I’VE had a connection with the King’s Theatre, which is currently being renovated, for many years; and not just because of the blast that I’ve had - with Allan Stewart, Andy Gray and, now, Jordan Young - with the annual pantomime.
It’s a connection that goes back to my high school days, in the early 1980s.
When I was at school, there was no question that drama was my favourite subject, and I was involved in as many school drama productions as I could.
Friday afternoon’s at James Gillespie’s High School - back then - meant having to hop down to its annex, on Gilmore Place, and of course that meant passing the King’s Theatre.
I was that boy, faced pressed up to the window, staring at the production shots of the show that was on that week. And I was also that boy dreaming of what it would be like to actually get to do that for a living.
I have to admit, it was something of a hammer blow, when - after I finished school - my various attempts to get into drama school all failed. On one occasion - at Edinburgh’s very own Queen Margaret College, as it was then - I was told I had got down to the final two. Ooh, that hurt. And back then, I never really thought of re-applying and trying again.
I just tried to take it on the chin.
You could say my first proper job was working as a police officer, for four years.
But - thanks to fate, a chance conversation, someone looking out for you; call it what you will - I somehow ended up working in children’s TV, which then led, in 1993, to an approach to do panto, at that other famous King’s Theatre, Glasgow’s.
The year after, I was then asked to do panto with the legendary Cannon and Ball, at Edinburgh King’s Theatre, which meant I finally got my photo inside that famous glass window on Leven Street.
In those days, pantos often travelled from one city to another and I went with Tommy and Bobby to Glasgow again, where I stayed for three years before coming back to Edinburgh.
With the exception of the 1999/2000 season and Covid, I’ve done panto in Edinburgh every year since.
One of the things that intrigued me, when I was doing those drama productions at James Gillespie’s is how much rehearsing you’d have to do, compared to how many nights you performed. You basically rehearsed for months to perform for three nights only, the first night usually consumed by nerves.
A panto, by contrast, goes on for weeks, and it’s therefore no surprise that a panto cast can become very close-knit. You become genuine friends with each other, which can translate to a real magic on stage.
Conventional theatre is performed, usually, to how it was intended by the playwright.
Panto, by contrast, can go in all sorts of random directions, usually depending on what the first wise crack is, often something from the audience.
The Edinburgh team grew organically in front of the audience. I had worked with Allan, and also with Andy, and they had also worked together without me in 2000; but there we were - all on the poster together for the very first time - and that was how it started.
We had fun on and off stage and the audience enjoyed our unscripted moments as much as we did and so they came back, year after year. Sadly, we lost Andy in 2021, but the fun continues and this is thanks to now having Jordan as part of the team.
If there is a real family feeling among the cast of a panto, there is a similarly close-knit group behinds the scenes. Some of the stage crew have been around for ages, they just love their jobs that much.
I have no doubt the theatre would have had to close had it not been for the decision to refurbish it - with an expected opening in July.
Structurally, it required so much doing to it; had it been left untouched, it would have had to be closed, probably permanently, on health and safety grounds.
That said, when the audiences pitch up for the first shows in the refurbished building, they might wonder what all the fuss has been about. The renovation has been so delicately handled, every effort has been made to retain the original look and feel.
So, apart from a bit of sprucing up, the main auditorium will probably feel pretty much as it was before the building was closed for the renovation.
However, you wouldn’t recognise the place behind the scenes and front of house.
All this new heavy engineering has been installed, it means there won’t be a theatre production in the UK or abroad that can’t do a show there. It is now that sophisticated.
I’ve been in the building probably about four times since the renovation work began, the last time in January, and it is remarkable what they - the architects, engineers and the construction firm - have done.
I hope to be part of the opening events in July, but - failing that - it will soon be my home from home, in my next panto, which we are about to begin rehearsing for: The Adventures of Pinocchio.
Grant Stott is a broadcaster, actor and ‘pantomime villain’. He has been a regular member of the King’s Theatre panto cast since 2000 and is soon to resume his afternoon presenting role on BBC Radio Scotland.
Image details: copyright Mike Wilson; text copyright: Grant Stott
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