GLASGOW'S Citizens Theatre is up for six gongs at the prestigious Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland.

It joins the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh and National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) to head the field on the CATS awards shortlists.

The event, now in its 11th year, celebrates the best of Scottish theatre and will see actor Alan Cumming present the awards on June 9.

CATS co-convener Joyce McMillan said: "This has been a terrific year for some of Scotland's best-known theatre companies, with the Lyceum, the Citizens, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse leading a very strong field."

As well as Glasgow-based NTS and the Citz, the city's Tramway venue has also been nominated for Alan Cumming's one-man reinterpretation of Macbeth.

Dominic Hill, who is now at the Citizens' Theatre, has become the most-nominated director after securing his twelfth nomination.

A total of 27 productions staged across Scotland from Shetland to the Borders have made the CATS shortlists this year.

The June awards ceremony will form part of Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations.

catriona.stewart@ eveningtimes.co.uk