That made me legitimately spit out my water (and wish it was a quip I'd thought of, ha). Too bad David had already directed it by the time it got into hot water, or he totally could have!
Wow, Much Ado About Burgers! Your research skills are amazing and reading about the many things you’ve unearthed is like recovering buried treasures from the distant past! I hope one day soon David Tennant sits down with you and tells you everything you want to know about his illustrious and varied career! And then you share it with us!
Thank you for your compliments! Research is my jam, both professionally and recreationally.
And I would welcome that opportunity, especially given I'm pretty certain I inadvertently passed up a chance to do just that with (at least) one play already....
Wow. A lot to digest in this issue. I've book marked the YouTube play to watch a little later, and love the idea of DT's work on Macburgers, but what caught my interest was The Cake. I know you said this was about DT's director work, but my brain went straight to DT playing one of the rivaling brothers and then Davina playing one of the rivaling sisters. If only....Thanks for this - smiles for today.
Ha, I must confess neither of those The Cake scenarios had occurred to me!
I'm glad you enjoyed this threefold glimpse into David's years at drama school. I found the whole to-do with Macburgers fascinating, and its sad a huge corporation thought a local play written by students for kids was so threatening, it had to bring to bear its entire weight to stop it cold. As I've said below, I'm sure David heard about it - especially since Jenny was a classmate of his! I'd say I wonder what he thought about it, but given who he is? I think it's pretty much obvious he wouldn't have approved.
I'm sure he has too.... only because of a little edge in his voice when he has said McDonald's at comicons or other places. Nothing to really pick up on unless you know this back story, which thanks to you, we all now do.
Just come across this and I found it really interesting as not only did I appear in the Stirling District Youth Theatre production of Macburgers (as Glen) but at the time I was studying stage management at the RSAMD. I knew Jenny Fraser and Louise Delamere very well and knew David Tennant a little bit. Oddly when he joined drama college I sought him out as my father was a TV director at the time and had cast him in his first TV drama 'The Secret of Croftmore' a couple of years before he came to drama college. I remember my dad telling me he had to reassure David's father that he was a competent actor and that he had a future in acting should he decide to pursue it.
There was another production planned in between the Stirling Youth Theatre and RSAMD ones that I was also involved in. My recollection was that it was cancelled after McDonalds successfully applied for an injunction against it. That would have been at the same time the RSAMD did their production so I wonder how that one managed to go ahead.
Thank you ever so much for stopping by, Michael, and I hope you enjoyed reading about 'Macburgers'!
First, I'm stupidly excited about your behind-the-scenes stories regarding "The Secret Of Croftmore". While I've been able to suss out a fair amount of information about David's early theatre work in drama school and afterwards, the same hasn't been true about his early television and short film performances. Learning how your dad was instrumental in casting David has ignited both my curiosity and my question-meter (LOL!) and I'd be thrilled if you'd consider chatting with me further about this. If you would, please feel free to reach out to me in private messages here on Substack or at my email, atennantcytoact@gmail.com.
Second, about 'Macburgers': wow, more interesting tidbits of information you've shared! The website I referred to (https://www.mcspotlight.org/company/other_mclibels/scotch_fayre.html) holds a number of legal correspondences between Brown/Fraser and McD's legal team, but these make no mention of a canceled performance (they had a lot of trouble with the East Kilbride EK Eye and the Phantom Production performances, but those went on.)
Luckily, one of the play's co-authors, Steven R. Brown, has ALSO commented here about this play. I will ask him if he recalls another performance that was canceled!
Hi Steve Brown co-writer of MacBurger's here! Thanks so much for this comprehensive write up of my and Jenny's experiences. It still rankles that we had to give in. But the Early Day Motion and extensive press coverage were a delight.
Oh, wow! Hello, Steve - and I'm ever so glad to hear my research has passed your "I was one of those who wrote it and this sounds like an accurate representation of things" test. I'm also quite happy you happened to run across my neck of the woods!
I found the whole story ridiculously fascinating. Throughout the entire process of researching and writing the story of 'Macburgers', I was filled with righteous indignation for you and Jenny. But if I may ask, one thing I was never really able to nail down in the story was exactly how 'Macburgers' came to the attention of the RSAMD. My guess, of course, was that the RSAMD had a rather proprietary interest given Jenny was one of David's classmates, but I don't know that for sure. If you know how that all came about, would you be so kind as to enlighten me? And oh yes - did you and Jenny happen to go see David's production at the Chandler?
