2026 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland shortlists announced
Winners will be announced 21 June
- What I'm Here For and Windblown are top productions with five nominations each
- Raw Material receives nine nominations for three productions
- National Theatre of Scotland receives seven nominations across four productions
- Citizens Theatre has six nominations covering four productions
- Lærke Schjærff Engelbrecht (What I'm Here For) becomes the first international actor to be shortlisted for an Outstanding Performance Award
- In the frame for the supreme award, Best Production, this year are She's Behind You, The High Life: The Musical, Waiting for Godot and Windblown
- 138 eligible shows were staged across Scotland between May 2025 and April 2026 including more than 90 new plays.
- The ceremony will be held at the Citizens Theatre on Sunday 21 June
The shortlists for the 2026 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland which have been released today, Thursday May 7, see What I'm Here For - Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult's "enthralling brief tone poem of a theatrical piece," (Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman), and Windblown - Karine Polwart's "haunting elegy for a felled 200-year-old natural wonder" (Mark Fisher, The Guardian), top the list with five nominations each.
Production company Raw Material has garnered nine nominations across three different productions: Karine Polwart's Windblown, Stewart Laing's Saint Joan (co-produced with Perth Theatre and Aberdeen Performing Arts) and Wallace. Meanwhile, The National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) has seven nominations for shows including The High Life: The Musical, Alan Cumming, Forbes Masson and Johnny McKnight's musical version of the classic TV series (co-produced with Dundee Rep in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres). The Citizens Theatre has scooped six nominations for productions including three for Waiting for Godot (co-produced with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse & Octagon Theatre Bolton) which saw George Costigan and Matthew Kelly take on the iconic roles of Vladimir and Estragon.
The eight nominees for the Outstanding Performance awards include Johnny McKnight's one-man homage to the pantomime dame, She's Behind You! (co-produced by Traverse Theatre and NTS), and Robert Jack's villainous Sheriff of Stirling-Stella-Ham in Weans in the Woods (Macroberts Art Centre, Stirling). Previous winners Jessica Harwdwick (Knives in Hens) and Sandy Grierson (Fergus Lamont, Lanark: A Life in Three Acts and Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey) are nominated for Jess Brodie's monodrama, GUSH (Traverse Theatre), and Fred Goodwin in Make it Happen (NTS, Dundee Rep Theatre and Edinburgh International Festival) respectively; Sam Stopford receives a nomination for Mephistopheles (Doctor Faustus at Bard in the Botanics) and Mandipa Kabanda is recognised for the title role in Saint Joan (Raw Material with the Citizens Theatre). Lærke Schjærff Engelbrecht (Flora in Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult's What I'm Here For) becomes the first international performer to be nominated for an Outstanding Performance award and Karine Polwart, winner of the Best Sound and Music award for Wind Resistance in 2016, is nominated for her latest work, Windblown (Raw Material).
The four pieces shortlisted for the Best New Play Award are Milly Sweeney's Water Colour (Pitlochry Festival Theatre with the Byre Theatre St Andrews), Frances Poet's Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In (National Theatre of Scotland with the Tron Theatre,Glasgow); Sean O'Neil's Fish (A Play A Pie and a Pint) and Karine Polwart's Windblown (Raw Material). In the frame for the supreme award, Best Production, this year are She's Behind You!, The High Life: The Musical, Waiting for Godot and Windblown
Announcing the shortlists CATS co-convenor Joyce McMillan said:
"This has been another bumper year for theatre produced in Scotland, with almost 140 productions eligible for the awards including 96 new plays. Greater funding certainty than in recent years, for many companies, has led to a real surge in energy and confidence during the year; and as ever, It is a testament to the creativity, ambition and determination of Scottish theatre makers that we had so many varied and exciting shows to consider, from such a wide range of companies and artists."
"This year's shortlists again recognise the importance of internationalism in Scottish theatre," says CATS co-convenor, Mark Brown. "Following its CATS awards winning co-production of Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey with Kanagawa Arts Theatre last year, Vanishing Point continues to demonstrate that special things that can happen when two innovative companies come together to create a piece of truly international work.
"In the second year of our Outstanding Panto Award our shortlist again illustrates the continuing strength of the genre here in Scotland," he adds. "Productions were staged right across the country ranging from glorious large-scale extravaganzas to brilliant hand-spun local shows. All of them embody those special qualities that make pantomime such an important part of our cultural landscape."
