It’s always a pleasure chatting with Alan Cumming – the BAFTA, Emmy, Tony and Olivier-winning actor and all-round queer icon. During a break in filming for the new Russell T Davies series Tip Toe, we caught up with Alan to discuss the queer theatre plans he has for 2026. He recently took over as the Artistic Director of Scotland’s Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and has been busily curating new queer arts festival Out in the Hills, as well as a programme for the 2026 season.
So how has your time at the theatre been so far? “I’ve not actually been very often – next year is when I’m more permanently there. But in February I curated the writer’s festival, that was the first thing under my tenure that was in the building, so I really wanted to make sure that I put my stamp on it. I DJ’d this party on a Saturday night, in the foyer, that was just epic. There were hundreds of people dancing around – the whole town! – I think the bar made more that day than it had ever made. It was just a magical night, I felt – this is gonna be ok, I’ve got the support of everybody, I can make this a joyful place.”
Tell us more about the Out in the Hills festival – how did that come about? “I just thought it up! Partly because there’s nothing much happening in the theatre in January, there’s usually just this big blank, and I couldn’t understand why. People are still there, people don’t leave Pitlochry, and there’s this thing we’re trying to do, to make Pitlochry more of a destination – so you have to keep doing that throughout the year. I thought it would be lovely, on one of those cold dark January nights, to do something joyous, and make people come for a few days and have a little break.
“Also, in a time when LGBTQ+ people are so under threat, when trans people are being litigated against, there’s been such a spike in hate crimes against us… what would be lovely to do, would be to have a celebration of us, and of the contributions LGBTQ+ people have made to society and to culture. I just thought that would be a lovely thing to do – for everyone to be able to do! – to show solidarity. All you hear are negative things, right now, in the news about the queer community, so let’s do something positive, let’s do something joyous. That was my little joyful protest, I suppose.”
The Out in the Hills festival will take place 16-18 January 2026. All the works will have a queer angle – are there any more specific themes being explored? “It’s a smorgasbord really, it’s eclectic! I love that, there are such sweet things, international things, more local things. That’s my whole modus operandi for running this theatre: to encourage local talent, as well as bringing international things from around the world. We have a trans guy in our workshop who told us about this local group called Camp Trans, it’s a camp where trans people can go and have their own time together. Some people made a film about it, so we’re showing that film – it’s beautiful! I love the idea that this has come from a guy in our workshop, as well as having, you know, Ian McKellen coming in.
“I’m really looking forward to… Neil Bartlett, who’s a hero of mine, came to me with this adaptation of a Noel Coward short story called Me and the Girls – I always loved that short story. So we’re doing a rehearsed reading of that, it’s really interesting, in the way that Noel Coward was seen in the 1960s as this sort of dinosaur, really the antithesis of all the Angry Young Men and all the stuff that was going on – actually he was writing this short story, being very frank about this character’s homosexuality. We all think we know what Noel Coward’s all about, it almost shines a whole new light on him.”
Can you tell us more about the play and your role in it? “I play a guy called George: he runs a troupe of dancing girls on a cruise liner, and he’s dying, he’s collapsed on stage on the boat, and now he’s in hospital and the girls all come to visit him. It’s an adaptation of a story, and there’s songs in it as well, and Neil’s using songs… apart from at the end, I sing the last song, ‘If Love Were All’, but the rest of the songs are ones that are not that familiar. Noel Coward wrote so many songs: they’re apposite to what’s going on, but they’re not very well known, so I think they’ll be fascinating for people to discover.”
The Out in the Hills festival – a bold, inclusive celebration of queer voices and creative expression – will feature, amongst others, Ian McKellen, Graham Norton, Armisted Maupin and Val McDermid.
Moving on to 2026 plans more generally – there’s a huge amount happening! Reuniting the original creative team for the musical Once for its Scottish premiere; bringing in Maria Friedman to direct My Fair Lady; Sam Pinkleton (who just picked up a Tony Award this year for directing Oh, Mary! on Broadway) is directing new musical Ceilidh… and a whole host more, there’s so much going on. What are the queer highlights of the programme?
“Martin Sherman, who wrote Bent, sent me this new play about Liberace, about a writer who’s been forced to write a play about Liberace; Simon Russell Beale is going to play Liberace and Fra Fee is going to play the writer. That’s a big queer story: in the 1960s Liberace sued the Daily Mirror about them insinuating that he was homosexual, he went on the stand and said ‘no I’m not homosexual’. There’s a really interesting dialogue between the writer and Liberace – the way we feel he let us down because he never came out. When he died of HIV he said he’d lost so much weight because he was doing the watermelon diet and all that. But actually what Liberace says, at one point, ‘I did exactly the same thing as Oscar Wilde – but I won.’
“It’s so interesting when you think about it – Oscar Wilde denied he was gay, he did all that. In the end of course they beat him, and he became a hero because he was treated so badly, but Liberace did exactly the same thing, and took them on and won. It’s fascinating to me how that changes how you perceive someone in history, so it’s a chance for Liberace to have his say a bit more.” It sounds really interesting, and the comparison between how those two men lived – actually quite similarly, but were treated and remembered so differently – that’s fascinating. The play, I’ll Be Seeing You, will run 12 September – 11 October 2026.
We spotted you are going to be in some of the shows that are happening next year – how are you feeling about returning to the stage? “I’m excited! It’s funny because I realise that I’ve only ever been in two musicals, on stage, in my entire life: Cabaret, several times, and The Threepenny Opera. So I have a very dark, Weimary niche! I’ve done a few more musicals on film, but only two on stage… so now next year I’m going to do two more musicals, and neither of them are dark or Weimary. It feels – it’s a big leap for me!
“I saw A History of Paper at the Traverse Theatre a couple of years ago, and I just adored it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I felt like the characters should be my age, and not too young, because it’s got an element of 9/11 in it, and it’s really important for you to believe that the person has gone through it. And then, My Fair Lady… I’m so excited to work with Maria Friedman because her work is fascinating. I thought that Merrily We Roll Along she did on Broadway was brilliant! I’m excited about her ideas, to reduce it back down to a play, make the score – the orchestra – more like a string quartet, and explore the ideas at the centre of it without the pizzazz, the wall of sound that you get in these big musicals.”
A History of Paper will run at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre 8 August – 12 September 2026, and My Fair Lady will run 21 November – 31 December 2026.
Final question – for most of our readers, Pitlochry is quite a trip. Why should GAY TIMES readers make that journey? “I think because we are trying something new, we are trying to reinvent. Now it’s me running it, the first thing I’ve done is I’ve made a queer festival, we’re saying come for a weekend, come for a few days, see stuff in this theatre, but do other things too. Rediscover – or discover! – a place that you never knew existed, that is beautiful, that is surprising, and is, you know, it’s a little queer oasis in the hills. Make it a destination – you’re not just catching a play, you’re coming to have an experience, and we want to make sure that you have a joyful time while you’re there.”
Tickets for the Out in the Hills festival are available now, with the 2026 season productions going on sale Thursday 27th November at 10am. More information can be found here.