Douglas Maxwell has been one of Scotland’s top playwrights since his debut play Our Bad Magnet in 2000. His most recent work includes Man’s Best Friend at The Tron and Scottish tour, and the multi-award winning So Young at The Citizens, produced by Raw Materials. His further renowned plays include The Sheriff Of Kalamaki (A Play, A Pie and A Pint); Orphans (National Theatre of Scotland); Decky Does a Bronco (Grid Iron) and The Whip Hand (Traverse Theatre/Birmingham Rep).
This June, he will join us at Pitlochry Festival Theatre to present the world première of his hotly anticipated play, Inexperience (13 June – 4 July 2026).
Inexperience is a witty and heartfelt romantic comedy about touch, memory, and the choices that shape a life. Expect a moving, playful exploration of intimacy in a culture where physical contact is anything but simple. With humour, warmth, and emotional bite, Inexperience poses the question: what’s the best way to live? Do you dive into life’s chaos, or stay apart and unscathed?
Douglas Maxwell. Courtesy of The Scotman.
In 2021, Maxwell’s one act play Beautiful Boy was performed at our amphitheatre as part of the outdoor summer season. This summer, Inexperience will be the first studio show at Pitlochry Festival Theatre to open Alan Cumming’s inaugural season as Artistic Director.
Maxwell was delighted with the enthusiastic reception for Inexperience:
But here was Pitlochry getting back immediately and with a clear offer! They sounded excited by the play and absolutely committed to it… It became clear that Alan was reading everything, seeing everything and meeting with as many artists and theatre makers as he possibly could. Olly used to say that theatres were either ‘yes’ buildings or ‘no’ buildings. Pitlochry was now, unquestionably, a ‘yes’ building!
Inexperience follows a couple – Robin and Iris – who haven’t seen each other since university. Robin doesn’t do mess. Not in his house, not in his work, not in his heart. A meticulous Sheriff Clerk, he keeps himself apart—safe, orderly, untouchable. Until Iris walks back into his life.
Iris is Robin’s opposite: impulsive, passionate, always chasing the next cause or connection. Back in the 90s, when they were students, she made Robin a daring promise: they could only ever touch once. Just once, in their entire lives—in an attempt to preserve a spark that usually fades. Iris forgot. Robin never did.
Now, decades later, that one perfect touch may finally be within reach. But can a single moment live up to a lifetime of anticipation?
Adura Onashile, Sandy Grierson, Sophie Fortune and Alexander Tait
Inexperience will star Adura Onashile (Medea, National Theatre of Scotland), Sandy Grierson (Make it Happen, National Theatre of Scotland), Alexander Tait (Death of an Influencer, A Play, A Pie and A Pint) and making her professional debut, Sophie Fortune.
Maxwell said:
I first worked with Sandy twenty years ago when he was in my play Mancub, for Vanishing Point. He’s a unique and amazing performer. I’ve never had a chance to work with Adura before but I love her work – as an actor, writer and director. Her play, Expensive Shit is one of my favourite plays of recent times. In the last few years Adura and Sandy have been the leads in massive EIF shows (Medea and Make It Happen). To have them both in my play, in this little gem of the Studio, is a hell of thing. To see those guys work, up close, will be something very special for the audience.
Award-winning actor, Sally Reid (Water Colour) will also return to Pitlochry Festival Theatre to direct Inexperience.
Maxwell said:
And this is the first time I will get to work with Sally Reid as a director. She is, of course, an incredible actor and she’s been in a few of my shows over the years (Smalltown – co-written with DC Jackson and Johnny McKnight and Miracle Man for the NTS) but I’ve absolutely loved her directorial work. Her production will be slick and sexy and glittery and enthralling… as well as being heartfelt and really funny. As you might imagine from the star of Scot Squad and Shirley Valentine, Sally has the very best comic instincts.
Don’t miss your chance to see the World première of Inexperience during its limited three week run (13 June – 14 July 2026).
Get your tickets now!
… And that’s not all! Maxwell kindly shared his highlights of the upcoming 2026 season:
When the season was announced I actually got a bit emotional myself. Not because of Inexperience, but because of History of Paper. That beautiful show is being scaled up to the Main Auditorium. It was written by my pal, Olly Emanuel. At first I thought I was getting upset because Olly was going to miss all the buzz and palaver that are undoubtedly coming Pitlochry’s way this summer – Olly died in 2023 – but no. Actually it was the opposite. I was crying because Olly’s play is there…so he will be there. And I can’t wait to connect with him again.
The other standout for me is Iain Heggie’s play Wiping My Mother’s Arse. Iain was the superstar playwright when I was coming up through the ranks in the 90s and early noughties. In a very crowded field of incredible voices Iain’s plays were a world of their own. They exploded with wild comedy and gallus swagger, but they’ve all got something cold and true in the middle. And Johnny McKnight’s in it this time! Iain gave me the best piece of playwriting advice I’ve ever had. He said, “at every moment, in every play, something has to be happening.” It might sound obvious, but I’ve thought about that phrase at least once a day for the last twenty five years.
And this is before I’ve talked about how important Maureen Beattie, lead in Lear, is to me (a world-class classical actor with Musical Hall blood in her veins – Scottish Theatre in a nutshell!)… or Muriel Spark (the greatest Scottish writer of all time – yes, better than Stevenson and yes, better than Burns), or David Harrower, adaption of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (another playwriting hero!), or Vicky Featherstone, director of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie or John Tiffany, director of Once (without whom I have no career at all – none)…or Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie, writers of Ceilidh (musical theatre geniuses who I first met when they were students)… or even My Fair Lady ( for, as you know, I played Henry Higgins in the “fondly remembered” Girvan Academy production).
So yeah…being part of this season is very special to me indeed. At every moment…in every play…something is happening!
Inexperience is supported by Aberfeldy Single Malt.
