Season Announcement – Spring/Summer 2027
Announcing Laila Noble’s Inaugural Season as Ayr Gaiety Creative Director
We’re delighted to announce our new season of work for Spring/Summer 2027 – Creative Director & CEO Laila Noble’s inaugural season. The season ushers in a renewed artistic vision for The Gaiety, one which balances a new and exciting direction for the programme – including a new commission by L C Stephens, rooted in Ayrshire history and written for The Gaiety – while maintaining the broad variety of great entertainment from every genre which has become so familiar to our audiences. We’ll also be celebrating our 125th anniversary in 2027, with the Spring/Summer season representing an introduction to the melding of new writing and well-loved tradition, which will be placed at the forefront of The Gaiety’s artistic future.
Creative Director, Laila Noble, says of her Spring/Summer 2027 season; “2027 is a special year for The Gaiety, and I am thrilled to be a part of our 125th year of bringing the very best of arts and entertainment to our historic stage. This will be my inaugural season for The Gaiety, and it blends old favourites put together by the team with work that really demonstrates our new focus and vision. As we celebrate our past, we are turning our attention to the next chapter, one that celebrates the work, people, and landscapes of Ayrshire (and, more broadly, Scotland). Nothing better exemplifies this new direction than our brand-new main stage play, Granite by L C Stephens. Our first professional play commission since reopening in 2012, Granite is a story literally chiselled from Ayrshire stone. Following the success of the Winter Games, perhaps it is no surprise to most that every official Olympic curling stone comes from Ayrshire’s own Ailsa Craig. Set towards the end of the 19th Century, Granite tells the story of Catherine Kay, the woman who fought for ownership of the company that makes them. Fraught with family ruptures, personal grief, and twisted entanglements, Granite is a tale of resilience against the odds. It feels like a fitting tribute to a theatre that has persevered through two world wars, depressions, floods, fires and multiple threatened closures, now in her remarkable 125th year. It will also be my directorial debut here at The Gaiety in March 2027.
Alongside Granite, our Winter/Spring 2027 season will also bring you original music from acts like Eddi Reader and Lindisfarne, and celebrate the best of Scottish theatre with Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Alyson Orr’s A Toast for the Lassies and Wonder Fools’ Same Team. It will feature audience favourites in every genre from comedy to children’s theatre, and much more in between. Our community strand and creative engagement team will also bring you a brand new commission by Des Dillon, work with our Artist in Residence, Nicola McCartney, and we will continue to proudly feature the work of our outstanding youth and amateur companies.
There is something for everyone in 2027 at the Gaiety and I cannot wait to welcome you all to our year of celebration. So, in the words of our most famous son, Johnny Beattie, all that remains is to ‘let there be Gaiety’.”
Gaiety Productions
The first Gaiety production to hit the main stage in 2027 is L C Stephens’ Granite – an original writing commission rooted in Ayrshire history and written for The Gaiety’s 125th year. This marks a new direction for the theatre, as the first original professional play commission since the theatre reopened in 2012, as well as Laila Noble’s directorial debut at The Gaiety. Set in East Ayrshire in 1888, Granite (25 – 27 Mar 2027, press performance Fri 26 Mar), tells the true story of Catherine Kirk. Catherine’s husband has just died without a will, leaving her with four children and without means. Her claim on the curling stone factory he owned half of is reliant on the goodwill of her brother-in-law Thomas – a man she’s depending on to look out for her best interests. But when Thomas moves against her, help comes from an unexpected quarter, and sets into motion a series of events that have reverberations down into the present day. Woven through with Scottish folk songs, Granite is a true story of betrayal, resilience and the inheritance of hope.
Writer L C Stephens says
“When I first came across the story of Catherine Kirk, I was instantly fascinated by both her resilience and that of the community she lived in. Life in rural Ayrshire in the Victorian period meant cruel living conditions and frequent loss: Catherine lost her husband and at least three children in her lifetime. How people like Catherine were able to not only survive, but also work to build companies and institutions that still survive today, is inspiring, and hers is a story that both Ayrshire and Scotland as a whole can be proud of. Her life is one of the many that history has nearly forgotten, so bringing it to the Ayr Gaiety audience to celebrate the theatre’s 125th birthday is an honour.”
The season will also see the return of co-productions between The Gaiety and A Play, A Pie and A Pint, with three plays from the Spring season touring to Ayr. This will include a first for the collaboration, as June’s play (28th June – 3rd July 2027) will be presented on the theatre’s main stage for the first time.
