December 2015 - The Diary

Tough but brilliant month of pantomime work at Cumbernauld Theatre playing The Lord Chamberlain & Sir Shuggie McWeedgie in 'SLEEPING BEAUTY' with a fantastic cast and brilliant crew and creatives, playing to noisy and excited audiences throughout December with plenty of full houses and some nice reviews as well. A fantastic experience and a welcome return to panto for me!

Photos courtesy of Louise Stewart and Paul Cunningham.

And so after 48 performances in 4 weeks we finally closed with a wonderful 3 show day on Christmas Eve and sad to leave this fab wee venue and superb cast, crew, front of house and creatives and made some lovely friends over my 8 weeks there. Our reviews are below..!

Sleeping Beauty, Cumbernauld Theatre

Mary Brennan Three stars

Welcome folks, to Slumbernauld – the happiest place on earth, or so this story goes. The Slumbernauld Royals are especially happy: they finally have a baby daughter. We know, if they don’t, that little Rose’s future is about to take a turn for the accursed – mind you, in director Ed Robson’s version of the familiar tale, the threatening curse kicks in long before any unwitting finger meets the witch’s cruel spindle.

Poor Rose. The King (Paul Cunningham) is so determined to keep her safe, he keeps her indoors – an over-protective ploy that is actually rife with dangers. Too late! Wicked Hecate (Louise Stewart) sneaks into the palace and what was a father’s short-sighted strategy delivers Rose into the witch’s clutches.

Up to this point, there’s been a comedy feel to Rose’s predicament – even her friendship with gardener’s boy Silas is playful. But once Rose (Sara Clark Downie) has fallen asleep, the mood edges into darker territory. Can Sir Shuggie, a very Glesca’ knight (Simon Weir), overcome Hecate’s wiles and wolves? Will Silas (Chris Dennis) overcome the class difference between him and Rose with a true love kiss?

Mega-decibels of roaring encouragement from the young ‘uns at a mid-morning performance overcame some threadbare patches in the script, to power a hard-working cast towards the foregone happy ending.

What is nicely inventive, however, is the use of puppets – initially to show Rose as child, then as wise old owls who pop through the trellised set to hoot out helpful riddles. And the addition of a lonely Shadow who, having been befriended by Silas, helps save the day reminds everyone that commoners can be as kind as any swash-buckled knight.

Glasgow Theatre Blog

Masters of the art of traditional storytelling with a modern twist, Cumbernauld Theatre don’t disappoint in their staging of Sleeping Beauty.

This is not an all guns blazing, special effect driven, pop hit laden extravaganza, instead it is a beautifully told, traditional tale – a real pearl in a sea of crass commercialism.

Largely following the fairy tale as we know it; the wicked witch fails to secure an invite to Princess Aurora’s christening, she damns the princess to a life of isolation as the curse of sleep will come to the young lass if she ever receives a scratch. Despite the best efforts of her doting parents, the adventurous young tike inevitable falls foul of the curse and it takes true love and a pure heart to set her free.

This gentle production is the perfect introduction to “real” theatre for tinies, and shows that you don’t need pyrotechnics or pop hits to keep them enraptured. A heart-warming, sweet and wonderfully told tale.

SLEEPING BEAUTY, CUMBERNAULD THEATRE

Runs until December 24. The Evening Times.

Reviewed by the Smiths mum Helen and 12-year-old Adam from Cumbernauld.

What's it about? The king and queen of Slumbernauld have been trying for years to have a baby. When they succeed in producing Rose the king (Paul Cunningham) forgets to send an invite to the wicked witch Hecate (Louise Stewart), who sneaks into the palace and curses her to fall asleep is she pricks her finger. Years pass, 18 in fact, and the king has spent the years hiding anything that could make the curse come true.

But it's this mollycoddling which pushes the Princess (Sara Clark Downie) into making her bid for freedom and her ultimate long sleep. Add into this hapless gardener Silas (Chris Dennis) and comic 'hero' Sir Shuggie (Simon Weir) and you have a five strong cast who play their parts to perfection.

Kid's verdict: The pumping, shoeless panto horse who wasn't on for long but was hilarious - loved it.

