Casting

Casting Policy

With our new Artistic Leadership team, Alan Cumming, Artistic Director and Sam Hardie, Deputy Artistic Director, now in post, we want to commit to a transparent casting process and are embedding the following values and commitments Pitlochry Festival Theatre will be working with from our 2027 season.

At Pitlochry Festival Theatre, we are committed to employing exciting and brilliant performers across our stages.

We understand casting can at times feel like a mysterious process and want to demystify how we approach casting at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, making it transparent for performers.

We cast performers across our in house produced productions ranging from new plays, classical dramas and iconic musicals, as well as for developments, readings and sharings of new work in our festivals.

We support Equity’s #CastItHere campaign and will commit to prioritising actors based in Scotland and those based elsewhere who self-identify as Scottish. We will also commit to working with under-represented identities. We will champion the positive value of diversity, the importance of visibility and representation and we want to reflect this in our work. We will audition and cast actors from all backgrounds and cultures and are committed to ensuring equal opportunities regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, sex, gender reassignment, sexuality, age, disability, faith or economic background.

We will champion diversity in all forms within casting decisions.

Auditions:

Occasionally direct offers for roles in our productions will be made. The reason for this varies for each production. We recognise there are a large number of performers based in Scotland and across the UK for a small number of opportunities and are committed to providing accessible casting processes.

In our 2026 season, we employed 64 actors in our season. Of these 64 actors, 71% of actors auditioned for these roles and 29% received direct offers.

For our 2027 season, we will be employing an estimated 56 actors. We are committed to auditioning over 85% of these roles and estimate there will be around 15% roles which are direct offers.

How can I audition or be considered for acting roles?

We cast both in house and work with independent casting directors. For every production, we will detail whether we are working with a casting director or if casting is being done in house. This will be listed on the individual page for the production on our website.

When working with independent casting directors, if unrepresented please email any casting enquiries directly to them, detailing in the subject line of your email – your name and the production you would like to be seen for. If represented, please ask your agent to get directly in touch with the casting director.

For in house casting, please email casting@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com with your name and production you would like to be seen for in the subject line. In the body of the email, please include a link to your spotlight.

We will also post about any open casting calls or opportunities on our website and social media channels.

We are proud to partner with Scottish Casting Network. This is a commitment from 6 theatre buildings in Scotland to hold one open casting workshop every two years. This means our artistic and producing teams attend three open casting workshops held by these theatre buildings in Scotland throughout the year. In 2026 we held our Scottish Casting Network workshops across two days and met 80 actors.

What does our audition process look like?

Our audition process differs for each production and depending on the need of the role. Sometimes this may mean meeting actors initially through self-tapes or meeting them at an in person or online audition. Recall auditions are sometimes utilised but not for every production.

We are dedicated to creating an audition environment where actors are empowered to do their best work.

For every audition we will follow the below commitments.

We will commit to:

• Ensuring actors have appropriate time to prepare for an audition, whenever possible, and are given all information (who you will be meeting, what the expectations of the meeting are and what exactly you need to prepare) to enable everyone to do their best work.
• Always offering casting auditions primarily in Scotland and may offer auditions in London or elsewhere, depending on the needs of the production.
• Ensuring access needs or requirements are met. Please do let us or the casting director know if you have any access needs or requirements. We want to support everyone being able to do their best work.
• Ensuring that you/and your agent receive communication throughout the process and will be kept up to date with next steps/recalls, etc. All actors auditioning will receive communication regarding the outcome on their audition. If there has been no communication post 2 weeks from auditioning, please do get in touch with us at casting@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com.

We support the Audition Guidelines set out by Casting Directors’ Guild (Audition Guidelines).

How do I find out about what you are casting?

Our season announcements for our in-house productions are announced throughout the year. Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for all announcements. Who is casting the production will be detailed on the individual production page on the website.

How do I invite you to see my work?

Our Artistic and Producing Team endeavour to get along to as much as we can see, primarily in Scotland, however we do travel across the UK to see work. If you would like to invite one of the team to see your work, please email casting@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com with INVITE clearly in the subject line and with details on your work in the body of the email.

 Can I send you my script or writing?

Our programme for 2027 and 2028 are both full and so we are currently not accepting new scripts. We will update our website and socials when we are accepting scripts again. We are currently exploring further development opportunities for artists to work with us. These will be announced on our website and on our social media channels as and when they come up.