The National Theatre of Scotland has 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 and 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.
OPTIMUM 
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?
STILL ALIVE
Writer/Director:Â Hope Dickson LeachÂ
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.
BED TO THE FUTURE 
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.
BROTH
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.
SMOKE 
Writer: Kieran Hurley, Director: Rianne White                                                 Â
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.
UN-STATIC
Writer: Natali McCleary, Director: Josefa Celestin
Performed by Maureen Carr and James DawoudA 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.
The creatives and cast of Future Acts
The National Theatre of Scotland is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2026 with a programme that acknowledges the game-changing theatre that has defined the Company’s output over the last two decades. Hybrid digital and broadcast theatre-making has been pioneered by NTS during this time including the guerilla live film project, Five Minute Theatre (2005), the Scottish BAFTA winning drama Adam, also in partnership with BBC Scotland, and The Strange Undoing of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in 2021/22 which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, following a live capture at Leith Theatre which was streamed into cinemas.
In 2020, NTS pivoted to become a digital production company when theatres were closed during the Covid 19 pandemic. During this time, the Company partnered with BBC Scotland and BBC Arts to create Scenes for Survival, an unprecedented series of short sharp digital artworks in response to the lockdown. These were shared across partners’ platforms, and a selection was made available on iPlayer. Their reach exceeded 20 million views across social and broadcast channels and were acknowledged as an incredible response to the times Scotland the world experienced six years ago. Future Acts follows on from this project, exploring hybrid digital storytelling that focusses on script, story and performance.
The Company is committed to contributing to the successful screen industry in Scotland; via work created for cinemas, TV and on digital platforms. The project also marks the Company’s ongoing commitment to the development of artists, creatives and technicians in Scotland, and to diversification of the creative talent pool of Scottish theatre-makers. It is part of an ongoing initiative to cross - fertilise talent between the screen and stage sectors to support more sustainable careers in the creative industries. Â
In September 2026, ahead of Future Acts, an NTS short film by Gillian Katungi will premiere at Leith Short Film Festival and Bel, a feature documentary about Kenyan Scottish musician Beldina Odenyo is being shown in cinemas across Scotland.
Commenting on the project, 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.”
CINEMA SCREENINGS
1 October – Glasgow Film Theatre at 6pm
03 October – Macrobert Arts Centre and Filmhouse, Edinburgh
05 October – Eden Court Cinema
Further screenings to be confirmed.
Full info and artists biogs here.
