When it comes to river cities and their defining figures, it’s difficult to imagine anybody better equipped to play Mother Aberdeen than Joyce Falconer.
She grew up in Torry, earned pocket money selling pies at Pittodrie during the glory years of the Alex Ferguson era, learned to speak Doric fluently, loved Sunset Song (along with Shakespeare) and made her maiden flight as the Fairy Godmother in the HMT centenary panto in 2006; a few decades after she had helped pay her way through college at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama as a singing telegram girl.
Whether it’s stage or screen, there are no half measures with this woman, who is about as fragile as a moose, but was awarded ‘Big-Hearted Entertainer of the Year’ for her contribution to various charities and organisations in post-tsunami Sri Lanka.
And, while she is probably best-known these days – at least outwith her native north east – for her long-running role in the BBC soap River City, Joyce has as many strings to her bow as your average concert ensemble.
That’s maybe just as well, because she will be performing with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra this afternoon at Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen as the narrator in a rollocking new adaptation of Prokofiev’s children’s classic Peter and the Wolf.
Oh, and in case you wondered, she’ll be doing it in Doric.
I’m looking forward to going home
As she said: “Although based in Glasgow, I am in Aberdeen on a regular basis whether working or visiting and I’ll always regard Torry as my home.
“Being asked to perform with the amazing SNJO is a real privilege. I am known for performing in Doric, but to do so alongside a jazz orchestra with this new translation of Peter and the Wolf is an exciting, unorthodox prospect.
“I grew up speaking ‘toonser’ Doric, but my maternal side of the family come from the Mearns and Gordon Hay’s translation [of Liz Lochhead’s reimagining of the adventurous story] gives a strong nod to rural, Buchan Doric in all its glory.
“If you don’t use it, you lose it and I’ve always made a concerted effort to use and celebrate our rich language”.
Joyce is a born entertainer
There’s no denying that when Joyce swings into character as the action commences. “Ye ken, A wisna a coorse loon; Na, nae a bit o’t; A wisna a coorse loon avaa.
“Jist …och! A wis foo o divvelmint an rael ill-fashient. Bit, ach, a’m gettin awa aheid o masel…Lat ma tell ye a story. A’m a granfadder masel noo. Bit a wint tae tell ye aa a story: a story aboot me, me an e Wolf.”
It’s not everybody whose repertoire stretches from Titania and Mary Magdalene to Jean Armour and Josie the Junkie. But there again, whether she’s participating in Burns Suppers, guesting on comedy programmes alongside the likes of Stuart Cosgrove, Craig Hill and Fred Macaulay, or bringing her myriad facial expressions and unmistakeable broad Scots to the role of Roisin McIntyre in River City, one thing is crystal clear.
Namely, this individual is a born entertainer.
No two days are the same in her domain, but she relishes the opportunity to test her mettle in different places and is unperturbed by her hectic schedule and the slightly surreal fashion in which she has to slip into Roisin’s shoes.
As Joyce told me: “This morning, I was up at 5am, on the River City set at 7am, drinking pretend wine in the Tall Ship bar at 8am and I am now spending the rest of the evening learning my lines for tomorrow.
“At the end of the week, I will catch up on housework and messages.Next week, I’ll be playing an auld Granda, narrating an ancient tale with a jazz orchestra in Queen’s Cross Church – so there is no fixed routine in my life”.
And, from the glint in her eye, one suspects she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Arts funding cuts have been ‘brutal’
As you might expect, given her working-class background and community roots, Joyce has been a champion of any initiatives which broaden the appeal of arts and culture.
She has seen first-hand the positive impact of youngsters being offered a gateway into the world of greasepaint, curtain calls and chorus lines or the opportunity for them to collaborate with others on such ventures as Big Noise Torry, the Sistema project which recently had its funding axed by Aberdeen City Council, as the prelude to the Scottish Government intervening to provide the investment to keep it going.
Such stories aren’t uncommon in the current cost-of-living crisis, but that doesn’t make them any more palatable for those such as Joyce with a social conscience.
Scottish Government steps in and restores Big Noise Torry’s funding
She told me: “The cuts to arts funding have been brutal. The Belmont Filmhouse [the independent venue which closed its doors last October] is unique in Aberdeen and Big Noise Torry is such a precious initiative for so many bairns.
“You can’t put a price on how beneficial the creative arts are to so many folk, so I dearly hope that money can be squeezed out to save them and I’m convinced there are wealthy local individuals and businesses who could contribute as well”.
The magic of Greyhope still enchants
It’s a long time since Joyce was growing up in Torry and becoming passionate about Greyhope Bay, one of the places with which she has formed a permanent attachment.
She said: “We all swam there when I was a kid and, these days, it is considered one of the best places in the UK, if not Europe, to see bottlenose dolphins. It is almost guaranteed that you will see them at the mouth of the harbour.
“My favourite memory is probably jumping off the pier on a hot summer’s day. I don’t think we realised how cold the North Sea was. You just went in.
“This expression of ‘wild swimming’ – well, we didn’t think of it as ‘wild swimming’ then. You went into the sea and that was it. No wetsuits. And I still don’t wear a wetsuit”.
Of course not. They breed them tough in Torry!
Tickets for Peter and the Wolf are available at here.
FIVE QS FOR JOYCE FALCONER
- What book are you reading?
A Richness of Martens’ by Polly Pullar, which is a collection of wildlife tales from the Highlands. - Who’s your hero/heroine?
The unsung folk who work exhaustively in health and social care. - Do you speak any foreign languages?
Doric is my Mither Tongue and I speak a little French, Spanish and Italian which results in an interesting Esperanto. - What’s your favourite band or music?
I have an eclectic musical taste of Traditional, 80s pop and jazz and I am currently listening to Tommy Smith’s Embodying the Light – a dedication to John Coltrane. - What’s your most treasured possession?
My Granda’s button box.
