Winners for the CATS Awards 2026

Celebrating Extraordinary Achievements

The 2026 CATS winners were announced at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow on Sunday June 21. Special guest present was Gavin Mitchell.

Here are the nominees and winners of the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2026.

Outstanding Performance

Two Winners

Lærke Schjærff Engelbrecht,

What I’m Here For
Vanishing Point/Teater Katapult

Image © Tommy Ga Ken

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Best Ensemble

Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In

National Theatre of Scotland/Tron Theatre

Image © Mihaela Bodlovic

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Best Director

Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello

Arlington
Shotput

Image © Brian Hartley

Best Design

Arlington

Anna Yates (set and costume), Emma Jones (lighting) and Rob Willoughby (video)
Shotput

Image © Brian Hartley

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Best Music & Sound

The High Life

Forbes Masson, Alan Cumming, Johnny McKnight, Sarah de Tute, Tommy Penny and Sarah Travis
National Theatre of Scotland/Dundee Rep

Image © Tommy Ga Ken Wan

Best Technical Presentation

Arlington

Shotput

Image © Brian Hartley

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Outstanding Pantomime

Aladdie

Best Production for Children and Young People

Beauty and the Beast

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Best New Play

Séan O’Neil

Best Production

She’s Behind You!

Sponsors

As well as the category sponsors listed above, the CATS Awards are also generously supported by:

The CATS judging panel for the 2026 Awards comprised: Mary Brennan (The Herald), Mark Brown (Sunday National and the Daily Telegraph), Anna Burnside (Across the Arts/Corr Blimey!), Dominic Corr (Corr Blimey!), Thom Dibdin (AllEdinburghTheatre.com), Mark Fisher (The Guardian), Fergus Morgan (The Stage), Joyce McMillan (The Scotsman), Neil Cooper (The Herald), David Pollock (freelance reviewer), Allan Radcliffe (The Times), Hugh Simpson (AllEdinburghTheatre.com) and Simon Thompson (WhatsOnStage).