Alan Cumming announces the 2026 Season for Pitlochry Festival Theatre

When writer, performer, presenter and thoroughly good egg Alan Cumming was announced in September 2024 as the new artistic director of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, there was something of a sense of a salmon cycle with the much-loved Scot returning to his homeland.

The question hung in the air with eager anticipation: what would he bring to the PFT for his first season? After the mouthwatering line-up for the previously announced Out In The Hills festival, a celebration of LGBTQ+ voices, the stage was set for today’s announcement.

A question: do they celebrate the 25th December earlier in the Highlands, as Christmas has come early with a jaw-dropping cornucopia of theatrical delights? Lets plunge in and cast an eye over just some of the highlights…

Once

Starting with a Broadway bang, the Scottish première of the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical Once will feature the original Broadway creative team of director John Tiffany (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, West End and Broadway), choreographer Steven Hoggett (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–Time, West End and Broadway), designer Bob Crowley (An American in Paris and The History Boys, Broadway and West End) and musical director Martin Lowe (War Horse, National Theatre)

Those beautiful, emotional songs by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are a gift for whoever is cast.

Lear

Scottish theatre legend Maureen Beattie (Deadwater Fell, ITV) leads the company in Lear, adapted and directed by Finn den Hertog(The Fifth Step, National Theatre of Scotland) from William Shakespeare’s King Lear. The cast will also feature Forbes Masson (The High Life, BBC Scotland and Much Ado About Nothing, Jamie Lloyd Productions at Theatre Royal Drury Lane)

I Can Die Too

Bill Buckhurst (Sister Act, West End and Sweeney Todd, West End & New York) to direct the world première of Tony Winner Frances Ruffelle (best known for playing Eponine in the original London and Broadway production of Les Misérables), Sally George and Alan Cumming’s I Can Die Too, a concert-style play with music inspired by Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine.

The original monodrama was set in Paris, where a still-quite-young woman is on the phone with her lover of the last five years. She is despairing because he is to marry another woman the next day. This take is a play with music about a play with music playfully reimagined during a chaotic tech rehearsal. The trouble is, our leading actress, Lily, can’t bear the role she’s playing, as it mirrors her own life and the ghosts she can’t quite leave behind. As the rehearsal spirals, she humorously descends into a world of doubt, defiance, and the insatiable desire to sing. 

This adaptation will star Frances Ruffelle.

I’ll Be Seeing You

Legendary playwright and screenwriter Martin Sherman (Bent, Mrs Henderson Presents, A Madhouse in Goa) unveils a world première of I’ll Be Seeing You.

Featuring the stunning cast of BAFTA, Olivier and Tony award-winning actor Simon Russell Beale (The Lehman Trilogy, The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 and The Death of Stalin) and Fra Fee (Hawkeye, Disney + and Prime Target, Apple TV), this follows a young writer struggling to create a play about the flamboyant superstar Liberace—a man he believes lived in denial, hiding his true self behind sequins and spectacle. But when Liberace himself appears to him, the story takes a surreal turn. Through music, memory, and irresistible charm, Liberace challenges not only the writer but also the audience to question their own assumptions, prejudices, and truths.

Your mouth is watering at this one, right?

My Fair Lady

If the previous announcements haven’t left you dizzy in anticipation, get ready to reach for the smelling salts.

The 2026 Season will be completed with Olivier award-winning actor, director and musical theatre goddess Maria Friedman (Merrily We Roll Along, Broadway) directing Alan Cumming as Henry Higgins in a new revival of Lerner and Loewe’s iconic musical My Fair Lady.

This brand-new chamber production promises a gloriously intimate take on one of the most loved musicals ever written – allowing timeless numbers like Wouldn’t It Be Loverly, I Could Have Danced All Night and On the Street Where You Live.

Cumming, speaking of his first season as Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director:

“My first season of programmed work as Artistic Director in 2026 also happens to be the 75th anniversary of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s founding by a man named John Stewart, who came here during the Second World War and made a promise to himself that he would return and build a theatre.

I have found I have a great affinity with John: we both came to Pitlochry and were mesmerised, we both share a belief in dreaming big and the power of positivity and manifestation. And for my first season, just as he did in 1951, I have invited people here who I admire and love, and who have been part of the theatrical journey that led me to becoming this theatre’s Artistic Director.

The potential of Pitlochry Festival Theatre is boundless and we have a passionate and proud staff who are ready to share the adventure ahead with me. And so, in 2026 I hope you’ll join us all for a season of work that is a homage to John Stewart’s legacy and spirit: one of boldness, of daring, and of manifesting a dream. “

Looking at the lineup, to paraphrase Professor Higgins, “By George, he’s got it!”

Season 2026 Tickets

Priority booking for Members and Patrons starts from Thursday 13 November at 12pm with public booking opening on Thursday 27 November at 10am.

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