Crits go big on Windblown
Epic play about RBGE’s palm tree tops CATS nominations
Karine Polwart’s Windblown, seen at EdFringe 2025 and recently at the Lyceum, has received five nominations in the shortlists for the 2026 Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) announced on Thursday.
The critics nominated 25 different productions in 44 separate nominations across 10 categories. They considered 138 eligible shows that were staged across Scotland between May 2025 and April 2026. This included more than 90 new plays but only seven plays eligible in the Children and Young People category. Nine nominated productions were wholly or partly produced in Edinburgh.
Karine Polwart in Windblown. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
Windblown is Polwart’s elegiac commemoration of the sabal palm in the Royal Botanic Gardens, which had outgrown its surroundings and was chopped down in 2021 ahead of the glasshouse restoration project. “★★★★★ Beautiful” said Æ critic Hugh Simpson of this “magnificent combination of music, storytelling, poetry and theatre.”
Windblown is up for Best Production; Karine Polwart has been nominated for both an Outstanding Performance award and Best New Play; Neil Haynes’ has been nominated for his design; and Karine Polwart, Pippa Murphy and David Milligan have been nominated in the music and sound category.
She’s Behind You!
Joining Windblown at the top of the nominations lists is Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult’s What I’m Here For, which also gets five nods. “★★★★☆ Powerful” said Hugh of “an intelligent and compelling piece of politically-informed drama.”
Other Edinburgh productions recognised in the shortlists include She’s Behind You! Johnny McKnight’s homage to pantomime dames co-produced by the Traverse and the National Theatre of Scotland. Hugh said “★★★★★ Utter joy” of the EdFringe 2025 production, and his fellow critics agreed, nominating McKnight for Best Performance and the show itself for Best Production.
Johnny McKnight (Dorothy Blawna-Gale) in She’s Behind You. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
The Lyceum has two nominations. Unsurprisingly, One Day: the Musical, (“★★★★☆ Accomplished” according to Hugh) which turned the theatre into a transverse stage with a cabaret tables in the performance area, is up for best design.
Controversially, the Lyceum’s Christmas family show Cinderella: A Fairy Tale (“★★★☆ Magical” said Hugh) is nominated for Best Production for Children and Young People, as is the Citizen’s Christmas show, Beauty and the Beast, in a year when new productions specifically aimed at children’s audiences were thin on the ground.
The Lyceum is also a co-producer in Dundee Rep’s production of The Glass Menagerie (“★★★★☆ Reflective” said Hugh) which toured there last Autumn and is nominated in the Best Technical category.
Controversy notwithstanding, there is a nomination in the Best Production for Children and Young People category for Greg Sinclair’s Tongue Twister at Imaginate/Edinburgh International Children’s Festival – his attempt to say tongue twisters in as many different languages as possible, while also trying to dance, make music, and do all the costume changes without leaving the stage.
Ideas Jukebox
The fourth nomination in the category is Ideas Jukebox, created by Hazel Darwin-Clements and performed by her with Fay Guiffo & Mamoru Iriguchi under Andy Cannon’s direction, which is produced by Edinburgh based Independent Arts Projects.
Raw Material, the Glasgow company which produced Windblown, has a particularly strong showing, with nine nominations across three different productions.
Beside Windblown, Saint Joan (co-produced with Perth Theatre and Aberdeen Performing Arts) has three nomination – Mandipa Kabanda for outstanding performance in the title role, Stewart Laing for best direction, and best technical presentation, while Dave Hook is up for best music and sound for the musical Wallace. Hugh saw this in its shorter, lunchtime theatre version and said it was “★★★★☆ Intelligent fun“.
A scene from The High Life: The Musical. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
The National Theatre of Scotland has seven nominations for shows including three for The High Life: The Musical, (“★★★★★ Flying” said Hugh), of which Capital Theatre is an associate producer and is nominated for Best Ensemble, Best Music and Sound and Best Production; while Sandy Grierson as Fred Goodwin in Make It Happen co-produced with the EIF (“★★★★☆ Salutary reminder” said Hugh) is up for Outstanding Performance. Both are Dundee Rep co-productions. Finally Frances Poet is up for Best Play for the the NTS/Tron co-pro Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In.