We are delighted to be holding our 2026 ceremony in the newly refurbished Citizens Theatre celebrating the return of this vital part of the Scottish Theatre community," adds Joyce McMillan. "It will be an especially poignant event following the death last August of the great Giles Havergal - a giant of Scottish Theatre and part of the great Citizens Theatre triumvirate with Philip Prowse and Robert David Macdonald. Their breathtaking brilliance and ambition still inspires Scotland's theatre community today; and we are delighted that our CATS Awards ceremony at the Citizens' will celebrate the achievements this year of a Scottish theatre scene that would be much poorer and less ambitious, without that great and thrilling legacy."
The 2026 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland are generously supported by:
Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow (Outstanding Performance awards), Equity (Best Ensemble), BECTU (Best Technical Presentation), Nick Hern Books (Best New Play), BB Hair Collective (Best Design), Gilded Balloon (Best Production for Children and Young People).
Outstanding Pantomime
Aladdie (Gaiety, Ayr)
Oor Wee Mammy McGoose (King's Kirkcaldy)
Puss in Boots (Carrigans, Blantyre)
The Snow Queen (Perth Theatre)
Outstanding Performance (two awards) supported by Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow
Sandy Grierson Fred Goodwin in Make It Happen (a National Theatre of Scotland, Dundee Rep Theatre and Edinburgh International Festival co-production, in association with Playful Productions and Neal Street Productions)
Jessica Hardwick GUSH (Traverse Theatre)
Robert Jack Sheriff of Stirling-Stella-Ham in Weans In The Woods, (Macrobert Arts Centre)
Mandipa Kabanda Joan of Arc in Saint Joan, (Raw Material with Perth Theatre and Aberdeen Performing Arts, in association with the Citizens Theatre)
Johnny McKnight She's Behind You! (commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland and Traverse Theatre. Produced by the Traverse Theatre in association with the National Theatre of Scotland)
Karine Polwart Windblown (Raw Material)
Lærke Schjærff Engelbrecht Flora in What I'm Here For (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Sam Stopford Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus (Bard in the Botanics)
Best Ensemble supported by Equity
Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In (NTS and Tron Theatre Company)
The High Life:The Musical (National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres)
Waiting for Godot (The Citizens Theatre with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse & Octagon Theatre Bolton)
Water Colour (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)
Best Director
Arlington Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello (Shotput Theatre)
Saint Joan Stewart Laing (Raw Material with Perth Theatre and Aberdeen Performing Arts, in association with the Citizens Theatre)
Waiting for Godot Dominic Hill (Citizens Theatre with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse & Octagon Theatre Bolton)
What I'm Here For Matthew Lenton (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Best Design supported by BB Hair Collective
Arlington Anna Yates (set and costume), Emma Jones (lighting) and Rob Willoughby (video) (Shotput Theatre)
One Day Rae Smith (set and costume) and Bruno Poet (lighting) (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Melting Pot)
What I'm Here For Mai Katsume (set and costume), Simon Wilkinson (lighting); (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Windblown Neil Haynes (Raw Material)
Best Music and Sound:
The High Life: The Musical Forbes Masson (music and lyrics), Alan Cumming (lyrics and additional music), Sarah de Tute (Musical Director), Tommy Penny (Sound Designer) and Sarah Travis (Musical Supervisor & Orchestrator)
Wallace Dave Hook (Raw Material)
What I'm Here For Mark Melville (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Windblown Karine Polwart, Pippa Murphy and David Milligan (Raw Material)
Best Technical Presentation supported by BECTU
Arlington (Shotput Theatre)
Saint Joan (Raw Material; Citizens' Theatre)
The Glass Menagerie (Dundee Rep in association with Citizens Theatre, Glasgow and Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh)
What I'm Here For (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Best Production for Children and Young People supported by Gilded Balloon
Beauty and the Beast (Citizens Theatre)
Cinderella (A Fairy Tale) (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh)
The Ideas Jukebox (Independent Arts Project)
Tongue Twister (Imaginate/Edinburgh International Children's Festival)
Best New Play supported by Nick Hern Books
Fish by Sean O'Neil (A Play A Pie and A Pint)
Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In by Frances Poet (from an idea conceived by Paul English and Frances Poet) (National Theatre of Scotland co-production with the Tron Theatre)
Water Colour by Milly Sweeney (Pitlochry Festival Theatre in co-production with Byre Theatre, St Andrews)
Windblown by Karine Polwart (Raw Material)
Best Production
She's Behind You! (commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland and Traverse Theatre. Produced by the Traverse Theatre in association with the National Theatre of Scotland)
The High Life: The Musical (National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres)
Waiting for Godot (Citizens Theatre with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse & Octagon Theatre Bolton)
Windblown Karine Polwart (Raw Material)
Photo credit: Mihaela Bodlovic
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