Jack and Victor are nowhere to be seen. Yet here we have Still Game stars Mark Cox, Jane McCarry and Paul Riley launching their new touring theatre show, Still Gaun.
Is it a spin-off? Will Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill be involved?
“Well, it’s not a spin-off,” says Paul Riley, who played Winston in the hugely popular BBC Scotland series.
“This is very much our own thing.”
Cox, McCarry and Riley came up with the idea of a theatre show at Hogmanay.
“We decided we wanted to work together,” says Riley, “and so we threw together some thoughts. Before we knew where we were we had hours of material.
“All we had to do was work out a format in which to present it to an audience.”
But these hours of material won’t be played out on stage in the form of Still Game-like scripts, says Paul Riley. “What we’ll be doing is talking about our time on the show.
“We’ll be talking about our early careers and what it means to be an actor.
“And each of us will be talking about working up to the point when Still Game arrived in our lives.”
He adds: “It will be fun. There are lots of funny tales to be told.”
Mark Cox agrees. “The idea for the show will be to feature organised chaos.
“It may look casual but we’ll be working hard to have the gags written up, to make the stories seem natural, to get to the end point.
“But then again, every night will be different.”
There will be some ‘special guests’ making an appearance at each performance.
There is a real chance these special guests may indeed include the likes of the Gavin Mitchell, who plays Boaby the Barman, or Sanjeev Kohli, who plays Navid.
However, it’s almost certain writers and creators Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill won’t be turning up to join in the on-stage fun.
Paul Riley says the show hasn’t been sanctioned by the writers.
But nor does it matter.
“We’re not going on stage to perform extracts from Still Game,” he says.
“We’re going up there to talk about ourselves.
“This will feature us talking about our personal experiences, or whatever the Still Game experience has meant to us.”
Jane McCarry agrees: “We haven’t heard that the boys have any problem with us doing the show.
“And after all, all we’re doing is blethering.”
The signs are the tour will be a success.
Unpublicised performances took place at Greenock’s Beacon Theatre last month and the evening sold out, with three more performance dates added.
There has been a similar situation at with the autumn dates in St Andrews and Dundee.
Already the producers are talking about taking the show to Ireland, with theatre appearances in Belfast, Dublin and Derry.
And bookings are being made in the north of England.
Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill were unavailable for comment.
Paul Riley however says he can’t wait for the autumn tour to kick off.
“It will be a real reminder just how much love there is out there for Still Game and its characters.”
Will there be secrets of the show revealed?
“Oh, aye,” he says, smiling. “Maybe not huge secrets.
“But yes, there will be things people don’t know.
“And this Audience With-type format will allow for the audience to ask as what they like.
“That could be great fun in itself.”
l Still Gaun, touring throughout September and November, has 23 confirmed dates so far.
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