Entertainment

Alan Cumming and Ewan McGregor to star in world premiere stage adaptation of Supernova at Pitlochry

Xanthe BramwellPublished 2d ago3 min readBased on 8 sources
Reading level
Alan Cumming and Ewan McGregor to star in world premiere stage adaptation of Supernova at Pitlochry

Alan Cumming and Ewan McGregor will star together in the world stage premiere of Supernova at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, running from 24 July to 21 August 2027. The production, staged in the theatre's Auditorium, is the first show announced for Pitlochry's Season 2027 and forms part of the venue's 75th anniversary celebrations — a season spanning 2025 to 2027.

The source material will be familiar to film audiences. Supernova began life as a 2020 feature film written and directed by Harry Macqueen, starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as Sam and Tusker, a couple of 20 years reckoning with Tusker's early-onset dementia diagnosis. The film was produced by Quiddity and The Bureau. Now Macqueen has adapted his own screenplay for the stage — his debut as a playwright.

John Tiffany will direct. Tiffany's creative team includes movement director Steven Hoggett, designer Jamie Harrison and associate director Sam Hardie. Cumming, who serves as artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, will perform alongside McGregor in the two-hander.

The casting carries a local resonance. McGregor described Cumming as "my old friend," while Cumming called McGregor "a fellow Perthshire home boy." Both actors grew up in Perthshire, the region where Pitlochry sits.

The announcement lands on a day already circled at the venue. On 29 July 2026, Pitlochry hosts "Ewan McGregor: in Conversation with Alan Cumming" — a 90-minute live event at 3pm and 7:30pm, with a livestream also available. The event is a fundraiser for the theatre's 75th Anniversary Appeal.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre, which styles itself "the Theatre in the Hills," has been a fixture of Scottish cultural life since its founding. The 75th anniversary season gives the venue a platform to mount a production with names more commonly associated with West End stages or Hollywood screens.

Priority booking for Supernova opens on 29 July 2026, with general sale following on 12 August 2026. The Box Office, reachable on 01796 484626, operates from 9:30am to 5pm, with phone lines open 10am to 4:30pm.

For audiences, the draw is straightforward: two internationally known Scottish performers, a story about love and loss under the pressure of illness, and a playwright adapting his own film for the stage for the first time — all in a 370-seat auditorium in Highland Perthshire, a long way from Shaftesbury Avenue.