Parents verdict: You can't fault a panto which offers something for everyone, from poetry to song, comedy to tragedy and makes the young audience hiss and boo at full voice.

Funniest bit: As well as the panto horse, the king and his chamberlain (Simon Weir again) as they tried their best make the palace a non-sharp/pointy area.

Scariest bit: Wicked Hecate who got just the right level of malevalence to have the younger members of the audience screaming with terror.

Best bit: All of it.

Mark out of 10: 10

The year was rounded off perfectly with more radio commercial voice overs at Radio Clyde for 'SIMPLE DIGITAL' and 'BORDER MOTOR GROUP.'

November 2015 - The Diary

Hardly any room to think this month with rehearsals beginning in lovely Cumbernauld Theatre and the last few remaining 'Captain Morgan' live gigs in Edinburgh and Glasgow and thoroughly enjoyed this latest run of appearances as the old 17th Century buccaneer which went down a storm with audiences!

Back to Radio Clyde for voice overs for 'Ground Mapper' and 'Beltrami & Company' and my 41st job of the year! Been unbelievably busy this year and delighted to have more work now lined up for 2016 with a cameo role in Simon Baker's wonderful feature film '90 Minutes', as well as more corporate gigs.

Really looking forward to getting back in front of the camera on this feature and still have another few scenes to shoot on Douglas Sannachan's feature 'Starcache' in early 2016 as well! Rehearsals continued apace all month and we had our first previews on November 27th and 28th to wonderful and noisy

audiences, which was invaluable experience as we could then trim the show accordingly as we ran over time and with three shows some days this needs attention!! Been a tremendous month's work and a huge thanks to all the cast, crew and staff of Cumbernauld Theatre who have created a fantastic show

yet again this year. Jimbo and Siobhan have created wonders with props and costume, Jools, Jan and Sean simply superb running the technical side of things and working under directors Ed Robson and Tony Cownie has been an education and a joy as both are hysterical and knowledgable and have improved me as an actor this month, without a shadow of a doubt. So far, this has been one of the most enjoyable jobs of my career and a brilliant learning process.

October 2015 - The Diary

Back on the audition trail again this month and hopefully have more projects to announce next month but meant another 3000 miles in the car up and down to London but will hopefully pay off! Twas another busy busy month and some great gigs with RPM promoting 'Captain Morgan' around Scotland and England with gigs in Middlesborough, Ayr, Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as Gleneagles.

Then back to Radio Clyde for a voice-over for 'Glasgow Hair Clinic' and more RPM events, before teaming up once again with director Jack Willison for the Glasgow 48 Hour Film Festival, playing 'Tammy Ness' in LAUNDERETTE. Marvellous fun filming this one and a lovely script and story

which went down well at our screening at the GlasgowFilm Theatre. Will post a link to it next month when it goes online. More recalls and auditions in Glasgow and London (again!) so fingers crossed..!

Also delighted to announce that I have been cast in Cumbernauld Theatre's SLEEPING BEAUTY this year as Sir Shuggie/Lord Chamberlain and really looking forward to this panto in such a lovely venue with a fab cast and crew! This will be my third pantomime, the last being ALADDIN at Carnegie Hall 15 years ago!

September 2015 - The Diary

No rest for the wicked! The day after finishing the Fringe it was back on the train to Leeds and another excellent corporate roleplay for COLOPLAST UK with the usual gang, this time staying at the Art Deco Queens Hotel, which was lovely! Again the event was well attended and important practical experience for the nursing staff who participated (see photo below).

Next up was another Feature Film appearance in THE BOLANDER GREEN SOCIETY, a mockumentary movie set in The Highlands, directed by Andy Sherlow. I play Profesor Murdock in the film which is about four student scientists who travel north to undertake a series of experiments, inspired by a group from the 1970s who accomplished great advances within the field.

I had a really enjoyable two days on this shoot in and around Glasgow University, (pictured above and below) the first time I'd filmed there since shooting scenes for Charlie Sheen's POSTMORTEM in 1997.Then it was back to London and another audition as well as a fab COLOPLAST UK gig in Chelsea.


Back to Glasgow for more auditions and then it was back into 'pirate mode' for more RPM gigs in Glasgow and Middlesborough with CAPTAIN MORGAN, which were great fun again.

