2025 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland Announced

Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, an international collaboration between Glasgow-based Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre of Yokohama, Japan (in association with Tramway) picked up four awards at the 2025 CATS, which were presented at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre today, Sunday June 8, 2025. The special guest presenter was leading writer, director and panto dame extraordinaire Johnny McKnight.

Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, which is based on short stories by the acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki Murakamki, won BEST DESIGN, BEST TECHNICAL and BEST ENSEMBLE awards, with Sandy Grierson, who played the eponymous monkey, receiving an OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE award.

“Scottish theatre has enjoyed a renaissance in the period since the Second World War,” says CATS co-convenor, Mark Brown. “Internationalism has been a primary driver of that revival and one of the key exponents of that internationalism – over the past 26 years – has been Glasgow-based theatre company Vanishing Point. Their unique form of international theatre as witnessed in Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey sees the integration of multiple languages and cultures in a single show.”

“Sandy Grierson was an extraordinary monkey, matter of fact and believable while undeniably an animal,” says Anna Burnside of Corr Blimey! and Across the Arts. “His physicality was entirely convincing and, working with a skilled puppeteer, his tail added an extra layer of nuance to an already astounding performance. This was something very special.”

The supreme award, BEST PRODUCTION, went to Hedda Gabler, the second collaboration between Gordon Barr (director), Kathy McKean (writer) and Nicole Cooper (Hedda) for Bard in the Botanics. This award follows the success of their first collaboration, Medea, which won the Best Production award at the 2022 CATS. 

“In recent years, Bard in the Botanics have extended their work beyond Shakespeare to embrace other mighty writers and stories; and there is none greater than Henrik Ibsen,” says CATS co-convenor, Joyce McMillan. “Last year, they presented his huge and haunting 1891 tragedy in the perfect surroundings of the Kibble Palace, in a thrilling new version by Kathy McKean, and in a production by Gordon Barr with Nicole Cooper as Hedda that fairly took the breath away with its pace and intensity.”

The first OUTSTANDING PANTO AWARD was scooped by the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr’s Mother Goose.

This was a panto packed with local references, that oozed love and laughter, and which eschewed a shoe-horned wedding to bring a message of hope and reconciliation at the finale,” says Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre.  “Above all, however, this was a panto which dared. Dared to bring in big topical political comedy, dared to acknowledge societal concerns, dared to name-check the venue’s panto greats over the years and dared to have Deaf characters in the cast and company using the fact of their deafness to up the physicality for everyone to see.”

The second OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE award went to Kirsty Findlay for the title role in Beautiful: The Carole King Story at Pitlochry Festival, where “she embodied the legendary singer songwriter with a depth and maturity that was riveting to watch”. The BEST DIRECTOR award was won by Andrew Pantonfor A History of Paper (Dundee Rep/Traverse Theatre): “an impeccably considered, uncluttered, fluid production of rare depth.”

Douglas Maxwell picked up the BEST NEW PLAY award for the second year in a row. Following his success with The Sheriff of Kalamaki last year, Maxwell won the 2025 award for So Young (Traverse Theatre, Raw Material and Citizens Theatre).

“Douglas Maxwell proves again that he is one of Scottish theatre’s best playwrights,” says CATS co-convenor Michael Cox. “This is underlined by the fact that he’s not only won this award back-to-back for two very distinctive plays which have only their excellence in common.”

Yellow Canary, Tashi Gore’s powerful family story of survival during the Nazi Holocaust (produced by Glass Performance), won BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE, and the Royal Lyceum’ s Wild Rose won the BEST SOUND AND MUSIC award.

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2025 CATS WINNERS

OUTSTANDING PANTOMIME (sponsored by Mackie’s of Scotland)

Mother Goose – Gaiety Theatre

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE (sponsored by Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow)

Kirsty Findlay (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) - Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Sandy Grierson (Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey) - Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre in association with Tramway

BEST ENSEMBLE

Rin Nasu, Satoru Date, Yuya Tanaka, Junko Kano, Ailie Cohen, Alicia Daley Sandy Grierson, Aisha Goodman and Sam Stopford for Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey - Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre in association with Tramway

BEST DIRECTOR

Andrew Panton (A History of Paper) - Dundee Rep and Traverse Theatre

BEST DESIGN (sponsored by BB Hair Collective)

Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, Kei Ishihara/BlankRD (scenography), Simon Wilkinson (lighting), Sacico Ito/Brucke (costumes), Eri Akamatsu/Esper (hair, wigs and make up); Ailie Cohen (puppet design and making) - Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre in association with Tramway

BEST MUSIC AND SOUND

Wild Rose, Sarah Travis and Davey Anderson (music supervision, orchestration and arrangements), Tony Gayle(sound design) - The Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Caledonia Productions and Gavin Kalin

BEST TECHNICAL PRESENTATION (sponsored by BECTU)

Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey - Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre in association with Tramway

BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE (sponsored by Gilded Balloon)

The Yellow Canary - Glass Performance

BEST NEW PLAY (sponsored by Nick Hern Books )

Douglas Maxwell, So Young - Traverse Theatre, Raw Material and Citizens Theatre

BEST PRODUCTION

Hedda Gabler - Bard in the Botanics

 

The 2025 Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland were 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); Mackie’s of Scotland (Outstanding Pantomime); and BBC Scotland Radio Drama.

Main Image Credit: Yuya Tananka and Sandy Grierson in the Vanishing Point-Kanagawa Arts Theatre co-production of Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey © 2025 Mihaela Bodlovic

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