The Gaiety have also announced their 2027 pantomime, Snow White. Continuing the tradition of in-house pantomime at The Gaiety, 2027 will welcome back writer and resident dame Fraser Boyle for his 9th year in the writer’s seat. The production will be directed by Laila Noble.
Visiting Company Productions
The Spring/Summer visiting company programme boasts a packed calendar of events across the main house and Studio spaces, with a strong variety across all genres ensuring there’s something for everyone. The season opens with the return of popular Nashville Live on 16th January, which will be joined by a range of popular music options throughout the spring. The first drama offering on the programme arrives on 22nd January, with Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Alyson Orr’s acclaimed A Toast Fae The Lassies, the dynamic musical play exploring the life of Robert Burns from the perspectives of the women who knew him best. An expanded live music offering includes performances by Eddi Reader and Lindisfarne, while the comedy programme includes a strong focus on Scottish talent including Gregor Fisher, Stuart Mitchell and Connor Burns. The new season of visiting work reflects the new direction of The Gaiety – balancing artistic ambition and risk-taking with well-known and loved favourites – while reflecting the theatre’s core value of arts for all, and a programme which reflects the diversity of its community, making their local theatre feel like a home for everyone.
Community Work
Alongside the entertainment programme, there will be a continuation of The Gaiety’s participation work, with Culture Collective projects offering opportunities to under-represented voices in the community. Playwright and Director Nicola McCartney will be taking up a one-year post of Artist In Residence, working with neurodivergent writers to create an original piece to be presented on the Gaiety stage.
Artist In Residence Nicola McCartney said of the project;
“I am very excited to be working with Ayr Gaiety to forge deeper artistic relationships with the neurodivergent communities in the area and to learn more from them about their experiences and creative ideas. For me, the important thing is to find a writer with whom I can work to uplift their voice, and bring their own ideas to life. The Gaiety have allowed me to restructure the residency, and reallocate the commission to go directly to the writer(s) we identify and support across the project.”
Creative Director Laila Noble said of the appointment;
“We could not be more thrilled to welcome Nicola McCartney to The Gaiety as our brand-new Artist in Residence, as part of our Culture Collective funded work in Ayrshire. Nicola proposed a participant focused process, uplifting the voices of our neurodivergent community, to create a piece of work with authenticity of authorship and ownership. Her track record creating exciting theatre in conversation with real people is exemplary and she brings decades of experience with her to The Gaiety. Over the next year Nicola will work closely with the theatre and the people of Ayrshire, celebrating the people and places The Gaiety is so proud to represent. As we move into our 125th year at the heart of arts and culture in Ayr, our new vision puts Scottish-based artists and local stories centre stage”
Writer Des Dillon will also be returning to work with The Gaiety, heading up the Riverside Writers Group. The Riverside project has a strong track record of working with people in recovery to embrace their creativity, and tell their own stories through poetry, writing and song.
Des Dillon said of the project;
“I’m delighted to be back at Riverside Church Ayr, running the writers’ group. I’ve always believed that intelligence and talent are everywhere — not just in universities, literary circles or among the voices that traditionally get listened to.
As my haiku says:
Intelligence fell
like snow, you know. Not only
among posh voices”
Both projects will take place alongside a continuation of The Gaiety’s extensive programme of theatre classes and workshops for all ages, and work in local schools and with high SIMD communities.
125 Years of The Gaiety
2027 will also mark The Gaiety’s 125th anniversary. This strong start to the season heralds a year of exciting events uplifting the history and heart of a theatre strongly rooted in its local community. Plans for the anniversary in October will see a revival of old favourites such as a rejuvenation of the classic Gaiety Whirl, work with Gaiety patron and renowned actor Maureen Beattie (daughter of the legendary Johhny Beattie), as well as exciting additions which offer the audiences of Ayrshire the chance to experience something new.
The Gaiety’s programme of work for the Spring/Summer 2027 season is on sale now, with all performances available to book online at thegaiety.co.uk, by telephone on 01292288235, or in person at the Box Office.
Snow White will go on general sale at 10am on Monday 4th January, with priority access from November for Gaiety Champions and 2026 panto audiences.
Book Your Tickets Now!
Nashville Live
16 Jan 2027
An Evening With Gregor Fisher
04 Feb 2027
A Play, A Pie and A Pint – April 2027
20-24 Apr 2027
