Adrian Lester, Hadley Fraser and Julianne Pundan are among the performers in contention at the UK Theatre Awards 2026, whose shortlists were announced today, with Nottingham Playhouse ahead of every other theatre on four nominations.
The UK Theatre Awards have always been at their most useful when they look past the West End, and the 2026 shortlists do exactly that: the nominees, published by UK Theatre on 17 September, are drawn from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and range from a producing house in Belfast to a touring consortium in East Anglia. The winners will be named on Monday 12 October 2026 at 8 Northumberland Avenue, with La Voix as host. Encore sponsors the awards, which have now been running for more than 30 years.
No theatre does better than Nottingham Playhouse, which has four nominations. Three are for its work on stage, in Best Performance in a Play, Best New Play and Best Play Revival; the fourth is its place among the finalists for UK's Most Welcoming Theatre, a shortlist made public earlier. Theatr Clwyd, also a Most Welcoming Theatre finalist, is next with three, having been added to the lists for Excellence in Touring and Excellence in Sustainability.
The play performance category brings together two Royal Shakespeare Company leads, Adrian Lester in Cyrano De Bergerac and Isis Hainsworth in Measure For Measure, with Katie Redford and Benedict Salter, who share a single nomination for Nottingham Playhouse's Scenes From A Friendship. On the musical side the contest is between Hadley Fraser in Chichester Festival Theatre's My Fair Lady, Annette McLaughlin in Northern Ireland Opera's Follies at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, and Julianne Pundan in Miss Saigon, presented by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Michael Harrison.
Among the productions, the Best Musical Production list sets Birmingham Rep's Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street against Kiss Of The Spiderwoman, a three-way venture between Curve, Bristol Old Vic and Mayflower Southampton, and The High Life, the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep Theatre staging written with Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson, who created the original television series. The revival category is notable for Our Town, the Welsh National Theatre and Rose Theatre co-production led by Michael Sheen, while Ava Pickett's The Manningtree Witches, a Mercury Original, is in contention for Best New Play.
The dance and opera awards take in companies from three nations, Scottish Ballet and National Dance Company Wales among them, and English Touring Opera is recognised for the reach of a programme that plays venues up and down the country.
Announcing the shortlists, Claire Walker and Hannah Essex, Co-CEOs of Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre, said: "This year’s UK Theatre Awards nominations celebrate the extraordinary breadth of talent, creativity and dedication across our industry, and the vital role theatres play at the heart of communities across the UK." They used the same statement to press the Chancellor, ahead of the Budget, to widen Theatre Tax Relief to cover touring costs and to grant relief on business rates.
The complete shortlists follow, as listed in UK Theatre's announcement.
On Stage Awards
Best Musical Production (sponsored by Tysers Live)
- Calendar Girls The Musical - Stephen Joseph Theatre, Theatre by the Lake, New Wolsey Theatre & Octagon Theatre Bolton
- The High Life - National Theatre of Scotland & Dundee Rep Theatre, in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres
- Kiss Of The Spiderwoman - Curve, Bristol Old Vic & Mayflower Southampton
- Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street - Birmingham Rep
Best New Play (sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance)
- Black Sheep - curious directive, at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds & New Wolsey Theatre
- The Last Stand Of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse - Nottingham Playhouse, Eleanor Lloyd Productions & Kate Pakenham
- The Manningtree Witches - a Mercury Original, in association with Frantic Assembly and supported by Eleanor Lloyd Productions
Best Play Revival
- Our Town - Welsh National Theatre & Rose Theatre
- Road - Royal Exchange Theatre
- Small Island - Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep & Nottingham Playhouse, in association with Actors Touring Company
Best Director
- Abigail Graham, Living - Sheffield Theatres
- Emma Jordan, The Human Voice - Prime Cut Productions, at Lyric Theatre Belfast
- Tom Littler, Love’s Labour’s Lost & Much Ado About Nothing - Guildford Shakespeare Company & Orange Tree Theatre
Best Performance in a Musical
- Hadley Fraser, My Fair Lady - Chichester Festival Theatre
- Annette McLaughlin, Follies - Northern Ireland Opera, at Grand Opera House, Belfast
- Julianne Pundan, Miss Saigon - Cameron Mackintosh, in association with Michael Harrison
Best Performance in a Play
- Isis Hainsworth, Measure For Measure - Royal Shakespeare Company
- Adrian Lester, Cyrano De Bergerac - Royal Shakespeare Company
- Katie Redford & Benedict Salter, Scenes From A Friendship - Nottingham Playhouse
Best Supporting Performance (in a Musical or Play)
- Ash Hunter, The Meat Kings! (Inc.) Of Brooklyn Heights - Papatango Theatre Company & Park Theatre
- Lydia Louise, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Watermill Theatre
- Gloria Obianyo, As You Like It - Theatre Royal Bath Productions
Best Design
- Jenny Booth (Set & Costume Design), Garry Boyle (Sound Design), Daniel Hughes (Creative Captioning) & Emma Jones (Lighting Design), The Singer - Dundee Rep Theatre & Solar Bear, in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts
- Ceci Calf (Set & Costume Design), The Assassination Of Margaret Thatcher - Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse
- Terry Parsons (Set Design), Jack And Sarah - The Mill at Sonning
Best Show for Children & Young People
- Beauty And The Beast - Citizens Theatre
- No Such Thing As Wolves - Birmingham Hippodrome
- Treasure Island - Bristol Old Vic
Achievement in Dance
- National Dance Company Wales, for Surge | Gwefr
- Scottish Ballet, for Mary, Queen of Scots
- Yorke Dance Project, for Modern Milestones
Achievement in Opera
- English Touring Opera, for the ambition and breadth of its programming in venues across the country
- Jack Furness, for directing The Flying Dutchman for Welsh National Opera
- Scottish Opera, for championing new work with The Galloping Cure and The Great Wave
Off Stage Awards
Excellence in Arts Education
- Buxton Opera House
- Curve
- Polka Theatre
Excellence in Touring (sponsored by Theatre Tokens)
- East Anglian Touring Consortium
- Northern Ballet
- Theatr Clwyd
Excellence in Inclusivity
- National Youth Theatre
- Northern Stage
- The Theatre Chipping Norton
Excellence in Sustainability
- Mercury Theatre
- The Old Vic
- Theatr Clwyd
Excellence in Workforce Culture
- Blackpool Grand Theatre
- Swindon Theatres
- Wales Millennium Centre
UK's Most Welcoming Theatre (sponsored by Encore)
- Nottingham Playhouse
- Theatr Clwyd
- Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds
