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Telling our story – with plenty of toilet humour
THERE aren’t too many occasions when I will say: “Go see this show. And if you don’t like it – and you can pass for a sentient human being – then I will cheerfully refund your money.” But Scots – a comedy musical by Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie – is certainly one of them.
As the title suggests, it’s the story of the history of our nation. But it’s narrated by a talking toilet.
Yes. A toilet. And if you think about it that makes total sense. The toilet seat has played host to some of our greatest a***s our country has enjoyed/ endured and as such is perfectly positioned to pass comment on performance.
Scots takes us back to the very beginning before Scotland was named as such, tracing our lords and masters, the heroes and the duds, the opportunists and the chancers. It looks at what defines a Scot.
Tyler Collins plays The Toilet, a character which begins as a hole in the ground but develops to porcelain magnificence. (Not quite a perfect metaphor for the evolution of our homeland.)
However, the Alaskan American actor (who possesses a range of Scots accents beyond that of most homegrown actors) highlights that Scots is a story of hope. “It asks the question – where have we been, where are we going and, yes, we’ve had lots of problems to deal with but we can address them.
“And of course, it’s not done in a really heavy way.”
You couldn’t be more wrong if you imagined this show to be a weighty polemic that would lean heavily in one political direction. It’s Scottish, but it’s not selling tartan, nor a shortbread tin impression of Scotland.
Yes, it tackles poverty, and period products, it highlights the men and women who have thrust Scotland into the spotlight. But it’s awash with parody and wonderful comedy
flourishes, as the toilet device would suggest.
“The show is saying, ‘Hey, we’ve had our problems. But we’ve always gotten through them. And we will in the future,” says Collins.
The tall, rangy actor, who studied at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire and has played Hen Broon in The Broons for the National Theatre of Scotland, brings incredible movement to the role. He’s a performer blessed with perfect timing, natural comedy bones and a mobility of face that makes Jim Carey look like he’s had too many fillers.
But how did it feel to be offered the role of The Toilet? “To be honest, I seem to have played quite a few inanimate objects in my career,” he says, smiling. “I’ve been a traffic light, an aeroplane and more recently a scarecrow” (in the Tron Theatre panto). He’s also starred in CBeebies Shakespeare. (“A professor of Shakespeare at Oxford University said he was so impressed with the content he’s been showing them to his students.”)
But there is an added bonus in playing The
Toilet. Collins is set to
travel to New York where the show, directed by Jemima Levick, will be staged as a part of the city’s iconic Tartan Week. “I haven’t been to New York since I was 17,” he recalls. “I appeared in an off-off Broadway show, so this is great to go back with a great production.” He grins: “As an American I’ll be making a couple of little adjustments to the pronunciation, just so the audience gets it all, such as how we pronounce the word ‘patent’.”
The actor will then hop south to sunny Florida. “My parents left Anchorage to retire there. And you can understand why. So I’m going to go visit and feel the heat for a few days.” Of course he is.
Scots also stars Richard Conlon, Lauren Ellis-Steele and Grant McIntyre, who are joined by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland students Sebastian Lim-Seet, Star Penders, Yana Harris and Mackenzie Wilcox.