Story of the show
Sweet Home Balmaha. Eh?
The scriptwriting process for this show has been different to any other that I’ve worked on. Matthew McVarish and I came up with the original idea, and when Donald Cameron came on board, he suggested we take it out of Glasgow and set it somewhere beautiful. (He has his eye on a telly version!)
Anyway, Matt and I absolutely adore Balmaha, at Loch Lomond. One night, about a year and a half ago, I was on my way to Jumpin Jaks in Dumfries to do a gig, when my car broke down. It took five hours fro the AA to get to me, and as the battery in the car had died, I had no heating or light. I was stuck in a spooky churchyard in the middle of nowhere. As the time wore on, I started convulsing with the cold, shaking uncontrollably. I was almost hallucinating, then suddenly, into my head, jumped three words. “Sweet Home Balmaha.”
So there it was born. It’s always been a fantasy alternate life of mine to be a beer swilling trailer trash rocker (those who know me know that I’m a teetotaler who loves nothing more on a Saturday night than snuggling up with a good book!)
First, came the song - “Sweet Home Balmaha.” Me and Matt sat in my cottage in Barrmill with two guitars, and the words and music just seemed to come so fast. We recorded it the following week in my kitchen, and that’s the recording you can hear on the MySpace page. www.myspace.com/sweethomebalmaha It’s such a basic recording that if you listen carefully, I’m sure you can hear one of the cats having a crap in its litter tray.
Matty and I wanted to write with Donald Cameron, one of our best mates and a hugely successful comedy writer. I had worked with him on the Karen Dunbar Show, and he is the funniest person in the universe.
We started, not knowing what we were writing for, until January this year when I was working at Oran Mor, appearing in a show as part of the A Play, A Pie, and A Pint season. I love that little theatre, there’s some amazing work goes on there, and the big names aren’t afraid to appear there for minimum wage. I’ve done a couple, so has Matt, and Karen Dunbar did a couple last year. Even Robbie Coltrane has done one. Dave MacLennan, who runs the whole thing, approached me after a show asking if I could think of something “that would get people singing along.” He always fancied doing something a bit Rock and Roll with the slot. At the same time, he approached Maggie Kinloch, an amazing director and the boss of RSAMD, asking if she had any ideas for doing a show. Maggie had heard the song “Sweet Home Balmaha” and had worked with Matt and I before, and she suggested us.
So there we have it, that’s the conception. The script is now finished, after months of Donny, Matt and I firing one liners at each other around a laptop in Donny’s kitchen. The songs are finished, and we’re raring to go.
There was only one piece of the jigsaw missing. Heather, the barmaid.
Before we’d even cast her, we gave her some of the best lines. We knew we wanted someone who could do comedy. Then I remembered an old pal of mine - Kathleen MacDermott. Now Kathleen is classy - she was a Best Actress Bafta for her role in the movie Morvern Caller, has been in tonnes of other stuff, including Irving Welsh’s Wedding Belles. She’s also a cracking singer, and, as a model, she is the face of Ortak Jewellery.
I phoned her, not thinking for a second she’d say yes. She didn’t say no - she asked to see a script. I met her and gave her the first ten pages. Half an hour later she phoned and said yes, that she hadn’t laughed so hard at anything for ages.
So, we’re blessed with a great script, a smashing cast, an amazing director, and the support of Dave and everyone at Oran Mor. I’m nervous about this one cos I’m so involved personally - but, if nothing else, we will have a wonderful time.
Also, without trying, Matt and I have been approached by a scarily huge worldwide song publishing company who want to publish our songs.
Tom Urie