August 2015 - The Diary

August in Scotland means only one thing, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and delighted to bring 'Letters To Aberlour' to the beautiful Central Halls in West Tollcross. We ran for the entire Festival and flyered by day in full Scottish WW1 costume, suffering heat exhaustion, pouring rain and blistered feet in disintegrating army boots but it was worthwhile as our audiences, although small, were wonderfully encouraging as was the reaction to our publicity campaign on the hard cobbles of the Royal Mile! The photos on this page were taken by the brilliant Paul Henni, who photographed the show as well.

This was my third Fringe, having performed 'Glasgow Hard Tickets' in 1995 and 'Singin I'm No A Billy I'm A Tim' in 2005 at The Gilded Ballooon. 'Hard Tickets' won the Scotsman Fringe First Award and 'Billy&Tim' went on to tour for a decade and filled arenas, so I have a decent pedigree for choosing shows to take to Edinburgh!

Our early reviews were mixed but all praised the level of acting from our lovely and hard-working cast. We streamlined the script, cut scenes and lighting and sound effects and things ran much smoother and the show improved greatly. Really pleased with the reaction and received this nice review as well, from the Edinburgh Spotlight "Simon Weir’s stirring and emotionally-aware Canon Jenks appears on and off through the whole play, which helps to maintain and develop his character and place within the story." 

A huge thanks to the staff of The Central Halls and The Just Festival for making us so welcome and the venue was beautiful, certainly in comparison to previous Fringe venues! Received a great 4 star review from All Edinburgh Theatre with a nice mention in despatches " The dilemmas of the situation are crystallised by the conflicted character of Canon Jenks, whose dismay at how his inculcation of Christian duty has led to so many deaths is well conveyed by the hugely impressive and versatile Simon Weir."

The month was rounded off by more commercial castings in between shows and we were honoured to be joined onstage by the great-grandson of Benjamin Pritchard, who I play in Letters To Aberlour and who had travelled from New Zealand to catch the show. This was my personal highlight of this whole festival and really brought home to us all just how important this play is and that these forgotten soldiers voices deserve to be heard. Chris is photographed (wearing hat!) with the cast below!

A tough but rewarding month and another Edinburgh Fringe Festival under the belt. Think it will be another decade before I venture back! And nice to finish on a high with a lovely review as well!

Letters To Aberlour - Latest Review!

« A Bohemians’ Rhapsody

EDFRINGE 15 | REVIEWS

Letters to Aberlour

August 29, 2015 | By Hugh Simpson | Reply

✭✭✭✭✩     Effectively affecting

Just Festival at Central Hall (Venue 295a): Fri 7 – Mon 31 Aug 2015

Letters To Aberlour stands out from many of the recent depictions of the horrors of the First World War by virtue of its stately staging and simple humanity.

Jonathan Urquhart’s play, presented by New Strides Theatre at Central Hall in the Just Festival, tells an all-encompassing story by focusing on one corner of Speyside.

Letters To Aberlour. Photo by and copyright of Paul Henni.

Aberlour children’s charity began with a huge orphanage in Charlestown of Aberlour itself. Over 200 of its ‘old boys’ enlisted in the First World War and at least 60 of them died, with many of the others never really recovering.

In the absence of anyone else to write to, and feeling those at the orphanage to be their family, many of them sent letters home to Aberlour from the front, and these letters form the basis of the narrative.

As a framing device, there is a visit to the closing of the original orphanage in the 1960s by Arthur Mylam, one of the many whose sense of duty instilled in him by his upbringing caused him to enlist.

Within this framework comes the story of a large number of characters; it is some time before it is clear that there are only five in the cast, so effective are the transformations between parts. The structure of many short scenes becomes slightly obstructive, but the changes between them are swiftly and carefully handled.

There seems to have been pruning of the text at some point; the play is considerably shorter than listed in the Fringe programme, and since it was first mounted last year, this can only be because some material has been removed. Certainly the jump from 1915 to the end of the war is abrupt after what has gone before. This is not necessarily a bad thing; in this form, there is a tautness and tension to Ruth Urquhart’s direction that holds the audience’s attention extremely well.

impressive and versatile

The archive material has been cleverly inserted into an overarching structure that provokes questions without supplying easy answers. Only a rather artificial discussion about the charity’s subsequent use of smaller homes seems out of place. Otherwise, the dilemmas of the situation are crystallised by the conflicted character of Canon Jenks, whose dismay at how his inculcation of Christian duty has led to so many deaths is well conveyed by the hugely impressive and versatile Simon Weir.

