Press Night | Understudies in the spotlight, Fringe deadlines, stolen coats, awards, and Christmas is coming... too soon?
The first of my new weekly newsletter for subscribers
Happy Friday folks, hope you’re looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend and if you celebrate Easter, have a good one.
It’s been on my mind for a while that I need to write a regular newsletter and, thanks to the constant nagging of my online-savvy pal, Josie, here goes… Welcome to Press Night, in which I will hopefully be able to give you a little insight to my past week, along with anything that tweaks my interest along the way.
Firstly, however, let me thank you for subscribing to my Substack, I hope you find the email updates when new reviews and stories go live on MustSeeTheatre.com useful. If you do, please encourage your theatre orientated friends to subscribe too. It’s free.
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This week has been all about juggling things. It’s deadline time for the Edinburgh Fringe, to which I’m returning with three productions: Fallen Angel, The Omega Factor: By The Pricking of My Thumbs, and Hingin’ Oan Fir Googsie. They’ve all been signed off this week and you’d be surprised how much of the jigsaw has to fall into place just for that to happen.
Fallen Angel, is my first new solo play since Thief and is a supernatural horror based on a spooky, ancient Leith tale. As ever it has a dark heart… and that’s all I can tell you just now other than that the hero, Angel, is being hunted by faeries! It’s been 10 years in the making… and I’m still writing it as I type this as my deadline is the end of April.😬 That’s when the creative team are expecting it, not forgetting brilliant, up and coming young actor, Liam Campbell, who will be making his Fringe debut in the role of Angel.
Now, if you are of a certain age, you may remember the BBC Scotland TV series, The Omega Factor, about two paranormal investigators played by Louise Jameson and James Hazeldine. It was created by Jack Gerson and is widely believed to have inspired The X-Files which followed a short time later. Together with Jack’s daughter, Natasha, I’ve been collaborating on the first Omega Factor stage play, which will also receive its World Premiere this August. All I can say about this one is that it’s set in Rosslyn Chapel where dark forces are at play during a radio recording of Macbeth! Be afraid.
Finally, Hingin’ Oan Fir Googsie, by my good friend and acclaimed playwright John McColl, is a hilarious piece of absurdist Scottish theatre that pays a nod and a wink to Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, while remaining very different. Leading the four-strong cast will be High Road, Braveheart and River City star Jimmy Chisholm. It’s all very exciting and I can’t wait to direct the piece, which also features Amy Fraser, Derek Douglas and John himself.
All three productions are running at the Grand Lodge venue on George Street, watch out for more details at EdFringe.com when they go on sale.
Looking further ahead, if you think it’s too early to mention Christmas, well, it can’t be, because I’ve just spent two days this week working on the press launch of Wicked Wizard of Oz: A Cirque Spectacular, which comes to Glasgow’s Hydro and an arena near you in December. If traditional pantomimes and Christmas shows don’t put the glitter on your Christmas anymore, then this Arena Spectacular from World’s Biggest Productions could be right up your street; panto meets circus meets musical theatre in this huge production. Details at WickedCirqueOz.com But yes, I’ll admits, it did seem strange talking about Christmas shows in April.
On the review front this week, Calamity Jane came to Edinburgh and I found myself back at the Festival Theatre. It’s an actor/musician production, which usually only happens to save on the cost of a live orchestra/band, and, with a few exceptions, never seems to work that well, as you could probably tell from my review. If you’ve not read it you’ll find it here.
After the review went live, I received an email from a cast member pointing out that the lead man was off ill on press night and that we’d been watching his understudy. Now call me old-fashioned, but I can remember when an understudy appearance was accompanied by a piece of paper inserted into the programme announcing the change. In fact, it still happens, so it does ‘rip-ma-knittin’ (as a pal of mine used to say), when such a substitution isn’t flagged up. The least a Company Manager can do is inform the Press Office surely, thus allowing the change to be passed on. That said, one of the only good things to come from the shift to online from print is the ability to log in and make changes with just the click of a button.
That email did explain a few things about the performance, but not two of the most bizarre creative decisions I’ve seen for a while: 1| Calamity arriving on a piano instead of the Deadwood Stage. How can you do Calamity Jane without a stagecoach? And 2| Encouraging the audience to sing along at the start. That always spells trouble later on, unless you are one of those warblers who thinks it’s okay to join in. I’ve been surprised by the number of people I know who take the attitude, ‘With the money I paid for my ticket, of course I can sing along’. All I can say is, if you are one of them, don’t sit beside, behind or in front of me or you too might get reviewed. 😂
And on that note, flat or sharp as it may be, that’s the first Press Night newsletter done and dusted. In future ones, do feel free to send any questions you’d like answered, whether it’s about reviewing, a particular show or any aspects of theatre that you have always wondered about. I’ll endeavour to answer you. If I don’t know the answer myself, it is odds on I’ll know someone who does.
Oh, two last things while I remember: 1| Congratulations to Elaine C Smith on her Outstanding Achievement in Pantomime Award at this year’s Pantomime Awards, well deserved, and commiserations to Allan Stewart, who was nominated for Best Dame, and the Festival Theatre which scored nominations for Best Panto and Best Contribution to Music, but lost out.
And 2| A very expensive faux-fur costume from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, which tours to the Festival Theatre in May, was stolen from the foyer of the theatre recently, the producers of the show have put out an appeal for its return. If you can help, please do. The full story is here.
So, until next Friday, thanks again and Happy Easter.
Liam