The National Theatre of Scotland has joined forces once more with BBC Scotland to create a special hybrid project focussed on the future, created by a team of leading Scottish theatre-makers, filmmakers, actors and artists.


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: Hope Dickson Leach,
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
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 Dawoud

A 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.