Letters To Aberlour. Photo by and copyright of Paul Henni.

Patrick Capaloff Fowler’s energetic, physical performance is also worthy of comment, while Anthony Bentley’s quiet grace as Arthur Mylam contains many shades of character. He is also adept at changing from a much younger to an older man in the blink of an eye. Jonathan Durie and Julia Jack also acquit themselves well in a variety of roles.

Too often depictions of these events try to convey their unprecedented scale in an epic sweep that simply makes it difficult to comprehend, and accordingly too easy to dismiss. Here, the local focus gives it a humanity and a focus that sticks in the mind. The decision to keep any actual fighting offstage is a good one; instead what we see are the results, expressed in devastating loss, cruel irony, and crippling regret.

There are political and human points made, but they rise naturally out of the narrative rather than being overlaid on it. This gives the storytelling a spare, limpid quality that makes it convincing.

Running time 1 hour 25 minutes (no interval)
Just Festival at Central Hall (Venue 295a), 2 West Tollcross, EH3 9BP
Friday 7 – Monday 31 Aug 2015

July 2015 - The Diary

July began with more fun corporate work with 'PETER VARDY' back in Perth and another 'Live Quiz Show' hosted by the ubiquitous 'Fun-Time Freddie' which again went down well and delighted to land more work in this field with a fantastic client at the picturesque surroundings of the Millershall Hotel.

Then another photo shoot with Calum Connolly in Edinburgh followed by another voice over for 'THE CLAIMS EQUILIBRIUM CLUB' and 'HAMILTON PARK RACECOURSE' and 'GLASGOW PRESTICK AIRPORT' for Radio Clyde and Westsound. A busy month continued with the shooting of my promo trailer for Fraser Coull's webseries 'COPS AND MONSTERS' in which I play the head of the PITS Team and looking forward to shooting the series later this year.

Photo courtesy of Dougie Coull. Next up was an audition in London for a great US advert and a huge journey there and back in 24 hours in order to make it to Edinburgh in time for the start of rehearsals for our Fringe Festival run of 'LETTERS TO ABERLOUR' at The Central Halls, Tollcross. An exhausting but varied month and now looking forward to August and my third Edinburgh Fringe since we opened 'GLASGOW HARD TICKETS' there in 1995.

June 2015 - The Diary

Yet another mixed bag of a month, with radio, theatre, film and television work as well as finally getting new headshots! Thanks to Calum Connelly for the photo below! June began with four voice-overs for Hamilton Park Racecourse at Radio Clyde, followed by a rehearsal day for our Edinburgh show, Letters To Aberlour and great to catch up with the old team from last year's Scottish tour.

Really looking forward to bringing the show to the Fringe in August and tickets are selling well already...a good sign! Book your tickets for the run here:
https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/event/466204-letters-to-aberlour/

I made a surprise appearance on Ch4's Sunday Brunch with an airing of the OK SOCIAL CLUB's video for 'Walkie Talkie', followed the next week by a call from STV Glasgow to take part in a mini documentary on my old football club for The Riverside Show.

A great footballing month for me continued with the latest Scotland Writers FC international match with Italy at Spartans FC ground in Edinburgh and an unexpected( by all except for us!) 2-1 victory! You can read a full match report here Scotland V Italy A wonderful occasion and a fantastic match played in great spirit by both sides, and a lovely feeling to beat the current Writers World Champions!

Back to corporate live work in London with Coloplast UK and again really enjoyed working with a fantastic group of actors on a really worthy project and all of the participants seemed to appreciate our work, in the lovely surroundings of the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel! Photo of our cast below by Theresa Lunniss on Facebook.

Teamed-up once again with Fraser Coull to shoot a promo film for our Edinburgh run in various locations around Glasgow. The photo below is of our last schools trip to Ednam Primary as 'Benjamin Pritchard' which seemed to keep the troops entertained!