Oh, and feel free to reach out to me at atennantcytoact@gmail.com if you'd rather. And thank you again for your lovely comments!
Hi again sorry for the delay! Yes, Jenny and David were friends so that's how he knew about the play. He may well have suggested it as being appropriate. Strangely, neither Jenny or myself did see this production. We can't remember why!
Hmm. It's possible you both missed it because it wasn't a full-fledged production developed with RSAMD drama students in mind, but was instead part of the annual programme for the school's Junior RSAMD students. I can't imagine the Junior School programme got much press. :D
I, too, must apologize for my slow reply. I've been dealing with the administration of my father's estate and haven't had much time lately for my own pursuits. Thank you for getting back to me!
Steven - another commenter here (Michael Duncan) mentioned he played Glen in the Stirling District Youth Theatre production of 'Macburgers'. He said he was scheduled to be involved in another production of the play - one that fell somewhere between Stirling's May 1989 production and David's Junior School production on 23-24 March 1991 - but it ended up being canceled.
So I thought I'd ask if you might know anything about any planned-but-never-produced runs of 'Macburgers'?
Oh, and I might as well ask about another small anomaly I found in newspapers at the time. Original newspaper reports in Jan 1991 said EK Eye planned to perform the play on 26-27 March 1991. And though one small blurb in the 'East Kilbride News' does report a show on 27 March, nothing else is said anywhere else about the group's March dates - not even in the legal correspondence listed at https://www.mcspotlight.org/company/other_mclibels/scotch_fayre.html so I'm not sure they ever happened? Anyway, the group also performed the play on 4-6 April 1991.
Legal correspondence from you and Jenny at the time (at the same URL as above) only lists these dates:
Stirling District Youth Theatre (May '89, MacRobert Arts Centre);
RSAMD Junior School (March '91);
EK Eye (April '91, Village Theatre, East Kilbride);
Phantom Productions (May '91, Glasgow).
So I guess I'm wondering....did EK Eye do the March dates at all? And if not, do you know why?
Well, well, well... couldn't David pull rank and say he was a "McDonald?"
That made me legitimately spit out my water (and wish it was a quip I'd thought of, ha). Too bad David had already directed it by the time it got into hot water, or he totally could have!
Wow, Much Ado About Burgers! Your research skills are amazing and reading about the many things you’ve unearthed is like recovering buried treasures from the distant past! I hope one day soon David Tennant sits down with you and tells you everything you want to know about his illustrious and varied career! And then you share it with us!
Thank you for your compliments! Research is my jam, both professionally and recreationally.
And I would welcome that opportunity, especially given I'm pretty certain I inadvertently passed up a chance to do just that with (at least) one play already....
Ah, but that's a story for another play.
I certainly hope you share this story sometime soon!
Oh, I plan to. It's quite the ride, lol!
Wow. A lot to digest in this issue. I've book marked the YouTube play to watch a little later, and love the idea of DT's work on Macburgers, but what caught my interest was The Cake. I know you said this was about DT's director work, but my brain went straight to DT playing one of the rivaling brothers and then Davina playing one of the rivaling sisters. If only....Thanks for this - smiles for today.
Ha, I must confess neither of those The Cake scenarios had occurred to me!
I'm glad you enjoyed this threefold glimpse into David's years at drama school. I found the whole to-do with Macburgers fascinating, and its sad a huge corporation thought a local play written by students for kids was so threatening, it had to bring to bear its entire weight to stop it cold. As I've said below, I'm sure David heard about it - especially since Jenny was a classmate of his! I'd say I wonder what he thought about it, but given who he is? I think it's pretty much obvious he wouldn't have approved.
I'm sure he has too.... only because of a little edge in his voice when he has said McDonald's at comicons or other places. Nothing to really pick up on unless you know this back story, which thanks to you, we all now do.
Just come across this and I found it really interesting as not only did I appear in the Stirling District Youth Theatre production of Macburgers (as Glen) but at the time I was studying stage management at the RSAMD. I knew Jenny Fraser and Louise Delamere very well and knew David Tennant a little bit. Oddly when he joined drama college I sought him out as my father was a TV director at the time and had cast him in his first TV drama 'The Secret of Croftmore' a couple of years before he came to drama college. I remember my dad telling me he had to reassure David's father that he was a competent actor and that he had a future in acting should he decide to pursue it.
