The creature comforts of the Palace Theatre are set to be left behind as panto season gets underway in a circus tent next week.
The iconic Kilmarnock venue is undergoing renovations and the Goldilocks and the Three Bears cast have been shipped out to a bespoke venue at Ayrshire Athletics Arena.
And while actors were initially concerned about if the tent would be warm and if they’d be able to get to the toilet, their fears have been allayed as the makeshift theatre sprung to life ahead of opening night on November 22.
Directed by Andrew Agnew, who also reprises his role as panto Dame Dolly Dundonald, the venue is one of the more unusual places for pantomime.
“I think it probably is the most unique venue I’ve performed in to be honest,” Andrew told Ayrshire Live.
“This has very similar feel to the arena tours because you build the stage and the whole background drop and everything is all it all comes from outside.
“There’s literally nothing there, you build everything. So this does have the same feeling as an arena show.
“The audience is much closer to us in this venue, and the show will go out to them and we can get to them because we’re not up on a stage, we’re right next to them.”
Small but important practical issues were on the minds of the cast along with leaving the familiarity of the Palace Theatre behind.
“I think, with the comfort you’re used to in some theatres, you get used to how you run the show and where you are in the theatre.
“You think ‘oh it might be absolutely freezing when you do something like that in a tent in November and December and am I going to be able to get to the toilet?’
“But when you see it and it has all the heating that it has, the comfort of the seats, and the staging and lights and technical aspects – which is more than the Palace has – It will look very different especially with the new digital aspects.”
On performing in strange places, James McAnerney, who maintains his heel status playing Roger von Riccarton, added: “I’ve performed in prisons a couple of times.”
He jokingly continued: “This possibly could turn out like that, we’ll wait and see what the difference is!”
Fresh from starring in the BBC action-thriller Nightsleeper, James said: “The baddy is always the best, it’s the one character that gets to speak direct to the audience one-on-one.”
Ailsa Erskine will make her professional acting debut after recently graduating from drama school in the summer.
Ailsa, who’ll play Goldilocks, said: “This is my professional debut. I just graduated from drama school in London. I was working in a theatre in London and I had this audition in June before I graduated and it’s been amazing to have something to look forward to. I can’t stop laughing.”
Gary Morrison has been a mainstay at the Killie pantomime for almost a decade and is more than happy to be taking on the funnyman role of Donald Dundonald.
Gary, who lives in England, comes back to Scotland every year for the run of festive shows.
He said: “When we were told the panto was going to be in a circus tent, It sounded really exciting initially and different from what we’re used to at the Palace and it’ll be different as the audience are around us rather than in front of us, which is quite nice as an actor.
“It’s nice to see the changes over the years, like there’s wee babes in arms that come in to the shows and over the few years you see them grow up. It feels like coming home at Christmas.”
Craig McDougall is used to playing the love interest of the female leads in recent years but his role has been tweaked slightly as Scott the Ringmaster.
Craig is fresh from The Fringe where he took on a very different role playing Sick Boy in a stage version of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting.
“What was really very similar was the type of staging,” Craig said.
“The show was in the Traverse and is end-on and really close to the audience and gave me an idea of what it would be like with the way I’m facing. But the show was very different!”
Will the circus tent be too hot, or too cold or will it be just right?
Shows run from Friday, November 22 to Sunday, January 29. See East Ayrshire Leisure for tickets.
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