Prime Cuts- The Best Of Flying Pig 1998 to 2001
2001 – Aberdeen Arts Centre
“Like watching a home game in which the whole team scores, even the keeper.”
—Press & Journal
‘Scotland the What?’, the next generation.”
—Press & Journal
Alan Franchi’s kind invitation to headline the first Aberdeen Arts Centre Comedy Festival with a “Best Of” show took us by surprise. We’d known we were going to have to replace Laura Sinclair, who was off to drama school, but we didn’t realise we’d have to do it within a couple of months, for our biggest show to date. So we were very pleased to welcome Elaine Clark to the team, just in time for the move from our compact and bijou home at the Lemon Tree to a venue more than twice the size. Ever positive and forwards-looking, we hypothesised (and fretted) that :
A larger venue + material the punters have heard before =
Loss of intimacy + audience ennui =
Nae b*gger laughing.
We needn’t have worried; the laugh which greeted Archie and Davie’s reminiscences of Gothenburg 1983 nearly blew John and Pikey’s flat caps off, and Oli’s impassioned impression of Chewbacca singing the works of Barbara Dickson almost hospitalised one loyal fan, which is always nice.
We also recorded our first CD, now sadly sold out. Sadly for anyone who wants one. Happily, though, for Andrew’s folks who finally regained full use of their loft in 2008.
Cast
John Hardie
Oli Knox
Craig Pike
Steve Rance
Elaine Clark
Susan Webster
Written by
Greg Gordon
Andrew Brebner
Directed by
John Hardie
Musical Arrangements
Steve Rance
Craig Pike
Sponsors
Town & County
The Press and Journal
Gardner Accountants
What the Papers Said
Aberdeen Press & Journal 20/10/01
The Aberdeen Arts Centre was packed last night for Flying Pig – Prime Cuts and rightly so. Born from Students’ Charities Shows, Flying Pig is in one sense Scotland The What?, The Next Generation, with John Hardie, Craig Pike Oliver Knox and Susan Webster magnificently taking the lead roles. In other words, if you’re from the North-east an evening with Flying Pig is like watching a home game in which the whole team scores, even the keeper. Exploiting local scenes and characters and giving them a distinctly surreal twist is Flying Pig’s secret. The sharpness of the writing and the power of the performances, however, raises it far above its Student Show origins. The laughter rocked the Arts Centre last night as one hilarious sketch followed another. Basically a greatest hits collection, this all too rare appearance of the Flying Pigs is not to be missed. They fly again at the Arts Centre tonight and cannot be recommended enough.