Random Accomplice are Scottish Theatre’s top-notch touring patter merchants. Formed by Julie Brown and Johnny McKnight in 2002 we aim to entertain and make, you, the audience sit up and pay attention by telling you stories that make you gasp, giggle and greet.
Julie and Johnny have been described in the national press as ‘brilliant’, ‘gifted’ and ‘fiercely accessible.’
‘One of Scotland’s most versatile and energetic companies’
The Skinny, 2011
‘…the quirky sense of fun and bawdy humour (that) characterises the work of McKnight and Brown’s company Random Accomplice’
The List, 2011
Board of Directors
Julie Brown
Jane Davidson
Marianne Maxwell
Gerard McBride
Johnny McKnight
David Mallon
Ruth Ogston
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
Written and directed by Johnny McKnight
| SAM MCTANNAN | James Young |
| UNCLE HERBIE/WALRUS/CHIP THE GRIP | James Mackenzie |
| VIOLET/SHEILA THE FEELER/MRS TIMMINS | Julie Brown |
| Set & Costume Designer | Lisa Sangster |
| Composer & Sound Designer | Alan Penman |
| Lighting Design by | Dave Shea |
| Animation by | Jamie MacDonald |
| Video Design by | Kim Beveridge |
| Producer | Julie Brown |
| Production Manager | Dave Shea |
| Assistant Producer | Gilly Roche* |
| Company Stage Manager | Kay Hesford |
| Stage Manager | David Sneddon |
| Technical Stage Manager | Fiona Burness |
| Crew | Ben Vale |
| Set Constructed by | The Citizens Theatre |
| Press and Marketing Manager | Jane Hamilton |
| Graphic Design | Niall Walker |
| Video Trailer and Additional Graphics | Jamie Macdonald |
*Assistant Producer supported by the Federation of Scottish Theatre with funding from Creative Scotland and the Fenton Arts Trust.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
As a kid I used to always wish I had a superpower – that I could fly, like Superman. Or freeze time, like Evie in the TV show Out Of This World. I’d have even settled for Wonder Woman’s Bulletproof bangles to be honest. And then I realized I was just…ordinary. Which was shit.
Who wants to be average. Just another smalltown sexually awkward teenager drowning in a sea of hormones (called school) where everyone else seemed to be so much more in control and at ease with themselves.
Those powers might have helped.
Being a teenager wasn’t great. Acne. High-pitched voice. Exams. It wasn’t an easy time. Being super would have helped. A lot.
I guess this is where The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam has grown from. It would be overly simplistic to say it’s part autobiographical. It’s not. I was never Sam. I never had a Violet. Or a Herbie for that matter. But I know who those people were at school, and the show owes a lot to them. They’ll know who they are. I hope.
The world of See Thru Sam is part naturalistic, part comic book, part melodramatic. His problems are huge, his processing is different, and it should feel like a celebration of this. Sam is different from everyone else and from my perspective that is always good.
This show is for every kid who feels like they should have been a superhero. In some ways you are.
Johnny McKnight, Writer and Director
THE COMPANY
KIM BEVERIDGE – Video Designer
Since graduating from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2005, with a BA honours degree in ‘Time Based Art’ Kim has been working as a Digital Artist, Video Designer for live performance and Sound Artist. She is an associate artist with Tricky Hat Theatre Company and work to date includes Roadkill a multi-award-winning theatre production for Pachamama Productions. Wall of Death, a multimedia performance in collaboration with National Theatre of Scotland and Whatever Gets You Through The Night, created by Cora Bissett with Swimmer One and David Greig for The Arches as part of a Vital Spark commission.
JULIE BROWN – Violet/Sheila the Feeler, Producer
Julie trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (previously RSAMD). Julie is co-Artistic Director and Producer of Random Accomplice.
As a performer, director and producer her work has lead her across Scotland and further afield to Czech Republic, Holland, Italy and most recently to New York. She has worked for a range of Companies including National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Opera and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as well as choreographing and directing for various Youth Companies.
Most recent credits for Random Accomplice include Double Nugget (Director & Performer); The Promise (Producer); Smalltown (Performer); Little Johnny’s Big Gay Wedding (Director & Performer); Little Johnny’s Big Gay Musical (Director & Choreographer).
Julie will next be directing Cinderella for macrobert followed by a Kurt Weil double bill for the Scottish Opera Connect Company.
FIONA BURNESS – Technical Stage Manager
Fiona has been a technician for 14 years. Working mainly venue based, she started her career in the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen where she was a sound engineer and theatre technician for 8 years. Having then worked in the new Grove Theatre, Dunstable and Aberdeen’s Music Hall, Fiona has spent the last 2½ years as a freelance technician and stage manager based in Glasgow working with artists Donna Rutherford and Nic Green and