A History of Paper

Pitlochry Festival Theatre + Dundee Rep Theatre presentA HISTORY OF PAPERby Oliver Emanuel & Gareth WilliamsDirected by Andrew PantonMusically Directed by Gavin WhitworthA new magical Scottish musical about unbounding joy, impossible grief, a man, a woman and the little bits of paper that make up a life.First seen at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, A History of Paper, co-created by Oliver Emanuel (Book) and Gareth Williams (Music), won a Fringe First and the Best Director at the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for Andrew Panton.Andrew returns to direct a new co-production with Dundee Rep Theatre starring Tony, Olivier, BAFTA and Emmy award winner Alan Cumming, and Olivier and BAFTA award winner Shirley Henderson.

This pair of Scottish acting titans reunite after first playing opposite each other in Scottish Television’s Shadow of the Stone 40 years ago! More recently they appeared together in Brian Cox’s directorial film debut Glenrothan.From Alan Cumming:I fell in love with this musical when I saw it at the Traverse as part of the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it and felt so connected to its narrative, especially as an adopted New Yorker.

Andrew and I asked Shirley Henderson to come and sing through some of the songs with me, and suddenly it became a deep and rich and heart-wrenching memory play, as two older people looked back at their lives together.