Alan Cumming to scrap repertory theatre structure at Pitlochry Festival Theatre as new programme unveiled
The theatre has previously had a repertory structure
Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s historic repertory structure is to be scrapped as it enters its 75th season, artistic director Alan Cumming has announced, as he unveiled his first full programme at the helm of the venue.
Actor Cumming said changing the system, under which a cast of actors are resident in Pitlochry for months, performing a rotation of shows, was a “prerequisite” to him taking the job, which he started in January.
He said retaining a repertory structure was not “financially viable”, but acknowledged that some audience members would be disappointed by the changes.
The programme for the coming season includes a production of musical My Fair Lady, in which Cumming will play Henry Higgins, as well as the Scottish premiere of musical Once, with music by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová.
The musical, which had a West End run shortly after the success of the film on which it was based, had previously been due to have a UK tour that was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
The host of the US version of The Traitors will also reunite with Shirley Henderson - almost 40 years after performing with her in children’s TV series The Shadow of the Stone - for a new staging of A History of Paper, directed by Andrew Panton.
Cumming said Maureen Beattie had inspired him to become an actor, performing in a theatre education company at his school, which he said had “changed my life”. The star is to play Lear in director Finn den Hertog’s version of the Shakespearean classic, which includes Cumming’s High Life co-star Forbes Masson among the cast.
Meanwhile, Ian Heggie’s play about parental care, Wiping My Mother’s Arse, is to be revived for the first time since its original run at the Traverse Theatre in 2001, with Johnny McKnight featuring in the cast.
Cumming said: “What I wanted when I took this job was to invite people that I knew and loved or admired to come to Pitlochry and start this adventure with me. So every single show has some sort of connection to my either my past or my passion.
“These are all people who have taken me on this theatrical journey that has led me to be here.”
He said only a “very tiny percentage” of the theatre’s audience took advantage of seeing multiple shows under the repertory structure and insisted the new system would allow him to employ more actors.
“I went into the job saying that would be one of the prerequisites for me doing it, because I feel I want to have eclecticism and all these different people coming,” he said.
“I felt like the kind of work that I wanted to bring this season, for instance, I wouldn't have been able to do with the old system, because I'm not going to get those people to come for seven months - I can't ask them to come for two-and-a-half months. So the repertory system, as was, is no more.”
Cumming added: “I know that some people will be disappointed. The whole six shows and six days thing is like a mantra, like a catchphrase, that, as often with these mantras and catchphrases, they meant something a long time ago and now it's just [due to] a sense of the familiar.
“Now, the biggest thing for me, apart from the fact that I can invite people to come and do great work for a shorter period of time and we have a higher turnaround, but also, I’m giving more work to more people.”
The actor said theatre management had also wanted to adopt the new structure due to repertory not being financially viable.
He said: “Just because a structure has been in place for a long time doesn't mean that it should always carry on. I feel I've been a very disruptive force in this because I've asked questions, and I've asked ‘why we do things a certain way’, and I've asked for change.
“I think, of course, for some people, they're going to miss something. But for many, many more people, they're going to get new and exciting things that they never otherwise would never have got.
“All the design in the past has been predicated on the fact that the set has to be turned around between a matinee and an evening performance. So this will revolutionise the aesthetics of the design in Pitlochry Festival Theatre, it's going to be insane.”
Cumming added: “I hope I haven't scared anyone off by by the changes I've made in the season. I want local people to come, of course, and I want also the building to feel like it belongs again to local people.
“I'm asking a lot and it is a lot of big changes. But I'm also bringing a lot, so I feel like it's a time of flux, but it's also a time of great excitement and possibility.”
Pitlochry has previously claimed its summer repertory programme offers a “theatrical experience unique in the UK”, allowing audiences to enjoy nine performances, all performed by a resident company of actors.
Cumming said he wanted to increasingly put Pitlochry onto the international map.
He said: “I want it to become an international theatrical destination for both [local and international] audiences. Over the last year, let's face it, millions more people know about Pitlochry than they ever did before, so that can only help us.”
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