Liz Lochhead, Val McDermid and Andrew O'Hagan to feature in Alan Cumming's first festival for Scottish theatre

The Perthshire-born actor will have a starring role within weeks of starting his new role at Pitlochry Festival Theatre when he makes a number of appearances at its annual showcase for writers.

Cumming, who was appointed artistic director in September, will also be in-conversation with poet Michael Pedersen - Edinburgh's newly-appointed Makar - and novelist Andrew O'Hagan during the latest edition of the venue’s Winter Worlds Festival.

And he will appear in his own “Q&A” event at the venue within weeks of officially taking up his post in the festival’s official opening event.

Cumming has curated the line-up for the three-day festival, which will run from February 21-23, and will feature an appearance from First Minister - and Perthshire MSP - John Swinney, who will be interviewing author James Jauncey.

O'Hagan, writer of the novels Mayflies and Caledonian Road, will be interviewing former playwright and former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre's partnership with the Firebrand Theatre Company, which saw the creation of a new play about the Scottish writer and poet Nan Shepherd, will continue at the Winter Words Festival with new shows inspired by the work of Virginia Woolf and George Orwell.

Other special guests in Cumming's inaugural programme for the theatre include "Kilted Yoga" author Finlay Wilson, Scotland's Geographer Royal Jo Sharp, broadcaster Peter MacQueen, debut novelists Chris Carse Wilson and Arun Sood, and the authors Titilayo Farukuoye and Heather Parry.

The festival, which champions both fiction and non-fiction writing, will feature a number of chefs and food writers, including restaurateur Carina Contini, Isle of Canna-based chef Gareth Cole and MasterChef finalist Sarah Rankin.

When Cumming was appointed by Pitlochry Festival Theatre to succeed outgoing artistic director Elizabeth Newman, he pledged to "invite the world’s best theatre artists here and showcase the best of Scotland’s thrilling theatrical legacy" at the venue, which has been running since 1951.

He is expected to announce his first major productions, which will be staged from 2026, later next year.

Discussing his curation of the Winter Words Festival, Cumming said: "I love working in the theatre and I also love writing. But being passionate about writing also means that I hate it. As Ernest Hemingway said ‘there is nothing to writing, all you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed'.

"Any writer will tell you, there is no more bleak a vision than the blinding whiteness of an empty page or computer screen, yet nothing more exciting and life-affirming than when the muse descends and you’re on a writing roll.

"That’s why I’m so excited about the chance to talk with so many great scribes about their work, their practice and how they’re feeling about the world we find ourselves in today.

"As artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, my mission is to invite great artistes to come and collaborate with the very best of Scotland’s rich theatrical legacy. And in this festival I’ve invited an array of Scottish literary titans you know and love to stand alongside some new and diverse writers.

"We’ve all been through a lot recently. This festival is a chance for us to gather together in this beautiful theatre, and share our passion for words and our zest for life."