The Citizens Theatre has six nominations for productions including three for Waiting for Godot which saw George Costigan and Matthew Kelly take on the iconic roles of Vladimir and Estragon; and its
The other notable production in nomination terms is Arlington, Enda Walsh’s 2016 play presented by Glasgow dance-theatre company Shotput. Hugh said it was “★★★★☆ Powerful” when he saw it at the Traverse. Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello are nominated for Best Direction, Anna Yates, Emma Jones and Rob Willoughby are up for design and the whole production is up for Best Technical presentation.
The CATS 2026 will be announced at a ceremony at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow on Sunday June 21 at 4pm. Tickets to the event are available on the Citizens website here.
The CATS nominations in full
Outstanding Pantomime
Aladdie (Gaiety, Ayr)
Oor Wee Mammy McGoose (King’s Kirkcaldy)
Puss in Boots (Carrigans, Blantyre)
The Snow Queen (Perth Theatre)
Outstanding Performance (two awards) supported by Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow
Sandy Grierson as Fred Goodwin in Make It Happen (a National Theatre of Scotland, Dundee Rep Theatre and Edinburgh International Festival co-production, in association with Playful Productions and Neal Street Productions)
Jessica Hardwick in GUSH (Traverse Theatre)
Robert Jack as Sheriff of Stirling-Stella-Ham in Weans In The Woods, (Macrobert Arts Centre)
Mandipa Kabanda as Joan of Arc in Saint Joan, (Raw Material with Perth Theatre and Aberdeen Performing Arts, in association with the Citizens Theatre)
Johnny McKnight in She’s Behind You! (commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland and Traverse Theatre. Produced by the Traverse Theatre in association with the National Theatre of Scotland)
Karine Polwart in Windblown (Raw Material)
Lærke Schjærff Engelbrecht as Flora in What I’m Here For (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Sam Stopford as Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus (Bard in the Botanics)
Best Ensemble supported by Equity
Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In (NTS and Tron Theatre Company)
The High Life: The Musical (National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres)
Waiting for Godot (The Citizens Theatre with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse & Octagon Theatre Bolton)
Water Colour (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)
Best Director
Arlington Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello (Shotput Theatre)
Saint Joan Stewart Laing (Raw Material with Perth Theatre and Aberdeen Performing Arts, in association with the Citizens Theatre)
Waiting for Godot Dominic Hill (Citizens Theatre with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse & Octagon Theatre Bolton)
What I’m Here For Matthew Lenton (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Best Design supported by BB Hair Collective
Arlington Anna Yates (set and costume), Emma Jones (lighting) and Rob Willoughby (video) (Shotput Theatre)
One Day Rae Smith (set and costume) and Bruno Poet (lighting) (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Melting Pot)
What I’m Here For Mai Katsume (set and costume), Simon Wilkinson (lighting); (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Windblown Neil Haynes (Raw Material)
Best Music and Sound
The High Life: The Musical Forbes Masson (music and lyrics), Alan Cumming (lyrics and additional music), Sarah de Tute (Musical Director), Tommy Penny (Sound Designer) and Sarah Travis (Musical Supervisor & Orchestrator)
Wallace Dave Hook (Raw Material)
What I’m Here For Mark Melville (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Windblown Karine Polwart, Pippa Murphy and David Milligan (Raw Material)
Best Technical Presentation supported by BECTU
Arlington (Shotput Theatre)
Saint Joan (Raw Material; Citizens’ Theatre)
The Glass Menagerie (Dundee Rep in association with Citizens Theatre, Glasgow and Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh)
What I’m Here For (Vanishing Point and Teater Katapult)
Best Production for Children and Young People supported by Gilded Balloon
Beauty and the Beast (Citizens Theatre)
Cinderella (A Fairy Tale) (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh)
Ideas Jukebox (Independent Arts Projects)
Tongue Twister (Imaginate/Edinburgh International Children’s Festival)
Best New Play supported by Nick Hern Books
Fish by Sean O’Neil (A Play A Pie and A Pint)
Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In by Frances Poet (from an idea conceived by Paul English and Frances Poet) (National Theatre of Scotland co-production with the Tron Theatre)
Water Colour by Milly Sweeney (Pitlochry Festival Theatre in co-production with Byre Theatre, St Andrews)
Windblown by Karine Polwart (Raw Material)
Best Production
She’s Behind You! (commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland and Traverse Theatre. Produced by the Traverse Theatre in association with the National Theatre of Scotland)
The High Life: The Musical (National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres)
Waiting for Godot (Citizens Theatre with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse & Octagon Theatre Bolton)
Windblown Karine Polwart (Raw Material)
ENDS
