Fiddling on the roof – Scout drama cast ensure dry run
ACTORS playing scouts have taken inspiration from their characters by “doing their best” to fix the roof at Islington’s King’s Head Theatre.
The cast of Scouts in Bondage, a satire about a scout troop stranded in Afghanistan in the 1930s, have been busy trying to prevent water leaking into the Upper Street theatre.
Cast member Alastair Mavor said: “Actors are like boy scouts: they rise to any occasion. When we saw the rain coming through, we thought: ‘Hell, we’re playing boy scouts on stage. Why not behave like boy scouts and do our audiences and the theatre a good deed.’ So we did.”
The leaky roof has had a role in recent King’s Head shows. Earlier this year Stroud Green-based comic Sean Hughes performed stand-up gigs at the venue as water dripped into buckets placed on seats.
In television documentary The King’s Head: A Maverick in London screened recently acting legend Sir John Gielgud reminisced about performing beneath the theatre’s damp ceiling.
In its new waterproofed auditorium, Scouts in Bondage has had its run extended by a week, until January 17.
JOSH LOEB