Gray and Stott go “FOH” at King’s
Panto pair in cameo roles for new mockumentary
Andy Gray and Grant Stott will be two of the celebrity cameos in three new episodes of spoof documentary FOH, scheduled to be shot at the Edinburgh King’s before its refurb in 2021.
For their cameo performances, the King’s kings of panto, Messrs Gray and Stott, will be swapping the accolades of the stage to go Front of House and take on a couple of the roles of patrons of the King’s.
The cast of the FOH pilot episode.
Edinburgh writer and director Andrew Dyer insists that the mockumenary, which charts the ups and downs of life working front of house in a theatre, is not set in the King’s. However, the backdrop will be very familiar to regulars at the grand old lady of Leven Street.
The show is inspired by Dyer’s time working front of house in London and at the King’s and Festival Theatres in Edinburgh. He made the pilot for FOH two years ago and says that it quickly gained over 50,000 views online and developed a strong fan base.
Now he has started a Crowdfunder campaign to raise £8,000 and make three brand new episodes featuring a star studded cast, including Edinburgh panto lynchpins Andy Gray and Grant Stott, together with Tom Read Wilson and Harriet Thorpe.
people watching
Dyer said: “Working front of house is a great place for people watching as the audiences are completely different from one show to the next and there is always a brilliant mix of staff working.
“Over the years I started to take note of funny situations that would happen and characters that stood out and it seemed only natural that a fly on the wall comedy was the best way to share some of them!”
While the panto favourites will be stepping off stage, that doesn’t mean that Grant Stott will have to give up the boos he earns as the King’s baddy every year. He will just be earning them from a different place.
Grant Stott and Andy Gray in 2015 EdFringe hit Willie and Sebastian. Pic: Steve Ullathorne
“They will be in separate episodes,” Dyer told Æ. “Andy will be playing one of the regular Stage door autograph collectors and Grant will be a rowdy customer in the panto episode.
“So expect boos from the audience as he gets chucked out for bad behaviour!
“Both are cameo roles. They have both been very supportive of this project since the first episode and immediately agreed to be in it this time round, which I’m delighted about.”
Edinburgh-born Dyer studied acting at Queen Margaret University before training at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
professional cast and crew
He turned his hand to writing and directing comedy in 2014 where he developed his first Edinburgh Fringe show with comedy partner Michelle Whitney who he met while studying in London. Whitney also features in ‘FOH’ as Linda the Front of House Manager.
“We made our pilot on basically zero budget and pulled in a lot of favours to do so,” says Dyer. “As proud as we are of our pilot we are not able to produce more episodes in the same circumstances.
“We want to pay for our professional cast and crew as well as cover the various production expenses so any donations made would be greatly appreciated but even just a ‘like’ and ‘share’ to spread the word will go a long way!
“If you’re a theatre fan I hope you will enjoy FOH but I also hope that anyone who has ever worked a customer service job can relate to the people in the show or recognise similar situations they’ve experienced.”
Further details of the FOH Crowdfunder: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/foh-the-mockumentary.
FOH on Facebook: @fohthemockumentary
Twitter:@FOHmockumentary
The original episode of FOH is on the facebook page or on YouTube.
ENDS
