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Alan Cumming is a man who wears many hats: actor, producer, presenter and queer bar owner, but being artistic director of Scotland’s Pitlochry Festival Theatre may be his most personal project to date. The 60-year-old star, born just 15 miles from Pitlochry, aims to put the town on the map with Out in the Hills, a new festival dedicated to LGBTQ+ arts. Taking place from 16 to 18 January, the festival will brighten up the start of 2026 with film screenings, theatre performances, photography exhibitions and intriguing conversations. Cumming, alongside curator Lewis Hetherington, has gathered an eclectic programme which the actor is part of. The Avengers: Doomsday actor will be leading the cast of Me and the Girls, a brand new adaptation by Neil Bartleet of Nöel Coward’s 1962 short story. There’s also ‘In Conversation’ events – including with Zander Murray and Graham Norton – a reading from Ian McKellan, stand-up comedy, a queer ceilidh, DJ sets, LGBTQ+ re-evaluations of history and creative workshops. “It’s great we’ve got indigenous Scottish people who are queer and trans and non-binary also represented,” Cumming says, speaking exclusively to PinkNews. “I want my time at Pitlochry to bring starry names but also to encourage, support and celebrate local Scottish talent.” But it’s not just the festival on Cumming’s plate; he’s also starring in the new Russell T Davies show, Tip Toe. The five-part series follows two neighbours with radically different views. Davies has stated that the show came from his desire to make a drama about “the most corrosive forces facing the LGBTQ+ community today”. PinkNews sat down with Cumming to speak about the importance of an LGBTQ+ inclusive festival in the UK, highlighting queer and trans Scottish voices, The Celebrity Traitors and how co-owning a queer bar prepared him for Tip Toe. PinkNews: I wanted to begin with the importance of having a festival spotlighting queer voices. Why is Out in the Hills important at this time? Alan Cumming: This festival is needed right now, at a time when all queer people, especially trans people, are marginalised and trans people specifically legislated against to the point that they don’t exist. We have all the more reason to have a festival to remind people of the contributions that queer people make to our culture. Let’s have something about queer and trans people that’s not negative. I’m the artistic director of this theatre that has an amazing facility in the middle of the highlands, and I want it to be this place where people come to see great stuff. This festival is the first thing I’ve announced for my new season; it was very important. It represents me, my spirit, my voice and my priorities. PN: You touched on the importance of this LGBTQIA+ festival at this time in the UK, but I’d like to expand on that, especially in the context of Scotland. AC: It’s so sad to me in Scotland, there’s such great intentions, then there’s tragedy attached to them. This is a case in point: the Scottish Government, a democratically elected Scottish Parliament, passed a bill that would allow trans people to live a better life and self-identify more easily. That was struck down by the Westminster parliament, went to the Supreme Court, and now it’s been the focus for virulence against trans people. Now, if there was ever any clearer reason for Scotland to become independent, when you can’t even pass laws in your own parliament? Hello! I want there to be something in the news about queer and trans people that’s not negative and horrid. My point is queer and trans people punch above our weight in terms of the contributions to the arts and to our culture. That’s something that should be celebrated. I want [Out of the Hills festival] to be a beacon of light, hope, and fun in the middle of this Scottish winter, in the middle of this winter of discontent against queer people in this country. PN: Hope feels so important at the moment. You’re also part of the festival with a reading of Me and the Girls by Noël Coward. What is your relationship to Coward’s work, and why did you want to be part of this performance? AC: There are several reasons why I want to do this. I did a workshop production of it in New York nine years ago, and I was offered it for the West End. It’s been swirling around, then Neil Bartlett approached me with this new adaptation. Now I feel we’ve nailed it. Obviously, I’m familiar with [Coward’s] work, and I love him. He’s fascinating to me because of the way he changed his class, changed his authenticity as an artist to be from a different place. It backfired on him ultimately, because [amongst] kitchen sink dramas, he became this dinosaur, vilified for his class and manners, which, hilariously, were not his initially at all. This show really is his kitchen sink drama. It’s very frank about his homosexuality. My actual dream for it… I just think it would be so great to do it at the Royal Court and have Noël Coward’s name on the marquee outside. Wouldn’t that be the perfect sort of cyclical closure, prevailing him as this writer of great authenticity? PN: That full circle would be incredible. You’re also going to be in conversation with Graham Norton, which is such a great pairing. What can people expect from the event? AC: Graham and I have been good friends for such a long time. I first went on his show in about 2002. I really love interviewing people who are so used to asking the questions. Graham is such fun and has great stories. He’s also a wise man and has seen so much change as a queer man over the years. I am leading the conversation, so it’s his turn to be on the couch, not on the chair. PN: I’ve also got to ask you about the current series of The Celebrity Traitors UK. Have you been watching? AC: I watched the first [episode]. I’m dying to see the others! When I went to [film] for [The Traitors US], the British celebrity one had just finished. So, I know all the juice and who won. I know everything! PN: Well, no spoilers, but what do you think about this Traitors trio? AC: So good! It’s fascinating being with something from the beginning, and being a producer, you start to see what the really important elements of the show are. One of them is getting the right combo of people in the turret. This one’s very good; they nailed it. PN: There are too many good clips of Alan Carr being an icon already. Do you have a dream celebrity that you would love to see on Traitors? AC: Martha Stewart, she would be hilarious. She’s been around the block, she makes snacks for everyone and she’d be very good in missions. It’s really important and fun to see people out of their element. My favourite thing is watching the housewives get wet, falling in the loch. So watching Martha falling in the loch would be prime TV! PN: You’re also in the new Russell T Davies show, Tip Toe. I read filming has started. How is it going? AC: I’m right in the middle of [filming]. It’s a very powerful story… such brilliant writing… I hope we don’t f**k it up! It’s so intense and prescient. It’s another state of the nation [on] where we are about queer and trans people, where we all are about that from the slant of right now. It is a scary time, so that’s very much reflected in this show. David Morrissey and I [play] neighbours. I run a bar on Canal Street. David and I are old friends, and it’s the first time we’ve ever worked together. We’ve had to do some really intense things together, so it’s lovely to do that with someone you love and know, because it really is a lot. PN: You have some similarities with the character, as you co-own a queer bar in New York. Did you relate through that? AC: Yes! Leo, my character, is more hands-on at the bar than I am. World of Wonder has done a docu-series about Club Cumming. Like my fictional club, there are a few trans kids who work and perform there. It’s lovely to do something that celebrates their lives and shows the need for community. Club Cumming, my bar in [Tip Toe] and the theatre in general are community centres, safe spaces where people can be themselves. My whole thing at Club Cumming is all ages, all genders, all colours, all sexualities, and kindness is all. That’s a good ethos for life. I’m looking forward to the docu-series because for so many people in the club, it’s been such a great thing for them right now, especially that they get a chance to tell their stories and to speak their truth. That’s what the festival in Pitlochry is about, too. Pitlochry Festival Theatre Out in the Hills is taking place from 16th to 18th January 2026.
