#davidtennantresearch

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A Tennantcy To Act comes to Substack!

OK fellow DT fans...here is a link to my Substack, where I will be posting all my writing on David Tennant's work - his early theatre, audio work, TV/film, shorts, obscure performances, trivia, etc.

There's also a podcast link for my one mini-sode on an early audio he did while still in drama school (Golaschin! - A Guiser's Play For Hogmanay)....and for any more podcast episodes to come. Subscribing is free (but you don't have to subscribe to read)! https://atennantcytoact.substack.com One more note - I'll still be posting my writing here, too. It's just easier for me to have a place to compile all of my threads in one location, rather than scattered out over long periods of time in separate posts which I have to search for to find.

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A new DT thing for me to pursue...i.e., I Love it When My Brain Does a Weird!

So back in 2021, a book called Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Raising the Curtain was published by Luath Press Ltd. It was researched and written by my friend Stuart Harris-Logan, the Keeper of the Archives at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland/RCS (previously the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama/RSAMD). I was honored to work alongside Stuart in the RCS archives for a time in 2019 during my tenure as a student archivist at the University of Glasgow.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly if you're interested in the history of the RCS. It's a great read! It contains spotlights on many former RCS students who've gone on to become successful in their fields (including Sam Heughan, Ncuti Gatwa, Richard Madden, James McAvoy, etc.) and - of course! - has a small spotlight on David Tennant as well. It's only a few pages long, but it contains quotes from a sit-down interview David did called 'Conversations at the RCS with Andy Dougan' on 4 July 2016, when David was there to receive his honorary Doctorate. This interview was recorded and is housed at the RCS Archives. It was intended for RCS acting students and therefore spent a lot of time focusing on David's years at the school (a particular thrill of mine!) so of course I've seen it; alongside David's brilliant and engrossing 2016 SAG-AFTRA interview - which I was in the audience for! - this RCS interview remains one of my favorite interviews with David.

Raising The Curtain also contains this fabulous matriculation photo of a very young David (around age 11), taken in 1982 upon his entrance into the RCS (then RSAMD) Junior School. He's said before he hated his glasses when he was a kid, and by the looks of his expression in his picture, it definitely seems like he didn't want his picture taken! (For those of you who don't know what the Junior School did, I've included this little explanation from the 9 March 1988 edition of the Glasgow Herald.)

During the course of the RCS interview I mentioned previously, David speaks about how important getting involved with the Junior School program was to him. Quoting the interview from Raising The Curtain, David says the following:

"I came from a background where nobody really knew how you go about becoming an actor. I mean, we were aware that there was the Athenaeum as it was then, so we sniffed around and found out there was a Saturday morning class called the Junior School which you could come to and do classes. I later found out that it was run by the students and it was part of the BA Acting course. At the time, I just thought I was going to a Saturday morning drama club, and I did that every year until I left school and came here as a full time student."

Upon reading this, my brain did a Weird (a phenomena I affectionately call my "DT Spidey Sense") and it began to prickle. Given my extensive research into David's early career - which heavily focuses on his time at drama school - I know during his years as a BA Acting student, it was part of his last year's coursework requirement to help teach and direct Junior School participants in at least one production (so yes, if you've ever wondered if DT directed anything, well -- you heard it here first!)

Now here's what I noticed. In 1984 and 1985, there was a 3rd Yr. BA Acting student who was attending the RSAMD/RCS. He would've been required to teach Junior School students as part of his coursework, and direct the Junior School students in a few plays. That student was Alan Cumming. 

As previously noted, David began Junior School in 1982 and continued until he enrolled as a full-time student in 1988, so David would've been in the program at the time. So...is it possible to confirm Alan taught a very young David Tennant? I'm in the process of pursuing an answer!

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David Tennant Audios: Classic FM One Hundred Favorite Humorous Poems (1998)

You know David as a multi-faceted performer: theatre, film, television...and audio. And it's audio we'll talk about today. In the summer of 1998, David was quite busy. He was on the back end of his run of double-billed plays, The Real Inspector Hound and Black Comedy (click this link to read my in-depth look at the two plays!) at the Comedy (now the Harold Pinter) Theatre in London. The two plays ran through 8 August 1998.

But he certainly had time to contribute a set of fourteen poem readings to the audio book Classic FM One Hundred Favourite Humorous Poems. So, are you wondering what the rest of the story is behind this obscure set of readings? Want to know what happened after they were published, and - most importantly - if you can listen to them? For the answers to all these questions, pop on over to this post on my Substack, which is called A Tennantcy To Act. Over there you'll find a ton of all things Tennant: rare, obscure, trivia-based....you name it!

Subscribing is free, but if you don't want to, you don't have to (just click on the "Nope, take me to the posts" below the subscribe button!)

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Update: Did Alan Cumming teach David Tennant?

I wanted to give a short update on a post I did a few months back about whether or not Alan Cumming might have directed a junior school drama performance David Tennant may have done when David was attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama's Junior School in 1984-1985. For in-depth context you can see my original post here, but if you can't be arsed and just want a quick and dirty synopsis, here goes:

I bought a copy of a history of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland called Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Raising the Curtain written by my friend Stuart Harris-Logan, the Keeper of the Archives at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland/RCS (previously the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama/RSAMD). While reading it, I noticed something interesting: Alan Cumming had been a drama student there in 1984-1985, and part of the requirement of his course was that he help teach and direct Junior School participants in at least one production. And well, David was a student of the Junior School at the time. So my brain connected both events...was it possible Alan had taught DT?

So I reached out to my friend Stuart and he took a look to see if he could find any evidence this had happened. He wrote, "Now, there’s no evidence of Alan Cumming directing any juniors performances, but I think there’s a very good chance that he probably did teach DT as part of a larger juniors class.  So, happy to confirm it’s not just possible, but it’s probable, even though he wasn’t actually directed by him."

So you heard it here, folks. We can't be certain....but it's a damn good bet!