THANK goodness Johnny McKnight enjoys Christmas. This festive season, like the previous five, the writer, director and performer has two shows on-the-go – Sleeping Cutie at Stirling’s Macrobert Art Centre and Mammy Goose at the Tron in Glasgow.
In a few weeks, McKnight says, it’ll be time to work on ideas for Christmas 2019 – and much else besides, no doubt. Earlier this year, he reaffirmed he could do more than helm gallus contemporary panto by directing Ira Levin’s thrilling play-within-a-play at Dundee Rep and writing Bingo! an uproarious, touching musical for theatre companies Grid Iron and Stellar Quines. He’s also been a regular writer for River City since 2016.
Though his writing career dates back to 2004 with Something Wicked, the first production he wrote for his company Random Accomplice, McKnight does not equate past success with future results.
“Even though I’ve been doing this for years, you still approach it with the same dread, that blank page,” McKnight says. “People just assume that as soon as you’ve done one, you can do it all the time, but you still go through all that anxiety each time. But that’s also what gets you to the place to finish it.”
It’s worth it, of course, especially at Christmas – just as well given that, from November 27 to January 6, McKnight will be performing for two and a half hours, six nights a week as Mammy Goose, a hard-grafting cafe owner with a best pal who happens to be a six-foot talking goose. McKnight also directs Mammy Goose, performed and produced by the Tron’s crack panto team including designer Kenny Miller, Darren Brownlie as the lovestruck Jack Goose and musical director Ross Brown.
“Ross has been the composer here since 2013,” says McKnight, calling during a break in rehearsals at the Tron. “I write the lyrics and Ross writes the music, and it’s always really exciting working with a composer as you don’t know what sort of musical direction they will push it in.”
McKnight performs at the Tron and the Macrobert in alternate years, he explains.
“I’ve done a Mother Goose before, 10 years ago at Macrobert,” he says. “But they are two very different beasts, writing for the Tron audience and writing for the Macrobert. The Macbob is more pop tunes whereas the Tron is like a new musical really, and it’s taken from a different point of view.”
McKnight adds: “In Mammy Goose, Jack falls for a boy, which is something I thought it was time for. There’s a reason that Scotland is leading the way on LGBT; we’re very fortunate to be in that position and it’s something worth celebrating.”
Celebration and joy is why McKnight does it, even if performing after months of sitting over the computer is a shock to the system.
“I think you’re dead lucky if you can give people their Christmas night out,” he says.
“I have to literally live like a monk during the run, it’s very joyful. Every year since about 2007 I’ve spent the end of the day at Christmas singing All I Want For Christmas Is You. I’ve sung it on stage maybe about a thousand times.
“As I’ve got such a small attention span it’s never once bored me.”
Mammy Goose: November 27 to January 6, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, various times, £9 to £23. Tel: 0141 552 4267. www.tron.co.uk
Sleeping Cutie: November 23 to December 31, Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, various times, £16.50 to £19.50. Tel: 01786 466666. www.macrobertartscentre.org johnnymcknight.com
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