Bad guy in Bond, The Krays good fun. Now I’ve got one biggest villains in my sights
Japanese camera – a Pentax. I set up my own dark room and developed them myself. “I remember loving them at the time but, after I left Glasgow for my next theatre project, I packed them away and forgot about them for 50 years. “I looked them out a couple of years ago after becoming socially aware of the historical value of black and white photos of old areas. “It wasn’t until I got them blown up that I realised just how beautiful they were. I spoke to someone in a gallery in Glasgow and they said I should exhibit them and so I am. “I’m coming up for the launch and will be taking people on a walking tour round my old haunts. I’m really looking forward to it as it will be a real trip down memory lane.” Steven, who gave Gerard Butler his big break in his adaption of Coriolanus, said Glasgow will always hold a special place in his heart. He said: “I’ve got so many incredible memories of my time in Glasgow, such a lot of fun, especially Saturday nights out on the town and Sunday mornings down the Barras market, where I bought my first radio. “I actually acted in the small space next to the Citizens, called the Close Theatre, which I found quite wonderful. “I used to spend a few hours there in the afternoon after my sojourns around the Gorbals, to cook up my supper, which was a popeseye steak which I bought from the butcher’s opposite. “There was a lovely man who was a caretaker there, who used to sing a particular song every afternoon, which I have never ever forgotten. It went, ‘Oh, I’d like to have a home of my own, Sitting by my own fireside, And if you’ve only got a table and a chair, It’s all yours and you’re welcome there.’ “I thought, ‘ That’s so right. All you need is a table and chair of your own.’” Steven, who did 25 years at the Edinburgh Fringe, added: “In the years that followed, I kept coming back with my own company, The London Theatre Group. “One of my favourite memories was when we were on tour with my adaption of Strindberg’s Miss Julie in 1973. I took the cast to the Barras and they loved it. “Glasgow felt like home in 1966 and it still does. There’s something about the place and the people that I will never tire of.” Steven’s exhibition, Gorbals 1966, starts on July 14 at Street Level Photoworks in the Trongate.
Who wants to be a goodie? People never forget the bad guy in movies