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She's Behind You

 
Alec Martin Review by Alec Martin 4 Published: 7 Aug 2025 Traverse Theatre Show Dates: 1 Aug 2025-24 Aug 2025

Like many Scottish working-class kids, my first brush with theatre was the yearly panto. We’d be packed into a bus from the Borders, courtesy of the factory my dad worked at, and shipped up to the King’s Theatre for their annual slice of festive mayhem. Looking back, it almost certainly sowed the seeds of my love of drama. She’s Behind You, Johnny McKnight’s solo turn at the Traverse, reconnects with that wide-eyed wonder – yet refuses to leave its politics at the stage door.

A fierce reminder that tradition only endures when it evolves

Conceived for the Cameron Lectures in association with the University of Glasgow and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, it glides through seventy-five brisk minutes of autobiography, song and sly scholarship, mapping a life spent inside Scotland’s most raucous art form and highlighting the knots he’s determined to untie: cheap homophobic gags, lazy racial caricatures, tired body jokes.

John Tiffany's direction keeps the onstage action agile – simple props, sharp lighting cues, a tempo that privileges momentum over pageant. The delight lies in McKnight’s gear shifts: one beat he’s mining pop culture for belly laughs, the next he’s pinpointing exactly where a punchline should land so it “punches up”. His physical clowning and dance feel unforced, the patter honed but loose enough for unexpected sparks.

If the piece betrays its lecture-hall origins in places – an occasional explanatory cul-de-sac slows the sprint – it never stays scholarly for long. McKnight’s instinct for carnival wins out, leaving the audience buzzing with both nostalgia and a sharpened social compass. By the curtain call, he’s proved that panto’s broad canvas can still carry sophisticated arguments without losing its anarchic heart.

With material that feels both familiar and fresh, She’s Behind You is a fierce reminder that tradition only endures when it evolves – and that nothing cuts through theory like a well-timed quip about getting lucky with an audience member.

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The Blurb:

What happens when Scotland's premier dame, Johnny McKnight, collaborates with award-winning director John Tiffany? It results in a riotous, heartfelt journey into the wild world of pantomime. She's Behind You unearths the magic and madness behind the curtain with a story as touching as it is hilarious. It's a celebration of shifting traditions, transformation and the unexpected joy found in the anarchy of pantomime.