Meet Mrs. McShoogle, ‘iconic’ actress turned landlady to the stars. Canny and courageous, tender and just a tad outrageous, this extraordinary luminary recalls her “intimate friendships” with the giants of theatre, television and film, including “more Dames than you can shake a stick at… and Olly Murs”. From first-night feuds to royal revelations and her infamous outburst at the Scottish Drama Awards, The Tartan Tammies, this is the frankly unbelievable tale of a small-town lassie with big dreams, who became a legend in her own living room.
A Scottish satire starring Carolyn Pickles. Film: The Spy Who Dumped Me (Marsha), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Charity Burbage), The Mirror Crack’d (Miss Giles) and Tess (Marion). Television: The Sister Boniface Mysteries (Reverend Mother Adrian), The Canterville Ghost (Mrs. Umney), Broadchurch (Maggie Radcliffe), Landgirls (Mrs. Gulliver), Evil under the Sun (Emily Brewster), May To December (Seven Series) (Simone), The Bill (CDI Kim Reid) and Bluebell (Bluebell). Theatre: Fram (Eglantine Jebb) (National Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Lady Catherine de Burgh) (No. 1 Tour), The Cherry Orchard (Carlotta) (Sheffield Crucible), and Emilia (Lord Henry Carey) (Globe and Vaudeville Theatre).
Directed by Colin Wakefield. Theatre: On Your Honour, Audience with Murder (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Madness - Kenneth Branagh (Upstream Theatre), The Diary of a Madman - Terence Beesley (Latchmere Theatre), Stuk, The Lesson (Corner Theatre).
Written by Jonathan Fortingall. © Jonathan Fortingall, 2022, 2024. First performed at the Jermyn Street Theatre, London, June 2022. Author profits donated to Animals Asia.
“I’m not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh.
Mrs. McShoogle’s stories bear no resemblance whatsoever to real life; they are one hundred per cent fiction and fabrication.