with the young audiences who saw it changed me.”