"A Play, A Pie, & A Pint - It's Behind You" Interview with Alan McHugh
- Stage Scuttlebutt
- Nov 9, 2019
- 5 min read
Interview and article by Emily Newbold
"A Play, A Pie & A Pint - It's Behind You" ran from the 4 - 7th of November 2019 at The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen, with a run time of one hour.
It's a wet and chilly afternoon in November, and Alan McHugh - star of stage and screen - is sitting opposite me in the upstairs bar of The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen. Alan has just come off stage from performing with his co-star, Paul-James Corrigan, in "A Play, A Pie & A Pint - It's Behind You." This being a play about a pantomime Dame and his 'daft boy' and the cracks that are starting to appear in their professional and personal relationship, which could well bring an end to both. Alan, starring as the Panto Dame, has also written the play, drawing on his many years of working in Pantomime.
Alan is charming, polite, and instantly makes you feel comfortable and at ease. With only a few weeks to go before he enters rehearsals for "Cinderella" at His Majesty's Theatre (HMT) in Aberdeen (which he also wrote and which will be his 16th Panto at HMT) the timing could not be more perfect to put on a play which is based around that most wonderful (if hectic) time of the year.
"I said well this is going to sound like a terrible pitch. All I've got is the image of a Panto Dame walking on stage with a rubber chicken in her hand, and going "Is this a dagger I see before me? from Macbeth."
That was the pitch Alan McHugh gave producers Morag Fullarton and April Chamberlain, when they asked him to come up with an idea for a play for their new season of "A Play, A Pie & A Pint". A pitch that would lead to Alan writing "It's Behind You", one of the best pieces of theatre I have seen all year. Having appeared in "A Play, A Pie & A Pint" plays for a number of years and been asked to write for them on several occasions, Alan finally found a window of opportunity in his busy schedule and some 18 months later the Play has been performed in Aberdeen.
When I asked Alan what made him write "It's Behind You", with the theme of Pantomime he said;
"I hadn't started the project with the idea that I was going to do some parody on the Panto world. I had this image in my head for years, there's something in this of a Panto Dame coming off stage and doing that....for me it's more about the relationships, and then me putting that in the Panto world which I know about and basically trying to mix them both and trying to get the best of both worlds."
The mixture paid off, the play being a masterpiece with outstanding performances from both Alan and Paul. While set with Panto in mind, "It's Behind You" is definitely not for children due to the language used and adult topics - jealousy, grief, betrayal, to name a few.
It was an opportunity for Alan to write without the normal constraints he normally has when he writes for Panto.
"I love working for Qdos and I love writing Pantos. There's a certain formula to Qdos style of Panto and it's nice to be freed... and write something not to order or not round a list of celebrity names or not round special effects. And also the restrictions of a small stage, no effects. It's great. It actually opens up more opportunities for character development, rather then relying on celebrities in great affect and I love the freedom and the challenge it gave."
The Lemon Tree has a small stage compared to its sister venues (His Majesty's Theatre and The Music Hall) in Aberdeen. Alan is more familiar with His Majesty's stage, where he plays to audiences of over 1000, every day when he's in Panto. However, having watched him perform at both The Lemon Tree and HMT he is at home on both a large or small stage. I asked which venue he preferred:
"I adore playing HMT and number one venues to 1400 people there's an energy from that amount of people which is unbeatable and the roar it really lifts you....however I love the intimacy of places like Oran Mor or The Lemon Tree - there is no hiding place.....So you have to be on the ball....If I had to choose, I might choose the intimate venue."
For "It's Behind You" Alan and Paul never left the stage. This is almost the case for Alan when he plays HMT at Christmas as the panto Dame - he's rarely off stage, but what does Alan think of it?
"I would rather never be off stage and I would not like to be sitting about in the dressing room for 15 minutes waiting on the next entrance....You get into a rhythm. You go on a journey from start to finish that's unbroken and you take that audience with you. And you get into a world. You're aware of the audience and you're playing to the audience and responding to them, and laughs, but if you're on that stage, one to one with that person, you do get into a world of your own....I don't mind if it's a two act play,... but I don't like being off stage I like to be in that world for the whole thing if I can."
The content for "It's Behind You" is filled with references and running gags about the world and life of Pantomime. Alan explains where the content came from - was it real life, exaggerated truths or something he simply made up for the play?
"Everything in that play today is based on a truth and reality, no matter if it's heightened or exaggerated........ Everything professionally or Panto related in that, it might not have happened to me but I've heard its happened to other people. Every comment I've heard other actors say to each other.....I've created the fictitious relationship between these characters, but as for the substance of the material it has all happened."
Over the course of the interview, Alan, also mentioned that he had written the play with the actor Jordan Young in mind to play "Nicky". Unfortunately, Jordan was unavailable to play the role due to prior acting commitments. This is where the role passed to Paul-James Corrigan.
Watching Alan and Paul together was a real treat. They bounced off each other seamlessly, and brought the characters of "Norrie" and "Nicky" to life in a way that made you believe they really were a Panto duo - something that isn't far away from the truth. Paul will be starring alongside Alan in "Cinderella" at HMT this Christmas as the "Buttons" to Alan's "Baroness". This makes a change for regular Panto goers this year as Alan usually performs opposite Jordan Young. Speaking about how he and Paul created a new chemistry, Alan had this to say;
"You don't go into a rehearsal room, thinking "how am I going to create chemistry with this person?". I think if you try to do that it's never going to happen....We're pals and we know each other so it's different from Jordan. Paul has his own style....As much as me and Jordan are short hand in a way of working. Me and Paul are already starting to develop a different sort of short hand from me and Jordan...One that just cuts corners and gets on with it."
What comes next for Alan? As mentioned before he is shortly due to start rehearsals for "Cinderella". Following this, in the New Year he will continue to write for the Qdos Entertainment 2020/21 Pantomime season.
We can all look forward to Christmas 2019 knowing that Alan and Paul will provide us with a magical performance leaving us wanting more!
"Cinderella" runs from Saturday 30th November 2019 to Sunday 5th January 2020, at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen. Tickets for the Pantomime can be bought using the link below.
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