Full cast announced for world premiere of I’LL BE SEEING YOU at Pitlochry Festival Theatre
This September, Alan Cumming’s inaugural season as Artistic Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre is set to stage the eagerly awaited world première of I’ll Be Seeing You, legendary American playwright and screenwriter Martin Sherman’s new play about the life of the flamboyant entertainer Liberace as seen through the eyes of a young writer.
Directed by Pitlochry Festival Theatre's Tony, Olivier, BAFTA and Emmy award winning Artistic Director Alan Cumming and the Theatre's Associate Director Ben Occhipinti and starring Tony, BAFTA and Olivier award winning actor Simon Russell Beale, Fra Fee, as well as playwright Martin Sherman making his stage acting debut, I’ll Be Seeing You will have its première at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 22 September - 11 October.
Sherman’s new play is a bold and imaginative fantasia which follows a young writer struggling to create a play about the flamboyant superstar Liberace - a man he believes lived in denial, hiding his true self behind sequins and spectacle. But when Liberace himself appears to him, the story takes a surreal turn. Through music, memory, and irresistible charm, Liberace challenges not only the writer but also the audience to question their own assumptions, prejudices, and truths.
Funny, seductive, and deeply moving, I’ll Be Seeing You is a theatrical event that blurs reality and fantasy while celebrating one of entertainment’s most unforgettable icons.
The exciting I’ll Be Seeing You cast will feature Simon Russell Beale (The Lehman Trilogy, Uncle Vanya), Fra Fee (Les Misérables, The Ferryman), Adam Kashmiry (Adam, National Theatre of Scotland), Anne Lacey (Anna Karenina, Chichester Festival Theatre), Ali Watt (The Sound of Music, Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Greg Powrie (River City, BBC Scotland), and Martin Sherman making his stage acting debut.
Simon Russell Beale said: “I am hugely excited at the prospect of working on Martin Sherman's brilliant new play, with a wonderful team - Alan Cumming, Fra Fee, and Tim Hatley. It should be a great adventure.”
Playwright Martin Sherman said about his new play: “It’s impossible to describe a playwright’s joy having Simon Russell Beale and Fra Fee starring as what had been your imagined characters and Alan Cumming directing what once was your imagined fantasy and having all of that insanity and joy and mischievous chaos unleashed during Alan Cumming’s initial, ground-breaking season at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
“I’ll Be Seeing You has been described as a play about Liberace, but what it is really is a play not about Liberace, which I suppose is the point, or perhaps it isn’t. What is not in question is my pure delight at having my play premiere in this gorgeous circumstance and having Alan, Simon, and Fra madly tinkling the keys of a wayward sequined piano floating somewhere through the bemused skies of the Scottish Highlands.”
Joining Alan Cumming and Ben Occhipinti in the creative team are Tony and Olivier award winning designer Tim Hatley, lighting designer Grant Anderson, choreographer Chris Stuart Wilson, and historical content consultant Jonathan Warren.
Director Alan Cumming said: “The world premiere of a Martin Sherman play is a huge event, and for that play to be about Liberace and the truth of writing is such an incredible mash up of concepts and ideas. This is a confection like no other seen on the PFT stage, a mirage of rhinestone and glitz, about a man who played with and for us in equal measure.
“We have been so lucky to have the cooperation of the Liberace foundation in bringing this play to the Pitlochry stage, and to have been given access to his collection in Las Vegas for research purposes.
“We are also so honoured to have the great Simon Russell Beale playing Liberace, and Fra Fee as a writer forced to create a play about him, and Martin Sherman himself will be taking the stage too!
“This will be an evening unlike anything seen in our theatre in the hills! Gird your loins!”