Myrtle Throgmorton Stuffed And Mounted

 Aberdeenshire, Featured  No Responses »
Jul 212017
 

With thanks to Kieran Booth.

Following her hit 2015 show, Miss Myrtle Throgmorton OBE (pending) is returning to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe with a brand new production.
The critics, in 2015, stayed away but the audience came in droves and through word of mouth, a brief stint with the Really Terrible Orchestra and some energetic flyering, the show was sold out most nights – and everyone had a hoot! [“Very, very funny” – STV]  

So the game old trout, ancient heckler and exuberant enthusiast for all things Scottish, is back, Stuffed and Mounted, mad-rabbiting on about the delights of a long life – giddy aunts, Burns, beards, Creamola Foam, Zimmer Zumba and much more.

Myrtle is created by former BBC Comedy producer Jennie Campbell / Chalmers, and has been developed over many years although Jennie admits that the original bag-for-life is now, worryingly, more ‘ego’ than ‘alter’.  Since her Fringe debut, Miss Throgmorton has been making appearances across the North East of Scotland at charity gigs, Burns Suppers and two sell-out runs at the Haddo Arts Festival.

Myrtle’s accumulated years are off-set by the youthful vigour of baritone, Colin Brockie and pianist, Richard Bailey who join her for the three-week run at the Fringe. The production could also be unique on the 2017 Festival as the cast and crew all come from rural Aberdeenshire: Colin from Ellon, Richard from Udny, and Jennie, Kieran and Mary from Barthol Chapel.

Myrtle is still chairman of the Surrey Association for Lonely, Misplaced Or Non-Domiciled Scots [ALEX] but has been rusticated from her sheltered housing scheme [a minor misunderstanding over a game of sardines with her friend Midriff Bulge] and now lives as the permanent resident in a once–grand hotel.

The audience will be her ‘fellow diners’ and much conversation and banter will ensue as she shares her opinion on pretty much everything [advanced age is so liberating], punctuated by live and original music from Richard, some ‘proper’ singing from Colin and a little nifty hip work from Myrtle herself.  

Once again, every show will end with a surprise guest joining Myrtle for cheery chat over the coffee and mints. The audience is completely unaware who the guest will be – indeed Myrtle herself may not be entirely up to speed until just before the off.

2015 guests included Rory Bremner, Arnold Brown, Lieven Schiere and Alan Cumming. 

It could be a TV celebrity, an acclaimed author, the face of a familiar radio voice, a rising star, an unknown character with a story to tell, someone with a great, undiscovered show or the joker from the café on the corner…  A truly potluck surprise, in the spirit of the Fringe, and every one a guaranteed delight!

After a brief career as a London lawyer, and a briefer one cleaning houses, Jennie Campbell joined BBC Radio Comedy as a producer of such programmes as Week Ending, The News Quiz and The Edinburgh Festival Compilations, scouting the Fringe in the 80s for hungry new young talent.
On moving to Scotland, she switched from satirical news to the real thing and has been variously a radio presenter [Newsweek Scotland], news and current affairs producer, director of theatre, opera and musicals, drama teacher, arts organizer, serial committee member and session clerk.

With Myrtle Throgmorton, Jennie makes a long overdue return to her comedy roots.

Venue: Mint Studio | Greenside @ Infirmary St. [Venue 236]                   
Dates: 4th – 26th August [not Sundays]                     
Time: 18.25 [55 mins]                                                          

Tickets: £10/£9/£5 

Box Office: edfringe.com / 0131 618 0758
Website: www.myrtleproductions.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/myrtlethrog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/myrtlethrog   (@myrtlethrog)

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.

Smithy’s Scribblins No. 3 – Aboot Eccentricity An Worthies

 Aberdeenshire, Opinion  No Responses »
Feb 142013
 

Winter Man
By Bob Smith.

It’s bin ma opeenion fer some time aat there’s nae aneuch eccentric fowk gyaan aboot in iss kwintra o oors nooadays.

Ye ken fit a meen, nae aneuch characters, nae aneuch worthies. 

Bertrand Russell eence said “Dinna fear tae be eccentric in opeenion, fer  ivvery opeenion noo accepted wis eence eccentric”.

