Did He or Didn't He? David Tennant and 'MacWizard Fae Oz'
...a personal story of how I stumped David Tennant himself!
Of the many stories I have of my personal interactions with David Tennant, there are a few which stand out. The one I’m about to tell is #1 on that standout list. That’s because it involved an early play of his which I discovered by chance, but no amount of further research helped me place it within his catalogue of work. When I learned he was to make an appearance at Dallas Fan Days in October 2017, I was excited to get the chance to ask him about it in person, because I knew his prodigious memory might help me unlock its story. That I didn’t expect what happened next made it all the more enjoyable.
I’ve told various versions of this story throughout the years, but I’ve always resisted naming the play in question because I wanted to save that for when I could properly tell its story. It’s a lovely day, I’m in a sharing mood, and it feels like the right time.
But first: a little background.
During a 2016 trip I made to Scotland, a friend and I spent a lot of time doing research on David’s early years in the theatre there by pouring through various archives, libraries, newspaper holdings…pretty much everything we could get our paws on. During one of those visits, I came across something that made me stop in my tracks.
Wait…what was THIS?
You see, by this time I’d already hit the jackpot regarding David’s early theatre work. I’ve said before I know of at least a dozen or so still-unknown early plays he’s done, but I’ve never revealed how I know. Well, I know because I happened across one of David’s handwritten CVs, that’s how…and in it, he lists a majority (if not all) of the plays he’d done up until that point. MacWizard Fae Oz wasn’t listed. I thought he must’ve accidentally skipped over it, as the proof he’d done it was staring me in the face. The photo definitely looked like David. I knew there had to be a explanation. I just didn’t know what it was!
Using the article’s clues, I kept looking for more info about MacWizard Fae Oz for the rest of that trip, and also when I returned home. I admit I was a bit obsessed (it was a mystery, and me and mysteries are…well, let’s just say we tend to clash. I like finding things too much. )
I learned MacWizard Fae Oz (MacW from here on out) was a musical play slanted towards a youthful audience, and was written and directed for Clyde Unity Theatre by playwright John Binnie with original songs by Lorna Brooks. Billed as a Scottish musical fantasy, it told the story of the Wizard of Oz...if it had happened in Scotland, that is. Dorothy comes from Kilsyth, and she and her dog weren't whisked to the land of Oz by a tornado, but were sucked into a TV set! She bumps into the Dorothy from Kansas, and the two girls work together to find the elusive MacWizard so they can go home. During their journey they meet up with all the characters we know so well - the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man - as well as the Wicked Witch.
It sounded very much like something David would’ve done. By the time MacW rolled around, he’d already done children’s shows like Shinda the Magic Ape and fantasy-centric roles like Tankred Dorst’s Merlin. Besides - and let’s be honest here - he’d only been out of drama school for a year. Even if he’d wanted to, turning down jobs wasn’t something he had the luxury to do!
So by the time October 2017 and Dallas Fan Days came around I’d learned a teeny bit more about the play, but not enough to whet my appetite or to help me figure out David’s part in it.
I hoped he himself would be able to tell me.
I waited in the autograph line (luckily, it wasn’t a crowded one) and when it came my turn, I told him I was doing research about his early career in theatre in Scotland, and if it was all right with him I wanted to ask an esoteric question about a specific play.
I’d piqued his interest; he leaned forward a bit and readily agreed.
“Remember back in ‘92 when you were doing Scotland Matters with the 7:84?”
“Yep!”
“Did you do another play around the same time called MacWizard Fae Oz?”
He thought about it for a few seconds and said, “I don't think so,” with a shake of his head. Hoping to jog his memory, I told him it had been written by John Binnie - who he recognized immediately, saying, “Oh yes, I know John Binnie” - because Binnie had contributed one of the ten stories which made up Scotland Matters.
Then he asked, “Wait, is it like a Scottish version of The Wizard of Oz?”
I got excited at that, and said, “Yeah! Do you remember doing anything like that?”
I could tell he was giving it some thought. But after a bit of hemming and hawing (with me being acutely aware there were others behind me waiting in line) he finally slammed his fist on the table with a definitive, “No.”
