An Aberdeen romantic has pulled off the performance of a lifetime after deciding the pandemic wouldn’t postpone his proposal.
Jonny Lees got down on one knee and successfully popped the question to his fiancé at the city’s His Majesty’s Theatre (HMT).
The 27-year-old had originally wanted to ask his girlfriend of more than nine years, Alix Mann, to marry him while on holiday abroad but he had to rethink his strategy this year.
As Miss Mann, 26, has a life-long love for the performing arts and has participated in many amateur shows around Aberdeen, Mr Lees decided to do a little acting of his own to organise the surprise proposal.
Through a friend he used to work with at the Music Hall, Mr Lees got in touch with Ben Torrie at Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA), and concocted a cover story about visiting behind the scenes at HMT to film a video for his band, The Ruptured Ducklings.
Mr Lees, a logistics coordinator, said: “Covid-19 happened so my plans went out the window and I was trying to think of a special way to propose in Aberdeen.
“I got in touch with Ben at APA and he was really keen to help out in any way he could, so I came up with an idea to get Alix there without her being suspicious.
“My band had just released a song so I said to Alix that a friend got us into HMT to do a promotional video, and we would get a little tour backstage. She was thought it was brilliant when I asked her to come along.
“I went up to the royal box and set up my camera, and quickly changed into a shirt and shouted down to her asking if she could come help with the camera.
“She came up the stairs and found me down on one knee, then I did a little speech and asked her to marry me and she said yes.
“Alix loves the theatre but had never actually been on the HMT stage, so getting her on the stage was amazing and I’m so happy she absolutely loved it.”
Miss Mann, a primary school teacher, said: “I was really shocked, I wasn’t expecting it one bit, although he was acting a bit weird in the week leading up to it.
“I’ve done theatre for a long time and have really missed it since Covid-19 and all the restrictions, so getting to go in there privately with the place to ourselves was so special.
“When we got on the stage, we were told we were the first people to be on that stage with the curtain raised in eight months.
“It’s so sad seeing the place empty, but it’ll be amazing once it’s all opened up again.”
Mr Lees said the couple is hoping to tie the knot in 2022.
