I love panto! Oh, yes I do! There, got that out of the way, early. So I was sad to read that it has been announced the future of my panto ‘spiritual home’, Musselburgh’s Brunton Theatre, looks bleak with demolition looming. The 296 seat venue was the theatre I wrote my first panto for, it was also the first directed and the start of a six year journey during which The Brunton was heralded as the heart of traditional Scottish panto.
During my time there I worked with some amazing actors, backstage creatives, crews and front of house teams, not forgetting producer Lesley Smith, who I must credit with taking the risk of bringing me onboard in 2006 to turn around The Brunton’s annual Christmas celebration – the previous year had managed a one star review, despite having a hugely talented cast on stage, and locals weren’t happy.
In 2006 Dick McWhittington changed all that. We ended up turning so many people away that the following year, Cinderella, saw an extra week added to the run. Box Office records were broken. In 2008 it was Sleeping Beauty that packed them in followed by a very special panto in 2009. Being the venue’s 30th anniversary pantomime, I was commissioned to write a brand new title set in and around Musselburgh to mark the milestone, Sinbad and the Little Mermaid was the result.
In 2010 we returned to reworking more familiar titles, Mother Goose on this occasion. My last pantomime for The Brunton was Aladdin, my favourite title after Dick McWhittington. So I started with a favourite and left with a favourite, all bespoke and set in The Honest Toun.
In 2012, I moved on to write and direct a new Cinderella for Dunfermline’s 1,400 seat Alhambra Theatre before taking a break until 2018 when Galashiels’ 150 seat MacArts Centre tempted me back, a bijou Mother Goose was the result. Of course, whether in a grand old playhouse, a small arts centre or a local theatre, the energy of panto is infectious, but that six years at The Brunton was something special. The audiences were special, they were invested and had ownership, essential for a successful local pantomime. It’s hard to believe that wonderful little theatre will soon be no more.
It’s been a while now since I last wrote and directed a pantomime but with more time free, a return to pantoland is on my tick list. In the meantime it makes me proud to read these press reactions to my previous productions in the genre, found squirrelled away while clearing out an old email archive. It’s made me realise just how lucky I was to be collaborating with such an incredible regular team, many of whom I still work with to this day… who knows where you might find us next Christmas.
WHAT THE PRESS SAID ABOUT LIAM RUDDEN’S PREVIOUS PANTOMIMES
2006/07 DICK McWHITTINGTON – THE BRUNTON
“… this magnificent local pantomime… a near perfect treat.” – Thom Dibdin, The Stage
“Liam Rudden, directing his own script, produces a little stormer here. Deftly paced, inventive and packed with incident…” – Steve Cramer, The List
“All told an excellent local pantomime… producing an exceptional Behind You routine… can have you weeping with laughter.” – Drew McAdam, Edinburgh Evening News
2007/08 CINDERELLA – THE BRUNTON
“Liam Rudden’s production bops along nicely with pop music, familiar routines and topical gags all spaced nicely throughout, overcoming a paucity of resources with pure gusto. .. shows a capacity for crowd-pleasing that should win over the most demanding patron.” – Steve Cramer, The List
A bright local script with plenty for both schools and adult audiences marks out Liam Rudden’s new production… Great traditional fare, complete with sweetie shower and song sheet.” – Thom Dibdin, The Stage
“Traditional pantomime values are clearly top of the agenda for the creative team behind last year’s Dick McWhittington and they haven’t failed to deliver.” – Darren Scott, Edinburgh Evening News
2008 SLEEPING BEAUTY – THE BRUNTON
“Little by little, and step by step, the Brunton Theatre at Christmas is becoming one of those precious places where every detail of the Scottish panto tradition is cherished, preserved, and reborn each year, in form fit to delight 21st century audiences. Writer/director Liam Rudden… has a near-perfect awareness of all the best aspects of panto, and of its special fairytale rhythm.” – Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
“Liam Rudden wisely reckons that there’s a special, fond laughter to be found in making sly references with a recognisable connection to your audience. All-out, roof-raising responses prove that his efforts to keep familiar stamping grounds in the foreground is definitely appreciated. It helps, of course, that Rudden has a feel for the mechanics of panto. He can write nippy patter and introduce entertaining wheezes.” – Mary Brennan, The Herald
“Liam Rudden’s relatively traditional panto shows some leg through the moments in this story which usually represent a sticking point.” – Steve Cramer, The List