It was then that I realized I should’ve had the newspaper article pulled up on my phone, but it was too late for that. So I blurted out, “Are you sure? Because I think you did. I even have a photo...I think it's you.”
He shook his head with a grin and said “Nawww, sure of it,” so I raised my hands, said “Okay, I'll take your word for it,” and backed off so others could take their turns. But it still bugged me of course because I....well....I knew it was him! I just knew it! So I stood beside the line and started frantically searching for the photo in question, cursing the bad cell service in the convention hall. I was sweating it for a while, as it took me just about the time it took all the people in line to go through before I finally found it.
When I looked up from my phone David was just wrapping up the signing and, along with his handler, had stepped from behind the autograph table to head to his next scheduled photo op session. Without thinking, I started towards him, phone held up, saying, “David, I can prove it to you. I have the photo!”
He cocked his head, stopped, and then bolted toward me with a grin. “Okay, show me.”
So I showed him the article. “Isn't that you?”
He took one look at it - and that was enough. I could see the curiosity practically roll off him. He plucked my phone from my hand, studied the photo, and expanded the screen to read the article. Then he looked over at me and his eyes were all confused and surprised. What he said next would’ve made me laugh if I wasn’t so wrapped up in the moment. “Well...fuck me! That's me, all right!” Then he paused. “But I don't know what I was doing there!” He kept looking at the article and I could hear him muttering to himself, saying things like, “I know the Clyde Unity. I know the Old Ath. And Tormusk. I know all these places.”
And then he remembered I was standing there, and he looked at me, a question in his eyes. “What was I doing there?”
I did laugh at that one. “I dunno…it's your picture!”
We both had a laugh then, but I could see how this question of mine had captured his attention. He kept looking at it, as if that might trigger a memory. We stood there a moment longer, and I said, “It's you, though, right?” just to make sure, and he nodded.
I feel sure he would’ve happily stood there with me to keep poking away at the mystery I’d sprung on him, but all of a sudden, David’s handler broke through our laser-like focus. He said, quite loudly, "David, we've got to go!" Both of us had forgotten him completely.
He handed me my phone back, and as he walked away, he kept glancing back at me. It was clear he didn’t want to go (oh God, pardon the pun!)
There’s a bit more story to tell after all of that, but it’s not really relevant to the mystery…and it’s the mystery I’m here to talk about. So…moving on!
—
At the Q&A panel later that afternoon, a con-goer asked David, “What are your favorite kinds of questions to answer, and/or what kinds of things do fans say to you in passing or in the autograph line that just really make your day?”
His answer?
It’s a question that takes you by surprise, I suppose…and that’s the answer to both of your questions. I wouldn’t even know what that is, really, because until it happens you don’t know what that is…if I knew what it was, it wouldn’t be surprising. So I suppose it would be that, really. Something you’ve never been asked before…something that makes you go, ‘Oh, I never thought about that!’
I sure do hope my question about MacW was one of those surprising questions!
—
You’re probably wondering about the aftermath of this - if I’ve had a chance to ask David about it again, or if I’ve learned anything new in the last seven years that may have helped me determine whether David was a part of MacW or not. It’s a no to the “asking David” part, as 2017 was the last time I’ve met him for long enough to ask such a detailed question (I’d have to have the time to re-jog his memory about the whole thing). But I’m happy to say I have learned new things about the play - enough to cause me to state the following with confidence:
He was right. He didn’t do it.
So now you’re probably wondering the same thing David did when he saw the photo with the picture of him in the cast. If he didn’t do it, what’s the explanation behind the photo of him, then?
While I’m certain he wasn’t in MacW, I’m lacking that same certainty about why he was in the photo. I have a working theory, though, one I’d put about an 75% certainty level on given all the new information I’ve learned since 2017. Am I positive this is how it went down? No. But I do think it’s likely.
It goes like this:
I moved overseas to Glasgow to get my postgrad in 2018. I fit in as much research time as I could between my studies, but I was also simultaneously trying to learn about all the other plays a young David had done, so to be honest? MacW became just one more notch in that rather large post.
