Ewan McGregor to star with Alan Cumming in Scottish stage premiere of 'beautiful' film
Supernova was originally a film starring Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth
It is an award-winning film about the love between two men in a long term relationship after one of them is diagnosed with dementia.
Now Trainspotting star Ewan McGregor and Alan Cumming are to star in the world premiere of a theatre adaptation of film Supernova, taking the parts originally played by Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci.
The film tells the story of couple Sam and Tusker, who have been together for 20 years before Tusker’s early-onset dementia diagnosis. The story charts a road trip taken by the pair to visit friends, family and places from their past.
It will be performed next summer at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, around 30 miles from Perth, where McGregor was born.
Cumming, who is also artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, said: “I am so excited to welcome Ewan, a fellow Perthshire home boy, to Pitlochry Festival Theatre for this extraordinary theatre event.
“A love story, a treatise on life and death itself and a visual feast - with two Scottish laddies at its heart.”
Supernova has been adapted by original screenwriter Harry Macqueen, who is making his debut as a writer for the stage.
Although the film is originally set in the Lake District, the play takes place mainly in Scotland.
In interviews at the time of the film’s release, Macqueen said he had been inspired by an experience he had working with a woman in her fifties who was diagnosed with early onset dementia and died. He subsequently began volunteering for dementia charities.
Ewan McGregor said: “I am so delighted to be working at Pitlochry Festival Theatre next summer on the beautiful Supernova with my old friend Alan. I have been very moved by the work so far on the text by Harry Macqueen who is adapting his own screenplay.”
The play is to be directed by John Tiffany, who is known for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Black Watch, as well as recent musical Once, which held its UK premiere in Pitlochry.
McGregor added: “We are going to be discovering this story with the amazing team of John Tiffany, Jamie Harrison and Steven Hoggett and it’s going to be quite something to throw myself into this role with such an extraordinary group of visionaries. I can’t wait to get started and to bring this piece to the stage.”
Written and directed by Macqueen, Supernova had its world premiere in 2020 at both the San Sebastian Film Festival and the London Film Festival. The film, released in 2020, was short-listed for two BAFTA Awards including Outstanding British Film and as Best Film at the European Film Awards in 2021.
While it received critical acclaim worldwide, some territories struggled with its portrayal of a long-term gay relationship between two older men. The distributors were forced to temporarily pull the film in Russia because authorities there wanted to edit it to cut out references to homosexuality. An intimate same-sex scene was removed. Macqueen strongly condemned the move, stating he objected to the censorship in the “strongest possible terms”.
The production will open next year at Pitlochry Festival Theatre where it will run from 24 July until 21 August 2027.
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