Still Game Star Gavin Mitchell To Host Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland

Leading Scottish actor Gavin Mitchell, who played the inimitable Boaby the Barman in the long-running television series Still Game, will be serving up the awards at the 2026 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS Awards) at the Citizens Theatre later this month, it has been revealed.

Announcing the news Joyce McMillan, co-convenor of the CATS said:

"We are thrilled that Gavin will be joining us as our guest presenter at the Citizens' Theatre, where he began his career as a scene painter and stage 'extra' back in the 1980's. Gavin is one of a generation of leading actors who began their theatrical careers at the Citz under the guidance of the theatre's late, great artistic director Giles Havergal; and it will be wonderful to have him with us at the CATS as we mark Giles's sad passing last year, and celebrate both the reopening of the gorgeously refurbished Citizens Theatre last autumn, and another terrific year's work from a Scottish theatre community always inspired by what has been achieved at the Citizens' in the past, and what will be achieved here, now and in the future."

Mitchell, who is currently starring as the USA's second President, John Adams, in the Fox Nation docudrama series The White House, also presented Scotland's prestigious theatre awards at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh in 2017.  He is currently filming the latest series of Shetland, and will be back on stage in Glasgow this Christmas in Scrooge - The Musical at the SEC Armadillo.

He said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to be asked back to present the CATS Awards in this bumper year for Scottish theatre. I'm especially proud to be co-presenting with the Grand Dame herself, Joyce McMillan, at my old alma mater - the Citz. Scottish theatre really deserves its annual celebration, and I'm looking forward to a great day at the Citizens', with theatre friends old and new."  

Heading up the 2026 CATS shortlists are What I'm Here For,S cottish company Vanishing Point's co-production with Teater Katapult from Denmark, and Karine Polwart's Windblown, produced by Raw Material. Johnny McKnight's homage to pantomime dames, She's Behind You, The High Life: The Musical by Alan Cumming, Forbes Masson and Johnny McKnight, the Citizens Waiting for Godot starring Matthew Kelly and George Costigan, and Windblown, are all in the frame for the supreme award, Best Production.

The 2026 winners will be announced at the annual CATS Awards ceremony and party, at the Citizens Theatre, on the afternoon of Sunday 21 June.

Tickets for the event, which include a glass of prosecco and canapes, available at the Citizens Theatre Box Office: https://citz.co.uk/whats-on/cats-awards-2026/

Find out more about the CATS at https://criticsawards.theatrescotland.com/

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