There was another production planned in between the Stirling Youth Theatre and RSAMD ones that I was also involved in. My recollection was that it was cancelled after McDonalds successfully applied for an injunction against it. That would have been at the same time the RSAMD did their production so I wonder how that one managed to go ahead.
Thank you ever so much for stopping by, Michael, and I hope you enjoyed reading about 'Macburgers'!
First, I'm stupidly excited about your behind-the-scenes stories regarding "The Secret Of Croftmore". While I've been able to suss out a fair amount of information about David's early theatre work in drama school and afterwards, the same hasn't been true about his early television and short film performances. Learning how your dad was instrumental in casting David has ignited both my curiosity and my question-meter (LOL!) and I'd be thrilled if you'd consider chatting with me further about this. If you would, please feel free to reach out to me in private messages here on Substack or at my email, atennantcytoact@gmail.com.
Second, about 'Macburgers': wow, more interesting tidbits of information you've shared! The website I referred to (https://www.mcspotlight.org/company/other_mclibels/scotch_fayre.html) holds a number of legal correspondences between Brown/Fraser and McD's legal team, but these make no mention of a canceled performance (they had a lot of trouble with the East Kilbride EK Eye and the Phantom Production performances, but those went on.)
Luckily, one of the play's co-authors, Steven R. Brown, has ALSO commented here about this play. I will ask him if he recalls another performance that was canceled!
Hi Steve Brown co-writer of MacBurger's here! Thanks so much for this comprehensive write up of my and Jenny's experiences. It still rankles that we had to give in. But the Early Day Motion and extensive press coverage were a delight.
Oh, wow! Hello, Steve - and I'm ever so glad to hear my research has passed your "I was one of those who wrote it and this sounds like an accurate representation of things" test. I'm also quite happy you happened to run across my neck of the woods!
I found the whole story ridiculously fascinating. Throughout the entire process of researching and writing the story of 'Macburgers', I was filled with righteous indignation for you and Jenny. But if I may ask, one thing I was never really able to nail down in the story was exactly how 'Macburgers' came to the attention of the RSAMD. My guess, of course, was that the RSAMD had a rather proprietary interest given Jenny was one of David's classmates, but I don't know that for sure. If you know how that all came about, would you be so kind as to enlighten me? And oh yes - did you and Jenny happen to go see David's production at the Chandler?
Oh, and feel free to reach out to me at atennantcytoact@gmail.com if you'd rather. And thank you again for your lovely comments!
Hi again sorry for the delay! Yes, Jenny and David were friends so that's how he knew about the play. He may well have suggested it as being appropriate. Strangely, neither Jenny or myself did see this production. We can't remember why!
Hmm. It's possible you both missed it because it wasn't a full-fledged production developed with RSAMD drama students in mind, but was instead part of the annual programme for the school's Junior RSAMD students. I can't imagine the Junior School programme got much press. :D
I, too, must apologize for my slow reply. I've been dealing with the administration of my father's estate and haven't had much time lately for my own pursuits. Thank you for getting back to me!
Steven - another commenter here (Michael Duncan) mentioned he played Glen in the Stirling District Youth Theatre production of 'Macburgers'. He said he was scheduled to be involved in another production of the play - one that fell somewhere between Stirling's May 1989 production and David's Junior School production on 23-24 March 1991 - but it ended up being canceled.
So I thought I'd ask if you might know anything about any planned-but-never-produced runs of 'Macburgers'?
Oh, and I might as well ask about another small anomaly I found in newspapers at the time. Original newspaper reports in Jan 1991 said EK Eye planned to perform the play on 26-27 March 1991. And though one small blurb in the 'East Kilbride News' does report a show on 27 March, nothing else is said anywhere else about the group's March dates - not even in the legal correspondence listed at https://www.mcspotlight.org/company/other_mclibels/scotch_fayre.html so I'm not sure they ever happened? Anyway, the group also performed the play on 4-6 April 1991.
Legal correspondence from you and Jenny at the time (at the same URL as above) only lists these dates:
Stirling District Youth Theatre (May '89, MacRobert Arts Centre);
RSAMD Junior School (March '91);
EK Eye (April '91, Village Theatre, East Kilbride);
Phantom Productions (May '91, Glasgow).
So I guess I'm wondering....did EK Eye do the March dates at all? And if not, do you know why?
Again, thank you!