Noo am nae spikkin aboot thae  pop star prats or sae ca’ed celebrities faa ging fer a nicht oot dressed as tho they war gyaan tae a funcy dress pairty an spik a load o borin crap tae the media. Maist o them dinna hae aneuch gumption tae be classed as eccentric or a worthie.

Some fowk nooadays are sae bland an predictable ye’d think they’d bin cloned. They hiv tae be seen tae be, as THE KINKS  sang said, Dedicated Followers o Fashion  or maan  hae the latest gadgetry in the warld o iphones, laptops, tablets, notepads etc. an if the telly viewin figures are ti be believed, only like ti watch soaps, reality TV shows an talent contests like X Factor.

As fer politeeshuns, be they Tories, Labour, Lib Dems, or SNP, there’s nae muckle difference atween ony o them fin it biles doon tae’t. Thank hivvens we’ve still got een or twa faa kick ower the traces, the likes o Dennis Skinner, an Margo MacDonald faa dinna folla ony pairty line an hiv the guts tae spik their myn.

Noo I dinna aye agree wi fit they spoot bit a fair agree wi them ha’en the richt tae spik oot. Ower mony politeeshuns are, in ma opeenion, in the hip pooches o the pairty wheeps or big business.

There wis a lot mair worthies  gyaan aboot fin a wis a loon. A can myn o a primary teacher at the skweel a wint tae, faa bikit tae her wark in aa withers, in the winter time weerin an auld belted trench coat, a leather helmet or a balaclava on her heid, a thick muffler an waldies. A bittie eccentric?

Aye an neen the war o’t, an aabody roon aboot, includin the heidmaister an ither teachers, thocht her affa gweed at her job an the bairns fair likit her as weel.

The eddicashun heid yins nooadays widna lit her throwe the skweel gates, mair’s the peety. There wis as weel an auld Sikh mannie faa  raikit aroon the kwintraside on his bike wi twa or  maybe three muckle leather cases strappit on the back fit held aa sorts o thingies – wifies’ stockins, combs, soap, dishtools, scrubbin brushes, widden claes pegs an black lead for the fireplace etc.

He only cam aroon aboot twice a ‘ear an maist fowk bocht somethin. He wis thocht o as a richt character.

the amunt o eccentricity in a society his generally bin proportional tae the amunt o genius

Aiberdeen fowk o a certin age wull a’m sure myn o Snuffy Ivy, a prostitute fae Torry faa wis kent as the teethless hooer wi a hairt an a hare lip an, as legend his it, wid perform een o her services fer a fish supper. Noo a maan add, a’m nae spikkin fae personal experience as a wis only a  sma geet in Snuffy  Ivy’s time. Eccentric? – maybe.  Worthie? – maist definitely.

A gweed fyow auler ceetizens wull myn o Cocky Hunter. Na, na, noo fowkies am nae spikkin aboot Snuffy Ivy  iss time! Iss weel kent chiel deel’t in second haun goods an war surplus an it wis said ye cwid buy onything fae a moosetrap tae a fower poster bed. Anither Aiberdeen worthie bi aa accoonts. There are mony mair a cwid meention bit there’s nae aneuch space.

Awa back in the 19th century, utilitarian thinker John Stuart Mill wrote that the amunt o eccentricity in a society his generally bin proportional tae the amunt o genius, mental vigour, and moral courage fit it contained.

Michty me it’s nae wunner today’s society is leukit on bi some as bein in a bittie o a doonward spiral.

Wull there be ony fowk jist noo faa wid be classed as eccentrics or worthies? Neen aat I can think o.

Een or twa micht be myn’t on– bit fer aa the wrang reasons. A gowf coorse at Menie, winfairms an Union Terrace Gairdens shud gie ye a clue.

Och bit wait a meenit, a’m forgettin Sam the Seagull, the feathered worthie fae the Castlegate faa,daily,  wid relieve a shoppie in the area o a packet o Cheese Doritos tae share wi his seagull pals. Myn ye it says somethin fin a seagull is the only eccentric or character in the toon, ower the last fyow ‘ear, worth meenshunin.