Pitlochry Festival Theatre Names New CEO and Deputy Artistic Director in 75th Anniversary Year

As Pitlochry Festival Theatre marks the 75th anniversary of its opening and prepares to launch its 2026 season later this week with the Scottish premiere of Once, the “Theatre in the Hills” has announced the appointments of Henry Filloux-Bennett as Chief Executive and Sam Hardie as Deputy Artistic Director, both working alongside Artistic Director Alan Cumming. The Theatre has also announced that to celebrate its anniversary it will be opening its picturesque Explorers Garden to the public free of charge this year.

Prior to his appointment at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Henry Filloux-Bennett has served as Executive Director at Leeds-based Opera North, Executive Director of HOME in Manchester, as well as Chief Executive for the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. Other roles have included Head of Marketing at The Lowry and Head of Marketing & Communications at Nottingham Playhouse, as well as producer and general manager for several organisations including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Theatre Royal Haymarket and Bill Kenwright Ltd. As a writer, Henry also wrote the award-winning Nigel Slater's Toast which started life at the Lowry before playing at the Traverse Theatre, in the West End and on UK Tour.

Sam Hardie is a theatre director specialising in new work and storytelling with live music and large ensembles. She is currently Associate Director at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and trained as an actor at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. For many years, she co-ran the award-winning visual and physical theatre company The PappyShow, taking its work to venues including the Barbican and Southbank Centre. Sam was a finalist for the JMK Award in 2023 and won the MGCfutures Nicole Kidman Award for Female Director in 2021. Her recent directing credits at Pitlochry Festival Theatre include last year's revival of The Sound of Music, Grease, This is a Gift, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and To the Bone.

Lorna Jack, Chair of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, commented, "The board and I are thrilled to welcome Henry as our new Chief Executive and Sam as Deputy Artistic Director during this milestone 75th anniversary year. Henry joins us with remarkable leadership expertise in arts and theatre – given his experience and enthusiasm, we're confident he will be an excellent addition to the theatre. Working alongside Alan, the Board and I eagerly anticipate collaborating with Henry and Sam and are incredibly excited for Pitlochry Festival Theatre's future under the leadership team's guidance."

Alongside these appointments, Pitlochry Festival Theatre has also announced that its Explorers Garden will be open to the public free of charge this year. Created in partnership with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in the late 1990s as a Theatricum Botanicum, the Garden includes distinctive performance spaces such as the Pagoda, Pavilion and Amphitheatre. Home to many rare varieties of Meconopsis that bloom in May, it also features the Theatre's own Himalayan blue poppy GSG Explorers, offering visitors a striking opportunity to experience art and nature in a Highland setting.

Caroline Bavey, Pitlochry Festival Theatre's Landscape and Garden Manager said, “We're turning 75 today, and we wanted to do something special to say thank you, to everyone who's visited or supported us over the years. So, for the rest of the 2026 garden season, we're offering free entry to the Explorers Garden. Whether you've been coming for years or you've never visited before, come in, have a wander, and celebrate with us.”

Pitlochry Festival Theatre's 2026 season, the inaugural season for Artistic Director Alan Cumming, opens later this week with a production of the Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Once, based on John Carney's film of the same name (23 May - 27 Jun). Further productions include Inexperience by Scottish playwright Douglas Maxwell (13 Jun - 4 Jul); Lear, Finn Den Hertog's reimagining of Shakespeare's tragedy, starring Maureen Beattie (4 Jul - 1 Aug); Frances Ruffelle, Sally George and Alan Cumming's concert-style play I Can Die Too (11 Jul - 2 Aug); Oliver Emanuel and Gareth Williams' A History of Paper, starring Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson (9 Aug - 12 Sep); Iain Heggie's hilarious Wiping My Mother's Arse (15 Aug - 5 Sept);  the world premiere of I'll Be Seeing You, Martin Sherman's play about Liberace starring Simon Russell Beale and Fra Fee, directed by Cumming (12 Sep - 11 Oct); Siobhan Redmond appearing in Samiel Beckett's Happy Days (15 Sep - 10 Oct); the UK première of the immersive musical Ceilidh, staged at Pitlochry Town Hall (7 - 17 Oct); Gayle Rankin starring in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (4 – 7 Nov) and ending the year with the iconic Musical My Fair Lady (21 Nov-31 Dec) starring Alan Cumming and directed by Maria Friedman.

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