Pitlochry Festival Theatre will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2026 with an extraordinary season curated by its new Artistic Director, Alan Cumming.
The landmark season will feature world premières, Scottish premières, musical revivals, and two major festivals, showcasing some of the most acclaimed talent from Scotland and beyond.
Opening the season is the Scottish première of the Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Once, directed by John Tiffany and choreographed by Steven Hoggett. Later in the year, Olivier Award-winning director Maria Friedman will helm a revival of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady, starring Alan Cumming as Henry Higgins.
Other highlights include Martin Sherman’s new play I’ll Be Seeing You, directed by Cumming and featuring Simon Russell Beale and Fra Fee, and Douglas Maxwell’s romantic comedy Inexperience, directed by Sally Reid and starring Adura Onashile and Sandy Grierson.
Alan Cumming will also reunite with Shirley Henderson for A History of Paper, co-created by Oliver Emanuel and Gareth Williams, and directed by Andrew Panton. Maureen Beattie will lead a bold new adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Finn den Hertog, alongside Forbes Masson.
Further productions include Frances Ruffelle’s I Can Die Too, directed by Bill Buckhurst; Iain Heggie’s provocative Wiping My Mother’s Arse; and the UK première of the immersive musical CEILIDH, directed by Tony Award-winner Sam Pinkleton.
The season will also feature the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, directed by Vicky Featherstone and starring Gayle Rankin.
Alan Cumming said:
“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.”
The season will also include Out in the Hills, a new LGBTQIA+ festival featuring Ian McKellen, Graham Norton, Val McDermid, Jackie Kay, and Armistead Maupin, as well as the return of the annual literature festival Winter Words.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
