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S U S A N H A Y
EVE MUTSO The former Scottish Ballet principal continues to carve out an impressive career. 111, her powerful duet with Joel Brown, wowed audiences at this year’s Fringe while back in her native Estonia, she reprised her stunning role as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. (KA) KALLY LLOYD-JONES Turning her very personal take on grief into something universal, Kally Lloyd-Jones’ The Chosen was a hit with audiences and critics alike. The choreographer has also recently taken up the reins as joint director at St Andrews’ Byre Theatre. (KA)
SCOTTISH BALLET Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, Scottish Ballet is having a triumphant year. Following an exciting Digital Season in May with five-star reviews for its adaptation of The Crucible, the company will close 2019 with a brand new Christmas ballet, The Snow Queen. (KA) ASHLEY JACK The hip hop choreographer’s youth groups have long produced stellar dance talent, but this year Ashley Jack actually excelled herself by providing the ‘Sugar Army’ for Oona Doherty’s show, Hard to Be Soft: A Belfast Prayer at this August's Edinburgh International Festival. (KA)
STELLAR QUINES This loud-and-proud feminist theatre company took a powerful step towards redressing the gender imbalance in the creative design industry with their M*****classes series, and inspired young people to forge their own path in This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing. (DC)
MEGHAN TYLER As an actor in Pride And Prejudice (*Sort of), irrepressible Glasgow-based Irish theatre minx Meghan Tyler has continued to wow sold-out audiences on tour, while at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Crocodile Fever proved comedy is most effective when providing short sharp shocks. (LI) ZINNIE HARRIS Zinnie Harris has long played a leading role in the Edinburgh theatre scene, yet this year she reached new heights with a profoundly angry and daring reimagining of John Webster’s The
34 THE LIST 1 Nov 2019–31 Jan 2020
T H E AT R E & DA N C E
Stellar Quines Duchess [of Malfi], cementing her position as one of Scotland’s most necessary playwrights. (AB)
HANNAH LAVERY Hannah Lavery is a young writer whose poetry in The Drift (created with National Theatre of Scotland as part of Black History Month) tackles her complex relationship with Scotland, her father and sense of identity. Her words aim to unknot the history of self and place. (LI) GARY MCNAIR As Square Go, his collaboration with Kieran Hurley, returned for another year of Fringe success, Gary McNair’s adaptation of Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist drew plaudits for its contemporary take on a classic comedy. Meanwhile, his Champipunship event hit six years of competitive wordplay humour. (GKV)
JO CLIFFORD Ten years after its debut, Jo Clifford’s The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven returned to the Tron, marking its journey around the world from protested play to open-hearted celebration of faith and human rights. (GKV)
LEYLA JOSEPHINE Glasgow-based Leyla Josephine has continued her rise, with critically acclaimed show Daddy Drag which interrogated masculinity and the roles of unconventional fathers in raising kids. Her no-holds-barred language and tenderness mesh as easily as a pint of Tennent’s, a fish supper and cursing at the telly. (LI) HARRY JOSEPHINE GILES Co-founder of the Anatomy cabaret scratch night, a vital component of Scotland’s live art scene, Harry Josephine Giles is a spoken- word artist who, with this year’s Drone, combined politics, poetry and performance to explore connections between identity, military technology and capitalist oppression. (GKV)
GROUPWORK Critically acclaimed during the Edinburgh Fringe, Groupwork’s The Afflicted was created by directors Vicki Manderson and Finn den Hertog, who fused choreography, video and text to startling effect. Their forward-thinking approach is a great example of theatre which skilfully crosses disciplines and genres. (LI)