Glasgow celebrates as Citizens Theatre reopens with Homecoming Festival

After a transformative seven-year redevelopment of its Gorbals home, the Citizens Theatre today [Saturday 23 August 2025] opened its doors, welcoming people from across the city and beyond to experience the new building and everything it now offers.

Kicking off the celebrations, Gorbals residents and Citizens Theatre participatory groups joined a vibrant community procession, which walked from local community hub The Barn to the front of the Citizens Theatre. Leading the procession were two specially crafted puppets – Comedy and Tragedy – inspired by two of the Greek goddess statues on top of the theatre, Melpomene (Tragedy) and Thalia (Comedy). As they travelled through some of the new housing that has emerged whilst they've been gone, community performances and interactive moments invited everyone to take part in the story. The procession ended at the new Citizens Theatre, where alongside performances of poetry and song, a co-created living heritage banner was unveiled – a beautiful artwork made with neighbours and the wider community, celebrating the many voices, cultures, and stories that shape the theatre's home.

Catrin Evans, Participate Director, Citizens Theatre, said: "It was important to us that the reopening of the Citizens Theatre was co-created with our community and that those who crossed the threshold first represented our future as well as our past. I am delighted to see so many new and familiar faces today as we celebrate not just this moment of reopening, but the possibilities ahead that our building and the work we make inside it can offer. The energy and creativity as we have come together for the opening celebrations has been truly inspiring as we mark this new chapter in the story of the Citizens Theatre."

The doors to the Citizens Theatre now remain open for an Open House weekend of free celebratory activities on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 August. Following the weekend, festivities continue between 28 August and 05 September with a series of bookable activities including First Look building tours, taster workshops and special events designed to welcome even more people into the newly reopened Citizens Theatre.

More information about all workshops and tours is available from https://citz.co.uk/whats-on/homecoming-festival/

Homecoming moves onto the stage, as live performance makes its long-awaited return to the Citizens Theatre - launching a landmark year of bold storytelling and unmissable theatre. Opening the main stage on 12 September is Small Acts of Love, a powerful new play by Frances Poet, with music and lyrics by Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross. Inspired by true events, it tells the moving story of the extraordinary friendships forged between Lockerbie residents and American families in the wake of the Pan Am 103 atrocity. Featuring a large ensemble cast of 14 and a live roots band, this is powerful theatre with heart and humanity.

Then in October, the new 150-seat Studio Theatre is opened with two productions devised and presented by the theatre's Participate groups – Close by the Young Co, which opens on 08 October, and Making Your Mark by the Citz Community Collective, which opens on 22 October.

The Citizens Theatre's redevelopment and Homecoming celebrations have been made possible thanks to the generous support of key funders – including the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and Creative Scotland – alongside a wide range of trusts, foundations and individual supporters as well as the many local organisations whose collaboration and support has been instrumental.

Kate Denby, Executive Director, Citizens Theatre, said: "The reopening of the Citizens Theatre marks a hugely significant moment for everyone who holds this theatre close to their heart. This day has felt a long time coming, but it is testament to the love and warmth for the Citz and the commitment of everyone involved to get us to this moment - including our funders Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Creative Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland.  We're delighted that so many people have joined us today for the start of our Homecoming celebrations and we can't wait to see how the people of Glasgow will bring our building to life."

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