We shot the promo film for 'Letters To Aberlour' in monsoon conditions around various excellent locations in Govan and Queens Park, Glasgow and really looking forward to seeing the finished film. Then another audition for a mockumentary film, more of which next month!

More headshots done with the talented Calum Connelly in Edinburgh, the best of which I will post next month. Back to Glasgow and had great fun shooting another corporate video for 'Peter Vardy'. Finally rounded off this month with the role of Vinny in the Feature Film, Starcache with another fab cast and

crew, directed by Douglas Sannachan. Squeezed in two days of filming at the end of June and nice to be reunited with old friends once again on this job. This film has been shooting for two years and I was delighted to eventually land a great comedic role in it's final days of shooting. The photo below is by the lovely Ruth Anne Hawkins, with whom I recently worked on Cleek, stepping in at the last moment to adorn my neck with an excellent tattoo!

Another really varied month of acting work and more gigs booked in for July, August and September already, so it is shaping up to be a great year and personally, I'm having a ball playing all of these different parts. Maybe turning 42 wasn't so bad after all!

Latest News...

Delighted to announce that I shall be playing PITS Boss Norris Fletcher in Fraser Coull's Cops And Monsters web series later this summer, with a talented young cast and some hoary old pro's such as myself..! First costume fitting today (see below).

May 2015 - The Diary

May had everything! Auditions, voice work, corporate filming and live appearances, with hundreds of miles of travel and the promise of more work in the future. A busy month began with more CAPTAIN MORGAN live appearances around Scotland's bars and clubs, with gigs in Ayr, Glasgow, Dunfermline, Coatbridge and Dundee, followed by my 42nd birthday! Delighted to land a role in the feature film 'STARCACHE' directed by former 'Gregory's Girl' star Douglas Sannachan and filming this in June & July 2015, more of which later.

Then off to Leeds for another excellent COLOPLAST UK Roleplay job and really enjoying this line of work and the great practical experience it gives the nurses in attendance. Looking forward to more gigs in London in September. I was cast in another corporate video for the TUC with Theatre& which meant another trip to Yorkshire and filming in Huddersfield. Really nice cast and crew and look forward to hopefully working with them again in the near future.

Back to Glasgow for an audition for a US Feature Film and live appearances with RPM before more voice work on commercials for Hamilton Food Festival,UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and Fan Duel.
The photo below comes from our STUC Corporate shoot in Yorkshire, with cast mates Julie & Kash.

This was followed by another audition for a huge television series, fingers crossed for this one! Just exciting even to be seen for this, hopefully more of which later. Managed to catch David Carswell's 'Hatches, Matches & Dispatches' and Peter McDougall's 'My Brother's Suit' at Oran Mor and Paul Moore's 'Lynching' at The Shed this month and catch up with old pals before heading off to lovely Millport for a Bank Holiday trip and a wee recce for possible locations for a feature film I have written. Last up was a final promo gig in Edinburgh for RPM as the inimitable 'Sir Henry Morgan'. Good month of work and pleased with my progress this year thus far.

April 2015 - The Diary

April saw the completion of my filming on the feature film 'CLEEK' in Paisley and Renfrew with some memorable scenes in various superb locations once again. Real pleasure working with this cast and crew and director Gary Hewitt and pleased to get all of my scenes shot in one chunk of time. Great fun!

More script writing, auditions and meetings for upcoming projects followed, more of which I will discuss in the future. I had more corporate work on this month with Peter Vardy and a live show in Perth as Quiz Show Host, 'Fun-Time Freddie' which went down very well!

Then back to more commercial v/o work with Westsound Radio for 'Lease 2 Buy', followed by a really fun shoot for Edinburgh band The Ok Social Club and their latest video, playing a 'Radge Dad' of the band and smashing up everything in sight. Great video directed by my old pal Andy Maaas at Freak Films, our 4th collaboration over the years. Top gig, top lads and looking forward to the release in May.

