Tony winner Alan Cumming has been named the new artistic director of Scotland's Pitlochry Festival Theatre. He'll begin his tenure with the company in January 2025, and his first programmed season will debut in 2026.
Cumming is best known as a Tony-winning actor of stage and screen, perhaps most notably for his performance as The Emcee in two Broadway revivals of Cabaret. He's also an accomplished director, co-directing the 2001 film The Anniversary Party and Off-Broadway's Tennessee Rising in 2023. Cumming has also previously served as artistic director of Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
“For me, all roads lead to the theatre and all roads lead to Scotland," says Cumming in a statement. "I am a theatre animal at heart and, like Robert Burns, my heart is in the Highlands. To become Pitlochry Festival Theatre's artistic director is a homecoming I embrace with all my experience, all my passion and, yes, all my heart."
"This theatre is a hidden gem with the most amazing facilities and boundless possibilities, and I will invite the world’s best theatre artists here and showcase the best of Scotland’s thrilling theatrical legacy," he continues. "I want Pitlochry Festival Theatre to be a home for everyone and to remain at the heart of the community. And, to quote Burns again, ‘I will dare to be honest and fear no labor.’ Above all, I cannot wait to share Pitlochry with the world, and the world with Pitlochry.”
The company's previously announced 2025 season includes productions of The Great Gatsby (adapted by current Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman), Grease, The 39 Steps, and four new plays. Newman's final production with the company will be The Sound of Music later this year.
“Quite simply, I cannot think of a better person to join Kris Bryce at the helm and write the next chapter of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s story," says Newman. "Alan is an exceptional artist and an inspiring leader who will catapult the theatre into new and exciting dialogues with artists and audiences here and around the world. I can’t wait to return to the theatre in the future, as a member of the audience this time, to experience the impact of Alan's artistic direction and the work of the world-class artists he will bring to Pitlochry.”
Visit PitlochryFestivalTheatre.com for more.
