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Simon Russell Beale, Shirley Henderson and Frances Ruffelle will star in Alan Cumming’s first season as artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, which includes revivals of musicals Once and My Fair Lady and world premieres from playwrights Martin Sherman and Douglas Maxwell.
Other actors set to appear include Adura Onashile, Sandy Grierson, Forbes Masson, Maureen Beattie, Fra Fee and Johnnie McKnight, while directors John Tiffany, Maria Friedman, Andrew Panton, Finn den Hertog, Sam Pinkleton and Bill Buckhurst will stage shows at the venue.
The news comes shortly after the announcement of Out in the Hills, a new LGBTQIA+ festival at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in January, which will feature Ian McKellen and Graham Norton.
Cumming’s plans also include the axeing of the Perthshire theatre’s summer repertory company, a new partnership with Sonia Friedman Productions and forgoing his own salary as artistic director.
Speaking to The Stage, Cumming said he wanted to turn Pitlochry Festival Theatre into a theatre “camp” where shows would be created and premiered before transferring to venues elsewhere.
Cumming said: “I wanted this to be a little bubble where artists can get to work on stuff with really great people, then show it to people in Scotland, before it goes somewhere else in the world. That is my plan. That is the model I suggested to people. And that is what is happening.”
The season begins in May with the Scottish premiere of the Tony award-winning Broadway production of musical Once, remounted by the original creative team, including director Tiffany, designer Bob Crowley, choreographer Steven Hoggett and musical director Martin Lowe.
This will be followed on the theatre’s main stage by Lear, an adaptation of King Lear written and directed by Den Hertog featuring Masson and Beattie, then by a revival of musical A History of Paper starring Henderson and Cumming and directed by Panton.
In September, Tony award-winner Pinkleton will stage the world premiere of Ceilidh, a new musical from Scottish composers Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie, AKA Noisemaker.
The main stage programme concludes with the National Theatre of Scotland’s recently announced production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in November, followed by a revival of My Fair Lady directed by Friedman and starring Cumming as Henry Higgins.
The theatre’s studio programme begins in June, with the world premiere of Inexperience, a new play by Douglas Maxwell, directed by Sally Reid and starring Onashile and Grierson.
This will be followed by I Can Die Too, a new “play with music” inspired by Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine written by Cumming, Ruffelle and Sally George, starring Ruffelle and directed by Buckhurst, then by a revival of Iain Heggie’s play Wiping My Mother’s Arse starring McKnight.
The studio programme will conclude in September with I’ll Be Seeing You, a new play about Liberace featuring Russell Beale and Fee, designed by Tim Hatley and directed by Cumming.
I Can Die Too will be co-produced with Lovechild Productions and A History of Paper with Dundee Rep Theatre, while Cumming said Sonia Friedman was involved with several shows.
He told The Stage: “I was in the first play Sonia ever produced, Accidental Death of an Anarchist in 1990 at the National Theatre. She has been a great friend over the years and a huge supporter of my plans for this. She is helping us take some of the shows to London and New York.”
Commenting on the axeing of the theatre’s summer repertory company, Cumming said: “That was one of the things that I said when I took the job. My acceptance was predicated on not having a rep company anymore. I wouldn’t be able to do these shows if we had one.”
He continued: “It was important we got rid of that system. Fortunately, the people at the theatre are delighted about that because it is just not financially viable any more.”