Girls lead the way in macrobert’s giant panto

Nov 25 2011 by Gregor White, Stirling Observer Friday

ADDING a fresh spin to an old favourite is a common trick for panto, helping ensure that even seasoned audiences can’t be exactly sure what to expect as the curtain goes up.

It worked brilliantly at the macrobert last year as Dwarves became the unruly De’Wharff family and spun off into madcap Sound of Music territory for Johnny McKnight’s crazy Snow White mash up.

Returning to Stirling for an amazing fifth time this year with Jackie and the Beanstalk Johnny says the idea of how to rework the story was always uppermost in his mind.

The first thing to note is that the title of the show is no typo.

“Well for me, when setting about writing this year’s panto, my first issue was that, traditionally, Jack and the Beanstalk is usually very male-heavy in terms of casting: Dame, Jack, his brother, the baddie, the baddie’s sidekick,” said Johnny.

“I really wanted to try and push more females into the story.

“That’s why I decided that instead of having a strong-minded Jack and a simpering love interest it might be more interesting to make it a girl who leads the action of the story.

“The Von Trotts - Jackie, Jilly and their mother Dotty - run a local toyshop smack bang in the middle of an economic recession in downtown Skinto Row and the local debt collector, Count Monty Bisto, wants his rent money or else he’ll send in the big man, Giant Sleigh Stacks, down to sort out the family.”

That’s about as much as Johnny is prepared to reveal about the show which kicks off today (Wednesday), other than that, musically, it’s set to have “a strong musical theatre/ funky electro-pop feel”.

“I find that if I give the show a ‘sound’ the rest of it starts to write itself.”

Once again taking on directing and Dame duties as well as writing the show Johnny admits to being “a big kid at heart” and to loving the dressing up and poking fun that comes with the territory.

It’s clear, though, that he also takes his job seriously when it requires it, talking about how you have to “continually adapt and redefine your performances with the audience as the show grows and develops” and also bearing in mind in his directing role that “actors aren’t puppets, merely there to do as they are told”.

The chance for a good laugh on stage is never that far away though - and audiences should probably be warned that Johnny always has at least one eye on what’s going on out in the stalls.

Of the funniest things that has ever happened during a performance he said: “There’s loads of stuff, but my favourite thing was the year I caught two wee old ladies drinking from the carry-oot they brought in.

“Vodka.

“At two o’clock in a Saturday matinee.

“It really tickled me and so I maybe added on an extra 15 minutes to the show doing a lot of ‘translations for the drunk and incapacitated’.

“Panto is all about the audience - it’s why I love it.”

Johnny is not the only familiar face taking to the stage for Jackie and the Beanstalk, as last year’s Snow White and her Prince - Helen McAlpine and Jonathan Holt - are also returning.

Telly fans might also recognise another cast member in the form of Paul James Corrigan.

Playing Billy Bisto - “the brother baddie” but really “more of a Silly Billy than a baddie...a funny, cheeky chappie” he’s already won many fans for his roles on hit BBC comedy Gary: Tank Commander and now soap River City, where he plays recovering addict handyman Stevie.

The former cake factory worker who didn’t see his first play until after he had started studying acting at college said: “I am most looking forward to the show being at full swing, and the audience reaction to the madness that is our wonderful show.”

Jackie and the Beanstalk runs until January 7. See www.macrobert.org or call the box office on 0176 466666 for full time and ticket details.