News Story
We are excited to announce Future Acts, a suite of six surprising Scottish stories pitching audiences into the future.
As part of our twentieth birthday celebrations, we have joined forces once more with BBC Scotland to create a special hybrid project focused on the future, created by a team of leading Scottish theatre-makers, filmmakers, actors and artists.
Six future-facing shorts will be launched onto BBC digital platforms in January 2027 with special screenings in select cinemas in October 2026, accompanied by Q&A events for the public, and budding filmmakers of tomorrow.
The future has been foraged by six writing and directing teams for a series of interlinked shorts; AI, cultural identity, dating, queer love, climate change and cloning. The personal and the political, are all playfully explored, through innovative storytelling blending theatrical and filmic genres.
Writer: Uma Nada-Rajah, Director: Stewart Laing
Performed by Anna Russell Martin and Ross Mann
Two strangers meet for a date in a Glasgow beer garden. An AI system has declared them to be optimally matched. There’s no need for guess work or uncertainty. But can an algorithm really predict love?
Writer/Director: Hope Dickson Leach
Performed by Keith Fleming and Nadia Albina
Hector wakes up, cloned into a younger body by a dubious biotechnology company, his only company, a temp worker, at the end of a very long shift. He soon discovers that a second chance at life may not be everything he hoped for.
Writer/Director: James Ley. Performed by Martin Quinn and Jay Newton
A young Scottish queer couple visit a futuristic bed shop where a simulator promises to reveal the perfect future for their relationship. Only it’s not quite what they had imagined.
Writer: Lesley Hart, Director: Sally Reid
Performed by Carmen Pierracini and Ryan J Mackay
After an on-air meltdown derails her career, former news anchor Rona Lawson is sent to report from a disappearing coastline. There, an unexpected friendship helps her discover that the future is not yet written.
Writer: Kieran Hurley, Director: Rianne White
Performed by Nicolette McCormack with narration by Shirley Manson
This evocative and visually striking film explores the urgency and fear at the heart of the climate crisis.
Writer: Natali McCleary, Director: Josefa Celestin
Performed by Maureen Carr and James Dawoud
A young man summons a Unicorn in search of answers about identity, belonging and purpose, embarking on a magical journey between the weight of the past and the promise of the future.
Gavin Smith, commissioning editor at BBC Scotland said
"We are proud to partner once again with the National Theatre of Scotland on a project that places Scottish creativity and storytelling centre stage. Future Acts is an ambitious collection of films that looks ahead with curiosity, wit and imagination. The six shorts reveal an exciting range of voices and filmmaking styles, and we're thrilled to help bring them to audiences through BBC platforms, ensuring these thought-provoking and entertaining stories are available free for everyone to enjoy."
Jackie Wylie, Artistic Director of National Theatre of Scotland, said
"We are thrilled, in our 20th anniversary year, to announce an innovative new broadcast project, and a new partnership with BBC Scotland, which celebrates a brilliant cohort of Scottish stage and screen storytelling talent.
Ninety freelancers and artists have come together to create a future-facing set of surprising and stylish digital works that play with form and content in ingenious ways. In ongoing challenging times for artists, it is important for NTS to continue to create opportunities for theatre-makers to develop and diversify their talents.
We are excited about sharing these in cinemas over a special launch weekend in Scotland in October ahead of the shorts being made available on BBC platforms, for all, in 2027."
Find out more here.
