Announcing the Nessie Cast

Capital Theatres and Pitlochry Festival Theatre today announce the cast for the world premiere of Nessie.

In this brand-new Scottish musical for children, a chance encounter between 11-year old aspiring marine biologist Mara and the fabled ‘Nessa’ leads to a story of friendship, bravery and monster mania.

Created by composer and musical director Shonagh Murray, Nessie premieres at The Studio in Edinburgh (28 March – 5 April), before heading to Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Studio (9 July – 16 August).

Leading the cast as Mara is Caitlin Forbes, whose recent credits include The Stamping Ground at Eden Court Theatre and A Christmas Carol at Dundee Rep. The role of Nessa is played by Eden Barrie, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduate who has appeared in Sweet Charity and Urinetown. The cast also includes Alyson Orr, Louis Newman and Keith Macpherson across various roles.

Nessa and the other aquatic inhabitants of the loch are brought to life as colourful, intricate puppets, operated by the cast and designed and made by Ella Mackay.

Nessie’s creative team also features director Beth Morton, designer Natalie Fern, lighting designer Peter Fennell, Sound Designer Pippa Murphy and Movement Director Sasha Harrington.

Nessie is the first fully fledged production to emerge from the Musicals Commissioning Hub, a partnership between Capital Theatres and Pitlochry Festival Theatre designed to nurture Scottish musicians and writers, support the future ecology of musical theatre and create new musicals for audiences to enjoy.

Fiona Gibson, Chief Executive of Capital Theatres, said:

“It has been such an exciting process to support Shonagh Murray’s creative journey with Nessie from an initial idea to a scratch performance as part of our inaugural Musical Commissioning Hub partnership with Pitlochry Festival Theatre during lockdown in 2021; and now commissioning it to a fully developed Studio scale production. Our objective was always to help Scottish talent kick start their creative producing opportunities, following a very difficult period for the arts. We are so proud that this truly Scottish story, both on stage with our magnificent cast and beautiful puppet beasties, and off stage with our brilliant creative team, is getting its chance to shine. We can’t wait to share Shonagh’s beautiful show with audiences of all ages when Nessie swims into The Studio later this month.”

Alan Cumming, Artistic Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, said:

“One of the things I want to do as Artistic Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre is to celebrate and elevate great Scottish women, and who is more Scottish and iconic than Nessie? I look forward to finding out more about her life and loves, and especially to hearing her sing!”

Tickets for the world premiere of Nessie in Edinburgh are on sale now at capitaltheatres.com or by calling 0131 529 6000.

Tickets to see Nessie in Pitlochry Festival Theatre Studio are available at pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com or by calling 01796 484 626.