Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson's acting relationship goes back a long way and they've been reunited on stage once more at Pitlochry
Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson first met as young actors on the STV drama Shadow of the Stone.
Henderson, who would go on to appear in the Harry Potter and Bridget Jones franchises, was 20 and had just left drama school.
Cumming, at 21, already had a few roles under his belt.
"I thought I was such a sophisticated older man," he said.
"I had a mortgage. I was married. And yet when I look back now, I see I was just a child."
The pair first met as fresh-faced actors on the TV drama Shadow of the Stone
That connection to their younger selves is something they channel in their first stage appearance together at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, where Cumming is now artistic director.
The History of Paper began life as a radio play in 2017 with words by Oliver Emanuel and music by Gareth Williams, who then turned it into an acclaimed musical at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024.
The tender tale of a couple who tell their story through the various bits of paper they accumulate became even more emotional following the death of Oliver in 2023.
Cumming saw the show on a day off from filming Glenrothan (the directorial debut of Brian Cox) which also reunited him with Henderson.
Cumming and Henderson worked together on Brian Cox's Glenrothan and it was during filming that the idea emerged to do The History of Paper
"I went back to work on the film and I said to Shirley, 'I've seen this incredible show. It was just so moving'."
Around the same time, Cumming had applied for the role of artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and although it was yet to be publicly announced he was already planning his first season.
The original production had two younger actors looking forward to their older selves, but Cumming suggested to director Andrew Panton of Dundee Rep that he cast older actors who could play younger versions of themselves.