Aberfeldy born Cumming’s appointment, however, has raised the bar considerably in terms of ambitions for what a rural theatre outside the central belt can potentially achieve. One of Newman’s many achievements during her six-year tenure at PFT since being appointed in 2018 has been to forge links with theatres beyond its immediate locale.
‘The world has moved on pretty substantially since Pitlochry Festival Theatre first opened in 1951,’ says PFT’s Chief Executive since 2018, Kris Bryce. ’Can you imagine the difficulty of getting to Pitlochry back then, with no A9 road link? Yet they were drawing a huge number of people.’
Since then, PFT has become increasingly expansive in reach.
‘The way in which we work as an industry, and as a sector, needs to move on,’ says Bryce, ‘and I think that's where Elizabeth and I have really enjoyed leaning into really challenging times and responding to what people need, what artists need, what audiences need, and moving the theatre onwards. What's really special about a producing theatre is you gather artists together, and it's fascinating what comes out of that.’
There is plenty of other theatre going on outside the central belt, whether produced by long-standing institutions such as Perth Theatre, the Byre in St Andrew’s or a ferry ride away at Mull Theatre.
Dundee Rep has worked with a permanent acting ensemble since 1998. A quarter of a century on, while the shape of the ensemble has changed, it has also shown that opportunities remain for actors beyond it.
While ensemble members regularly work elsewhere, one of the most striking success stories has been that of current Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa. Gatwa spent a year at Dundee Rep as part of the theatre’s graduate actor scheme before taking on starring roles, first in Netflix drama, Sex Education, then as the evergreen TV timelord. This follows in the footsteps of David Tennant, who appeared at Dundee Rep and other Scottish theatres before being cast as Doctor Who.
Beyond the reps, independent companies too are making their mark. In the Highlands, Dogstar Theatre has blazed a trail at local, national and international level since the company was set up by Hamish MacDonald in 1998. Since then, Dogstar has produced a stream of new works that have seen them collaborate with companies in Sweden and Denmark as well as Scotland. Matthew Zajac’s solo play, The Tailor of Inverness, toured the world for more than a decade.
With Zajac leading the company since 2014, the company has worked with writers such as George Gunn, most recently on Gunn’s ‘Highland Spaceport Fantasy’, The Fallen Angels of the Moine, which toured to nine Highlands and Islands venues. Dogstar has also forged links with Eden Court Theatre in Inverness and Playwrights Studio Scotland for the recently initiated Spark Festival, which aimed to nurture local playwrights.
“I thought we might get maybe twelve or fifteen submissions,’ says Zajac, ‘but we got twenty-nine. I was surprised at how many people in the Highlands are trying to write plays, so I don't want Spark to be a one off festival. We're going to try and make it biennial so we can help develop things.’
In the Scottish Borders, Firebrand Theatre Company is serving a similar function to Dogstar. Founded in 2010 by current creative producer Ellie Zeegan and actress Janet Coulson, With Richard Baron on board as the company’s director of productions, Firebrand have produced a diet of new plays and second productions of already established contemporary Scottish plays.
‘One of our mantras has been to create epic theatre in intimate spaces,’ says Baron of the company’s raison d’être. ‘One of the big things with Firebrand has always been to try and create very high quality work in the borders and export it to the city, rather than it being the other way around.’
‘What attracted us originally to start Firebrand,’ says Zeegan, ‘was that there wasn’t a professional theatre company in the borders. That enabled us to set our own agenda, but also look to what was on our doorstep. For instance, Rona Munro, one of the most prolific playwrights n the country, lives in Selkirk. So when we were doing her play, The Last Witch, we were able to sit in her living room and talk about it.’
Tellingly, Firebrand has recently become an associate company of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, fostering an umbilical link between companies from either end of the country. With Baron having directed work at PFT many times, this was a natural fit, and Firebrand’s studio production of Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed looks set to return following a sell out run in Pitlochry.
As Baron points out, ‘People might say there's not really anything happening in the Scottish Borders, when in fact there is. You just have to look for it. You have to collaborate. You have to discover, you have to join together. The Borders is a labyrinth, and once you know, if you need somebody highly skilled in something, you're probably going to find it in the borders.’
In different ways, Firebrand, Dogstar, Dundee Rep and Pitlochry Festival Theatre point up the welter of theatrical activity outside the central belt. They also show how, far from being isolated, just how much will there is for it to thrive despite ongoing funding crises and other setbacks. This is something Alan Cumming will already know from his own formative years on Scotland’s stages. He has much to look forward to.
As Bryce says of Cumming’s appointment, ‘I think it's going to be a brilliant moment for Scotland and for Scottish theatre.’
The List, October 2024
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