Citizens Theatre in the Gorbals celebrates a triumphant first year back home

One year on from its landmark reopening, the Citizens Theatre in the Gorbals has plenty to celebrate. The theatre reopened on 23 August 2025 after seven years away and a major redevelopment, and in its first year more than 100,000 people have visited its transformed home.

Visitors have come to watch shows, take part in workshops, make theatre and discover the building's heritage. Audiences have taken their seats for 377 performances across the Main Theatre and the new Studio Theatre, with almost 83,700 tickets booked.

The year began with a Homecoming Festival, when more than 2,000 people joined a weekend of free performances, creative activities and community celebrations, led by a Homecoming Procession created with local people and community groups.

On stage, Small Acts of Love marked the first major production on the Main Stage in seven years. The Christmas show returned with Beauty and the Beast, which earned a string of five-star reviews and won Best Production for Children and Young People at the CATS Awards. In the spring, lifelong friends Matthew Kelly and George Costigan reunited in Waiting for Godot, directed by artistic director Dominic Hill, who won the CATS Award for Best Director. The production later toured to Liverpool and Bolton.

A co-production of Lynn Nottage's Sweat with the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh also received five stars from The Herald.

Dominic Hill said marking a year since reopening feels both like a celebration and a clear statement of intent. It has been joyous, he said, to welcome audiences back and rediscover the shared experience of live theatre in the much-loved main auditorium and the new studio.

The autumn season has continued the momentum with a new adaptation of 1984, co-produced with Dundee Rep and the Royal Lyceum ahead of a Scottish tour, along with new main stage productions of East is East and Othello, Emma Rice's Tristan and Yseult and the National Theatre of Scotland's new take on The Prime of Miss Brodie.

This year's festive show is Cinderella, which runs on the Main Stage from 28 November to 31 December 2026, and the theatre offers a Theatre Pass with up to 20% off tickets.

The Citizens Theatre is in the Gorbals, Glasgow. Full listings, tickets and membership details are at citz.co.uk.