Elaine C Smith fans will be delighted to see the Scots star back on stage in Aberdeen – and they can thank her granddaughter Stella for her return as Miss Hannigan in Annie.
“When I was first asked to come back and do it again in Aberdeen and Glasgow, I said ‘oh no, I’ve done it’,” said the much-loved performer, who last toured with the musical in 2017.
“But then I thought, ‘oh, my grandaughter’s eight and she never saw it before and that’s the perfect age for Annie’. So I’m doing it for Stella.”
And Elaine is looking forward to sinking her teeth into the role of Miss Hannigan, the ruthless matriarch of an orphaned for girls in Depression-era New York, when Annie runs His Majesty’s Theatre from Tuesday May 23 to Saturday May 20.
“Someone asked me the other day if we have updated it, but I said I don’t think you can update Annie from the 1930s setting. A drunk, horrible woman running an orphanage? I think social workers might be called in. And a rich billionaire turning up at Christmas and saying ‘want to give me an orphan?’ I don’t think that would happen.
“In a sense she’s a likeable rogue-slash-idiot, but she’s quite an unhappy miserable woman who doesn’t like girls very much, so she’s great to play. She is a sort of Cruella De Vil character.”
‘I never thought I would be in it’
And the star of TV shows ranging from City Lights to Two Doors Down, via Rab C Nesbitt, is full of praise for the latest tour.
“It’s a great production, a very joyous thing. And you rarely get to see really good kids on stage and these girls are quite remarkable,” said Elaine about the young cast.
Elaine and Annie go back, way back to the time when she was still a teacher at Edinburgh’s Firhill High School and saw the show for the first time.
“I took my third and fourth-year drama group to see Annie in London in the original production with Sheila Hancock playing Miss Hannigan and never thought for a minute I would be in it. But here I am, 45 years later, playing Miss Hannigan.”
On the subject of characters she loves playing, Elaine is delighted to be returning as Christine, the brutally honest neighbour in Two Doors Down, which is returning for a seventh series and flitting over to a prime time slot on BBC One.
‘You’re just like my auntie’
“I finish Annie in Glasgow on the Saturday then start the read through for Two Doors Down on the Monday,” she said, adding she was delighted by the massive following the comedy series has garnered.
“I can’t believe it, we are like 41 million views on iPlayer. It really is brilliant writing. Funnily enough, I knew it was going to be a hit when, after the first series, I was doing a talk at Robert Gordons during panto and three of the teachers said, ‘oh my god, we’re watching that Two Doors Down’ and I thought, that’s great. It’s not just about being in Glasgow, it’s universal. And Aberdeen got it first.”
Elaine said that universal appeal is down to the characters in Two Doors Down being instantly recognisable and relatable to people wherever they are, be it Scotland, the Midlands or London. Particularly so with Christine.
“I get women in London coming up to me and saying: ‘oh, you’re just like my auntie’. It could be that granny that sits there with no filter, or that Afro-Caribbean woman, it could be a Highlander. It’s just a woman of a certain age who says exactly what she thinks about everybody,” she said.
‘That was a bit Christine’
While Elaine is very different to her Two Doors Down character in real life, she does find elements creeping in.
“A few weeks ago, I was sitting in front of the telly and I said something and my husband said: ‘That was a bit Christine’.”
Elaine reveals that, surprisingly, neither she nor Christine were part of the original pilot for Two Doors Down – because of the HMT panto.
“I was asked to do one of the other characters, but I was unavailable because I was doing the panto in Aberdeen,” she laughed. “But now I’m really glad because when, a year later they decided to make the series they got me to come in to do Christine.”
Now she is looking forward to returning to the HMT stage in Annie – and relishing a return to Aberdeen, a place that she took to her heart as much as people took her to theirs during her eight years starring in panto at His Majesty’s.
“I’ve made so many friends there and I love the theatre. I just fell in love with Aberdeen, so it’s like going back to visit an old friend. I have huge affection for the people, the place and that building.”
A night to remember
And she hopes her return in Annie gives audiences a night they will remember.
“We’ll have a good night out. We’ve all, collectively, been through a horrendous time and the world feels like a dark place a lot of the time. But during rehearsals for Annie, when she talks about the New Deal and sings about the sun will come out tomorrow, suddenly it really meant something in a way it never had and I got tearful.
“That’s what we need to hear. We need to hear there are better days ahead. We need hope. Annie gives you that hope, escapism and a good night out.”
Annie is at His Majesty’s Theatre from Tuesday May 23 to Saturday May 27. For information and tickets visit aberdeenperformingarts.com or call 01224 641122.
