In Tronversation with Elaine C Smith

Join us for an exclusive and entertaining evening with Glasgow’s own performer and panto star Elaine C. Smith, in conversation with Johnny McKnight.

Elaine C. Smith is one of Scotland’s leading performers.  Starting out here in Glasgow, having trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), she has carved out a unique and varied career on stage and screen, becoming one of the UK’s most popular pantomime stars.  Hear how her career started out, how the Tron Theatre played a part in that journey, her favourite moments over the years and her predictions for the future of the performing arts. 

This one-off event is hosted by the Tron’s own pantomime legend, Johnny McKnight.  Expect stories, anecdotes, plenty of laughs, with maybe even a few secrets revealed along the way. 

There will be an opportunity to submit questions for Elaine in advance. Box Office will email a submission form along with your pre-show booking information.

‘Elaine C Smith is a national treasure.’ The Herald 

‘Elaine C Smith is a national institution…but then so is Barlinnie and dodgy banks.’ Ian Pattison (Creator of Rab C Nesbit)

Elaine C. Smith Biography

Elaine C Smith is one of Scotland’s most popular performers. For over 40 years she has worked extensively in radio, television, film and theatre starring in numerous iconic television comedy series such as City Lights (BBC Scotland), Naked Video (BBC 2) and her own television series Elaine (BBC Scotland). However, she was perhaps best known to many for her enduring portrayal of Mary Nesbitt in ten series of the BBC2 hit sitcom Rab C Nesbitt; now eclipsed by her hilarious character Christine in the hugely successful BBC comedy Two Doors Down for which she won a Bafta in 2019…and was nominated again for Best Actress in 2024. The series continues to pull in vast audiences on iplayer.

Elaine also completed three series of the hugely popular Burdz Eye View for STV winning a Royal Television Society Award for On Screen Personality but is most proud of her Best Fairy in the UK Pantomime Awards as well as Best Panto in the UK. For over twenty five years, Elaine is the only woman to have consistently headlined in Scotland’s number one pantomimes and feels very privileged to be able to keep performing in this wonderful art form which reaches huge audiences.

Elaine has toured the UK in a large number of hit stage productions, including Annie, Calendar Girls and the Susan Boyle musical I Dreamed a Dream, which she co-wrote with Alan McHugh. She performed in the UK tour of Kay Mellor’s musical Fat Friends, and was the first woman in the world to play the lead in Brecht’s ‘Puntilla’ at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.

Over the past few years (pandemic excluded), Elaine received great reactions for her performance in Ida Tamson, a play by Denise Mina at Òran Mór; undertook a tour of Jackie Kay’s Red Dust Road with the National Theatre of Scotland, including to the Edinburgh International Festival; reprised her role as Miss Hannigan in the hit musical Annie in 2023 and became one of the first women to play The Childcatcher in the UK tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 2024.

Before a long run in panto at the King’s Theatre Glasgow in 2024/5 (71 performances), Elaine finished filming the Sister Boniface mysteries series for the BBC, and recently filmed A Celebration of Burns for BBC Scotland, gathering many plaudits both for her singing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and her rendition of Tam O’ Shanter.   

Elaine has enjoyed great success with younger audiences with her adaptation of The Gruffalo entitled The Glasgow Gruffalo as well as The Glasgow Grufffalo’s Wean. She has also written the Scots version of The Princess and the Pea, in a fairy tale compilation with Val McDermid and James Robertson. Her one woman show 65 sold out in four hours at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival last year so she decided to take the show for free out to community centres around Glasgow, with all proceeds from this sold-out community tour going to local food banks.  Throughout her long career, she has remained a passionate charity campaigner as well as an outspoken political activist particularly on the Scottish constitution, anti-poverty campaigns and women’s issues.

Elaine has received Honorary Doctorates for her contribution to the arts from The University of Dundee, The University of Glasgow and the Open University as well as an Honorary Fellowship from New College Lanarkshire.  Elaine has also donated two prizes for young women performers to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and New College Lanarkshire.  Her popular autobiography Nothing Like A Dame was published in 2010. Elaine was named as a recipient of the Freedom of the City Award by Glasgow City Council in 2024, leaving her feeling both overwhelmed and delighted to even be considered for this amazing honour.

Johnny McKnight Biography

Johnny McKnight is an award-winning writer, director, educator, dramaturg and performer. His theatre work includes the recent tour of 101 Dalmatians (Runaway Entertainment) and No Love Songs (Dundee Rep) which played Goodspeed Terris Theatre, Connecticut. He has been described as the ‘vanguard of post-modernist panto’, with 31 productions and the 2023 Tron Theatre panto Aganeza Scrooge winning Best Panto (under 500 seats) and Aladdin (Macrobert) winning Achievement In Inclusive Practice at the UK Panto Awards 2024. His recent directing credits include: Radiant Vermin (Tron Theatre); Thrown (National Theatre of Scotland/Edinburgh International Festival); Aladdin (Macrobert) and The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (Tron Theatre). Johnny also writes for screen, his 20th Anniversary Special of River City won the 2024 Royal Television Award (Scotland) for Best Drama.