Cumming heading home to celebrate Scottish theater

Actor Alan Cumming is returning to his native Scotland to put on a free show in honor of the country's performance history.

The X-Men star, who now lives in New York, will front an event celebrating traditional Scottish pantomimes, music halls and variety shows.

And Cumming is convinced Scotland's rich history of entertaining has helped shape him as an actor.

He says, "Being away from Scotland makes you question what it is that makes you Scottish, and when it comes to acting I realize that my performance style is very different to my colleagues elsewhere in the world.

"Our whole way of breaking through the fourth wall is all derived from our culture that is steeped in variety and music hall and panto. My Staging The Nation event is an attempt to demonstrate that and to look back at where it might all have come from and to see its impact on theater in Scotland today."

The show, one of the the National Theater of Scotland's Staging The Nation events, will take place at The King's Theater in Glasgow on 26 November (11).