Theatre veteran has Scot it all

Dave Anderson has worked as an actor, playwright, song-writer and musical director for a range of Scottish theatres with television appearances including BBC sitcom City Lights and crime drama Taggart.

The Journal met up with Dave Anderson to discuss the work that has defined such an illustrious career, as well as his plans for this year's famous Christmas Panto at Òran Mór, a major entertainment venue in Glasgow's West End.

When did you become interested in writing and acting?

There was always music and song in my family and I grew up with Gene Kelly movies. The craftmanship of the songs impressed me even as a child. We're talking the golden age of the great.

Could you give us a little insight into your work as an actor, musician, musical director and your international tours round the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia? Did you enjoy working abroad?

I was working as a singer and songwriter in London in the early 1970s, when I was invited to join 7:84, the touring theatre company (the statistic '7 per cent of the population of Britain own 84 per cent of the wealth' had just been published) as musical director.

It was then that I met David MacLennan, who is now the producer of 'A Play, A Pie & A Pint' at the Òran Mór and has remained a colleague and comrade. I'm not too great on remembering history, but we remained part of 7:84 for roughly speaking the rest of the 70s, when David proposed during a break in 7:84's schedule to form 'Wildcat'.

I saw an opportunity to make the kind of music-theatre I was interested in doing. And that's what we did; again, roughly speaking, during the 80s and 90s. We toured with both these companies Scotland, and made the occasional foray to Ireland, Europe, Scandinavia, and even England!

There's one trip to pre-Wall Berlin that is a particularly vivid memory – another story, maybe. I have a real fondness for touring, and indeed I think because it's my experience that's what performers should do. Every gig is an education, and heightens the player's appreciation of live performance as a social event.

Do you think presenting on stage is more exciting than in television?

Film is exciting for its own reasons: you're producing an artefact that will last and be experienced over and over. The process, though, can be dreary. The huge, fundamental difference with theatre is that it's one-off: this is the moment - that and the aforesaid social element.

How long have you been part of 'A Play, A Pie and A Pint'?

'A Play, A Pie & A Pint' has been going since the Òran Mór opened. David MacLennan got wind of this big new pub/venue, and pitched the idea of lunch-time theatre to the owner, Colin Beattie, who embraced the idea with enthusiasm. I think we'll find that shows an unusual thing for a publican to do!

Lunch-time theatre isn't a radical idea in itself: it's been happening all over Europe and who knows where else, for decades (Druid were doing it in Galway in the 70s), but the timing, and location, for the west end of Glasgow were perfect. David will produce his 250th piece of theatre in Spring 2012, an unequalled productivity rate anywhere that I know of.

What is your personal experience with 'A Play, A Pie & A Pint', presentation on stage and artists who present there?

Writing and performing at the Òran Mór is very attractive to the theatre community; for the writers, the time-scale of getting the idea through to seeing it on stage is quicker than anywhere else. I think it's fair to say the standard is high and climbing, and the shows often have another life, touring to different venues, playing the Edinburgh Festival, etc - there's 'A Play, A Pie & A Pint' in Philadelphia now.

You are in charge of the famous Christmas Panto, December 5th until 24th at the Òran Mór this year. Would you like to share some more details with us?

The Òran Mór panto has evolved into a genre of its own; somebody described it as "meta-panto". We started writing Christmas shows that would appeal to all the family, but fairly quickly realised that children weren't coming; they were at school.

So we now write for adults – or rather, the child in all of us. The style veers from politically aware to silly to the point of stupid. It's great craic.