Then onto my next project, playing buccaneer Sir Henry Morgan with RPM around Scottish venues.
My Movement Director from 'KIDNAPPED'  got in touch and booked me for a series of excellent medical roleplays, kicking off in Bristol for Coloplast UK. Interesting and rewarding work and nice to be involved in something so worthwhile. Then more voice overs for The Scottish Recovery Network and the NHS training videos in Glasgow as well as shooting some showreel scenes for Regina Vereker with my old collaborator Fraser Coull. Rounded off April with a voiceover for Stagecoach at Clyde FM

Really diverse range of projects this month, worked hard and travelled a lot, but pleased with my output this year so far and been great catching up with old friends on my various gigs as well as working with some top people and making new contacts. May already looks busy!

Reviews

"Adults in the audience smiled at

 the Lord Flashheart-style

 bravado of Alan Breck (Simon Weir)"   

Twyford Advertiser

"Balfour and Simon Weir's Alan Breck,

 who struts the stage as cocksure as a

 young Iain Cuthbertson, form a 

 swashbuckling dynamic duo"      

 Glasgow Herald

"Simon Weir is enthusiastically swashbuckling

 as Alan Breck"                

 The Stage 

"David Balfour and Simon Weir as Alan Breck

 made a great team and deserve special mention.

 It was excellent...Alan Breck was like a 

 Scottish Musketeer"

 Journo Jan

"Simon Weir plays all the men's parts, each one

more hilarious than the last"

The Stage

March 2015 - The Diary

Having completed filming on low-budget Feature 'WIGILIA' (See photo below from the set)..

I had a lively start to the month with the release of the much anticipated short film 'DON ALFONSO CHADWICK' which we shot back in November and December.

Really pleased with the results of this student flick, directed by the very talented Jack Willison, which you can view here:
Don Alfonso Chadwick Also really enjoyed working with rising star Mark Barrett and we teamed-up again this month filming the feature film 'CLEEK' in and around Paisley. Night shoots, car and fight scenes and  all shot on location, this is a cracking low-budget picture and I'm currently having a ball playing aged Lothario Sam with another committed and talented young crew and directed by Gary Hewitt.

In between shoots I was back at Radio Clyde for more voice-over commercials and then back on set of 'CLEEK' which these photos are from, courtesy of Brian McGuire and Sonja Bliestschau. Great to work with fight director Carter Ferguson again, our 10th collaboration on productions since Aladdin in 2001!

March also saw me land some more corporate work with Peter Vardy on a corporate video, followed by ongoing work with Captain Morgan Rum and the announcement that 'LETTERS TO ABERLOUR' will be at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, which I am looking forward to immensely.

And here's a final photo from March from our corporate shoot in Glasgow and Renfrew with Peter Vardy...one to 'haunt your dreams' as Stewart McCheyne described it! You can guess what the out-takes were like...Enjoy!

February 2015 - The Diary

Another busy month of film and voice work and a flying start to the year. February saw me back at Radio Clyde to record four more radio commercials, an example of which you can listen to here: Scottish commercial radio This month I recorded ads for Glasgow Taxis, Solway Spa and Anderson Maguire and have now started building my own voice-over studio at home.

Then it was onto another Feature Film and a lovely ten minute completely improvised scene in Graham Drysdale's 'WIGILIA', shot in Glasgow with a lovely & talented crew and nice to be back working with Grant McPhee, who I last worked with on 'A SPANKING IN PARADISE'. Really interesting and enjoyable experience on this project and looking forward to seeing the finished product later this year. I was then delighted to be asked to play corrupt businessman Alistair in Duncan Airlie James' new  action short film, FANATIC and once again a great cast and crew and old faces from previous projects.

The rest of my time is spent on a writing project and hitting the gym and tons of running in order to really get in shape for 2015. We had the first readthrough for the Feature Film CLEEK in February and again great fun catching up with old pals on that one. Going to be a tough but interesting shoot soon! The photos on this page are all courtesy of Chris Quick from Gilnockie Films & Projects Productions.

January 2015 - The Diary

Off to a bright start to the New Year with a really enjoyable Forum Theatre corporate gig at the wonderful Perth Concert Hall, packed for the Peter Vardy annual conference, followed by a return to voiceover work at my favourite station Radio Clyde.

Then a wee jaunt to London to meet up with my lovely agent and also my old KIDNAPPED pal Stewart McCheyne before another voiceover in Glasgow. I also caught up with my CASE HISTORIES co-star Brian McCardie on his birthday. A great month and some exciting opportunities ahead in 2015!