“Fabulous, Undiluted Nonsense – and that spells fun.” – Drew McAdam, Edinburgh Evening News
“Writer and director Liam Rudden keeps his script fresh, while his magpie eye for old Scottish music hall routines adds sparkle.” – Thom Dibdin, The Stage
2009/10 SINBAD AND THE LITTLE MERMAID – THE BRUNTON
“Writer/director Liam Rudden and his team have created the kind of modest but totally effective local panto that it’s easy to underrate, so lightly does it carry huge and important elements of the panto tradition into the future… And above all, there’s the raucous, lively, rag-bag radical spirit of panto, turning the world upside down, and making it new.” – Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
“This panto is a ship-shape reminder that dash, not cash, is what matters.” – Mary Brennan, The Herald
“… the sort of production that a young mer-girl would willingly swim over hot-coals to get to…”– Josie Balfour, Edinburgh Evening News
2010/11 MOTHER GOOSE – THE BRUNTON
“There’s no panto in Scotland, these days, that makes a better job of setting a traditional tale in a local setting… They call Musselburgh the Honest Toun; and as usual, Liam Rudden has given the town a good honest panto…” – Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
“The plot cleverly features a number of very grown-up themes, such as unrequited love, fading beauty and even, ever so slightly, domestic abuse without losing the childlike chaos at the core of all good pantomimes.” – Kirsty Gibbins, East Lothian Courier
“Ever shifting in it’s approach to Pantomime, the Brunton Theatre has this year embraced a very traditional format for it’s festive fare. Harking back to the ensemble performances of ancient Greece and British Music Hall that have evolved into the format as we know it today, there is an edge of anarchic joy to the production.” – Josie Balfour, Edinburgh Evening News
“Fully embracing the tried and trusted pantomime formula… this is yet another triumph for the Brunton… when something works this well, why change it?” – It’s On It’s Gone
2011/12 ALADDIN – THE BRUNTON
“… writer/director Liam Rudden making sure the material hit all the appropriate spots for a young, fun-loving audience. That’s easier said than done.” – Mary Bennan, The Herald
“Scottish panto is alive and shouting in Musselburgh, where Liam Rudden’s sixth production for the Brunton Theatre hits all the right buttons with plenty of songs (both original and modified) and loads of audience participation. As writer and director, Rudden has a clear understanding of the demands of pantomime as a form. Pace (fast but not fleeting), plot (slight but sufficient) and local references (many and varied) are fine tuned…” – Thom Dibdin, The Stage
“.. a second-act earthquaking-inducing dance number, was a joy and may well be the first use of a well-known ‘Happy Hardcore’ tune – to brilliant effect – in a county panto.” – Kirsty Gibbins, East Lothian Courier
“Scotland has its share of pantos that boast big budgets and major star names; but if ever you wanted proof that money isn’t everything in pantoland, then Liam Rudden’s fine production of Aladdin is the show for you… it knows what many flashier pantos have forgotten; that if you focus on the story, get the timing right, deploy a few good local jokes and all the best panto devices, and believe just enough in the magic of it all, then you can create a good panto from the simplest of ingredients… one of the least pretentious and most enjoyable pantos of the year.” – Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
2012/13 CINDERELLA – DUNFERMLINE ALHAMBRA
“The combination of set, costume, live band, and clever lighting assaults your senses – in a good way. It is exactly like watching a huge cartoon, with all the colour and energy that invokes, coming alive before your very eyes.” – Drew McAdam, Edinburgh Evening News
“The Alhambra at Dunfermline is a very handsome theatre, with a large stage and more than 1,000 seats. It’s therefore a delight to see it once again staging its own full-scale panto, and a real pleasure to see that panto in the hands of Liam Rudden, who recently helped make the Musselburgh pantomime a strikingly successful local Christmas show… this show powers its way to a glittering conclusion.” – Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
“Writer and director Liam Rudden has moved into the large space of the Alhambra with all guns blazing…” -Thom Dibdin, The Stage
This is a big scale family show, there’s plenty of singalong fun and live action for children while adults will enjoy any risqué humour, which safely sails over the kids’ heads. Brilliant family fun. – Matt Meade, Dunfermline Press
“The show celebrates everything that is special about panto from the dazzling colour of the sets to the slapstick comedy to the jumbo sized songsheet for the sing-a-long.” – Allan Crow, Fife Free Press