But then I volunteered to help pack up the archives of the Citizens Theatre in preparation for their building’s renovation. Part of my job was to go through the piles of programmes and leaflets from past productions, keep a few of the best examples of each, and throw the unneeded copies into the bin for recycling. I was doing just that one morning when one of the leaflets popped out at me: MacWizard Fae Oz!
That random find was what brought MacW back to the forefront of my research. In the ensuing months I began to chase down all sorts of clues and saved everything I could find about the play - every single mention of it, anywhere I could find it.
Yet it was ironic it was the mention of Mayfest in the original article with David’s photo that broke it wide open. I’d been doing more research on other plays, too, and that additional research helped me make more connections with what might’ve seemed like unconnected events. I noticed the conspicuous mention of Scotland Matters right next to MacW in one of the Mayfest advertisements I ran across, and this started some faint alarm bells ringing in my head. Scotland Matters was also at Mayfest? At the same time as MacW?
Hmmmm…
I hunted down some holdings of Mayfest ephemera at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, and spent the day pouring through every little scrap of paper. And there it was!
The two productions had a lot in common. A big one was John Binnie. Binnie had written one of the ten short playlets of ten minutes each which made up the play Scotland Matters. Binnie’s contribution was a piece about gay courtship called ‘Away w’ the Fairies’, which you can read about below (and take note of the mention of MacW in this, too!) And guess who played Ben, one of the boys in ‘Away w’ the Fairies’? David did (and boy, I can’t wait to tell the Scotland Matters story!)
Binnie wrote and directed MacWizard Fae Oz, and - given two plays he worked on were at the same festival, in the same venue - it might be extrapolated that he would have showed some interest in both. Also, the photo was taken on or around May 8th, 1992. As both plays were scheduled to debut within four days of that date, both casts were in rehearsals at the time the photo was taken (and Binnie would’ve been present as MacW’s director). I think it’s possible they were sharing the same rehearsal space at the Old Athenaeum in Glasgow. The above article mentions that from May 12 to May 16, Scotland Matters went on at 7:30 pm at the Old Athenaeum Theatre. From May 18 to 23, it was MacW that went on - same place, same time.
Another thing I noticed upon studying the photo (other than none of the cast members were named) was the suit David was wearing. I’d had nothing to compare it to before…but my further research on other plays had given me plenty. I noticed the rest of the MacW cast were in costume, as if they were doing a dress rehearsal. But not David. He looks distinctly out of place.
But he doesn’t look as out of place if you take a look at the suit (and tie - especially the tie!!) he would’ve been wearing for his dress rehearsal in Scotland Matters:
I have to point out just how similar the ties look. While the suits look lighter/darker in the first two photos, the third photo shows a suit David used in Scotland Matters that more closely resembles the one he’s wearing in the MacW photo (and while that suit looks vaguely plaid, it’s not - lines cross the entire photo, as you can see them running across David’s face as well).
In conclusion, I think it’s highly likely that when the Glasgow Evening-Times reporter stepped into the Old Athenaeum to take a photo of the six-member cast of MacWizard Fae Oz, two of its cast members weren’t available for one reason or another. So since MacW and Scotland Matters were sharing rehearsal space anyway, it’s my working theory that David just popped on over as a fill-in for one of the absent cast members.
Am I certain this is what happened? Nope. But it fits the known facts, so I think it’s a possibility. And if that is indeed what he did, it’s a perfectly valid reason why he doesn’t remember it. After all, who among us would recall posing for one quick photo some thirty years ago?
If I ever get the chance to ask David about it again, I will.
But until then?
It’ll just have to remain my working theory.
Thank you! Wonderful story about your interaction with David in 2017 - I really hope you get the opportunity to tell him you worked it all out. Also, your theory about the photo makes a lot of sense! Just goes to show one cannot take the photo that accompanies an article at face value.
This story got me curious about John Binnie; when I googled him, I ran across this article in which he mentions performing MacW: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/steps-back-in-time-john-binnie-gives-sarah-hemming-a-guided-tour-of-the-locations-that-inspired-a-little-older-the-winner-of-the-1992-independent-theatre-award-for-best-new-play-1558712.html