The fictional one-man show, The Wizard the Goat and the Man Who Won the War, was written and directed by David Britton, a senior lecturer who leads the dramatic writing courses on the Creative Writing programme at Swansea University.

David is delighted that, what he calls ‘his small-scale show’ has been short-listed for three  English-language prizes in the very first Theatre Critics of Wales Awards. They are: Best Male Actor (Richard Elfyn), Best Production and the Writer’s Guild playwright award (D J Britton). The winners will be announced at a special event at Sherman Cymru, Cardiff, on January 26th. 

David said: “ I’m absolutely delighted that we have been nominated and short-listed for this exciting award by young people as we need to encourage our very talented youngsters to explore and participate in the exciting world of theatre.

“ We're up against some excellent shows in each category, most of them bigger and more spectacular -- but to get onto three shortlists is very pleasing”.

The production, which premiered at the Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea University before going on national tour, recently returned from Singapore where it received a standing ovation and an excellent review.

•  The Theatre Critics of Wales Awards are the brainchild of members of the Young Critics Scheme, which is made up of young people, aged 12 to 25, who review stage productions in Wales that are then published online. They were aware of CATS (Critics Awards for theatre in Scotland) and wanted to see a similar event in Wales. Guy O’Donnell, Arts Development Officer for Bridgend Council, which runs the Young Critics Scheme invited professional theatre critics from Wales to form a panel with members of the Young Critics Scheme to devise the inaugural shortlist from the wealth of productions they saw by Welsh companies in Wales during 2012. It is hoped the awards will become an annual event. For more information about the awards visit:http://tinyurl.com/bhtw28g 

• D.J. Britton is an award-winning dramatist, director and dramaturg . https://www.swan.ac.uk/staff/academic/artshumanities/ell/brittond. David was formerly National Executive Producer heading the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio drama department, and is now the Drama specialist on the Creative Writing Programme in the English Department at Swansea University.