Latest news with #Perthshire-born
Daily Record
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Two stunning Scottish places Ewan McGregor says he is desperate to visit
McGregor returns to TV with Charley Boorman in Long Way Home, now streaming on Apple+. Ewan McGregor has journeyed across galaxies as Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, but when it comes to his own homeland, there is still plenty he's desperate to discover. The Perthshire-born actor has returned to the small screen with long-time friend and travel companion Charley Boorman for Long Way Home, their latest motorbike adventure, now streaming on Apple+. This time, the pair ride from McGregor's Scottish base to Boorman's home in England, following a sprawling circular route through 15 countries across Europe, Scottish Daily Express reports. Their two-month journey kicks off with a crossing over the North Sea into Scandinavia, stretching up to the Arctic Circle, winding down through the Baltics and across continental Europe before finishing with a Channel crossing back to the UK. For the trip, McGregor rides a 1974 Moto Guzzi 850 El Dorado, once used by California police, while Boorman brings a 1972 BMW R75/5 back to life, an old bike previously written off as a 'rust heap'. It's the latest chapter in a globetrotting series that includes Long Way Round, Long Way Down and Long Way Up, but McGregor admits that no matter how far he travels, Scotland still calls to him. 'I will never feel like I have seen enough of Scotland. I love being there so much. There's whole swathes of it I've never been to,' the Trainspotting star told the BBC. 'I have done some islands but not by any means all of them, Orkney and Shetland, I've never been to. There are loads of places I still want to explore.' Despite years spent living in London and Los Angeles, McGregor returned to his roots in 2023, purchasing Glencarse House near Perth for £2.35 million. In the series, he receives a heartfelt send-off from the Morrison's Academy Pipe Band, where he once played the side drum as a schoolboy. Speaking about the show, Boorman, 58, revealed that McGregor often got emotional during their travels through Scotland. 'He would get misty eyed about Scotland,' he said. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. For McGregor, the experience was nothing short of transformative. 'I watched the first two episodes and I was thinking I'd like to go and do it again. It was a wonderful experience,' he said. 'In all the other trips we have had huge distances of riding for days and days, where the landscape never changed. But this, we had different countries coming at us every couple of days, we met people and saw specifically regional sports. 'In Holland we watched a pole vault-y thing over the canals, then we saw snowmobiles over water. It was nice and the whole idea of going to our house in Scotland to Charley's house in England was a funny idea, but it made sense.'
The Independent
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
I hope to make audiences gasp, says Alan Cumming on new artistic director role
Stage and screen star Alan Cumming has said he wants to make audiences 'gasp' as he prepares his first season as artistic director at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. The multi award-winning star, who took up the post last month, also said he wants to 'harness' his international profile to 'take Pitlochry to the world and the world to Pitlochry'. Speaking during an onstage Q&A event at the venue on Friday, the Perthshir e-born actor said his appointment had come just as his profile was on a high following the success of the US version of hit TV show The Traitors, which he presents. 'I'm very aware that I have a reach and a power and an increase in that right now, which coincides with me being here,' he told the audience. 'I'm interviewed all the time, and I talk about this place all the time, and people are really interested. 'I think what was hilarious was that when I was announced as the artistic director, when this story broke, the exclusive was with the Hollywood Reporter.' Cumming, who turned 60 last month, is currently programming the theatre's 2026 season, which he said has the 'mantra' of 'revisit, revive and reveal'. He refused to be drawn on what will be in it – other than saying it will include a musical – but said he is looking for pieces to make the audience 'gasp'. 'I'm looking for things that I think would be magical to come and see,' he said. 'I really do believe the theatre is a place of magic, and it's where imagination lets fly. 'I think all the things that I am planning for next year, the thing they have in common is this idea of possibility, in the style that they are done, or the style of the writing, or in the subject matter. 'For me, it's about theatricality and excitement. My criteria of how much I enjoy something, or not even enjoy because sometimes I do this when it's bad – it's gasping. 'My criteria is how much I gasp at a play, at a book, at a piece of theatre, any piece of art. 'If I gasp, I think 'wow, good on you, because you've made my body do something, something primal'. 'I want this theatre – and I think the future of theatre should be – to make people gasp more.' Cumming, whose accolades include two Emmys, two Tony Awards and an Olivier award, said that in recent years balancing the books at the theatre had been a 'constant battle' – particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said this probably explained why blockbuster musicals like Sunshine On Leith, which were guaranteed to get 'bums on seats', had been staged so often in recent years. He also said the issue of financial sustainability had been a recurring theme in his meetings with executive director Kris Bryce, who was on stage alongside him. 'It's a constant battle to keep the books straight, as I'm sure Kris will tell you, and is constantly telling me,' he said to laughter from the audience. He added that pinned to his office wall is something he wrote during his first meeting in the theatre. 'At the end of the first meeting I had in this building, I wrote 'try not to bankrupt this building',' he said. 'Then I put underneath 'but be bold, ballsy, and know your power'.' He added that one of the dividends of taking 'Pitlochry to the world and the world to Pitlochry' will be in the form of co-productions with other theatres. He said it had just been confirmed that one of the shows being programmed for 2026 will also go to New York's Broadway, which he said will provide income 'outside of just what happens in this building'. At the same time he stressed the importance of the theatre – both in terms of productions and the building itself – being a hub for the community, telling the audience on multiple occasions that it is 'your theatre'. He said: 'I want you to come to this building, and I want you to tell me what you would like. 'Obviously I'm the boss, so I get to decide,' he quipped, 'But I'm open to that.' He continued: 'This is your theatre. It's a community. We live in a community. The theatre is all about community. It is, in fact, a community centre. 'It's a church, and I want us all to be part of the congregation.' He also said he wants his first season to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Pitlochry Festival Theatre – and the 'ethos' of the man who first started it in a tent in 1951. Cumming was speaking as part of the 2025 Winter Words Festival.
