The latest Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland winners from 140 eligible productions created in 2024–5, 120 of which were new plays, were awarded at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre on Sunday 8 June 2025 with guest presenter Johnny McKnight.
The biggest winner was a collaboration between Glasgow's Vanishing Point and Japanese company Kanagawa Arts Theatre from Yokohama, Confessions of a Shinagawa Money, based on short stories by Haruki Marukami, which came away with the awards for design, technical, ensemble and outstanding performance.
CATS co-convenor Mark Brown said, "Scottish theatre has enjoyed a renaissance in the period since the Second World War. 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."
Best Production went to Bard in the Botanics for its production of Hedda Gabler, a collaboration between writer Kathy McKean, director Gordon Barr and actor Nicole Cooper. The new Outstanding Panto Award was awarded to the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr for its production of Mother Goose, written by Ken Alexander and Fraser Boyle, while the Outstanding Performance award went to Kirsty Findlay for playing the title role in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
Best New Play was Douglas Maxwell's So Young produced by the Traverse with Raw Material and Citizens Theatre, while Best Production for Children and Young People went to The Yellow Canary from Glass Performance, performed by Tashi Gore who co-created the show with writer Will Gore and director Jess Thorpe.
The full winners
Outstanding Pantomime: Mother Goose at the Ayr Gaiety.
Outstanding Performance: Kirsty Findlay (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) - Pitlochry Festival Theatre
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: 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: Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey - Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre in association with Tramway
Best Production for Children and Young People: The Yellow Canary - Glass Performance
Best New Play: Douglas Maxwell, So Young - Traverse Theatre, Raw Material and Citizens Theatre
Best Production: Hedda Gabler - Bard in the Botanics