Winners of 2026 Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland announced

Karine Polwart and Raw Material’s Windblown was named Best Production and also received the award for music and sound. The piece draws on the history of a Sabal palm in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden.

Outstanding Performance awards went to Jessica Hardwick for Gush at the Traverse Theatre and Johnny McKnight for She’s Behind You!, produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and Traverse Theatre. Hardwick’s win marks her second in the category.

The High Life: The Musical, a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep with partners including Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres, won Best Ensemble. The cast includes Alan Cumming, Forbes Masson, Siobhán Redmond and Patrick Ryecart.

Dominic Hill received Best Director for Waiting for Godot, a Citizens Theatre co-production with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and Octagon Theatre Bolton. The award is his sixth in the category.

The Best New Play prize went to Milly Sweeney for Water Colour, produced by the Byre Theatre in partnership with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and Pitlochry Festival Theatre. The production was one of more than 90 new works staged across Scotland during the 2025–26 period.

Elsewhere, Citizens Theatre’s Beauty and the Beast won Best Production for Children and Young People, while Perth Theatre’s The Snow Queen received Outstanding Pantomime.

The design award went to Mai Katsume (set and costume) and Simon Wilkinson (lighting) for What I’m Here For, a Vanishing Point and Katapult Teater co-production. Shotput Theatre collected the technical award for Arlington.

The ceremony was hosted by actor Gavin Mitchell at the Citizens Theatre, which recently reopened following refurbishment.