She's Behind You @ Traverse Theatre

Johnny McKnight and John Tiffany (director of Black Watch and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, amongst others) join forces at Traverse One to bring McKnight’s personal history with Scottish Panto to stage, (or ‘Johnny let loose’ on the Fringe according to Tiffany.) In his time, McKnight has written over thirty pantos, starring in eighteen. She’s Behind You began as a lecture delivered at the University of Glasgow in 2024, and it's a fierce love letter and peer review of a culture that has not always been kind or politically correct. 

McKnight is a force of nature – funny, self-aware and refreshing; it is a privilege to watch someone so immensely talented do what they do best. Gusseted and sequined to the nines as Dorothy Blawna-Gale standing on her yellow brick road, McKnight’s comedic timing is flawless. She’s Behind You delves into the history of pantomime as a live art form – you see panto and it sees you. Pantomime is a vehicle of subversion and politics. It is raw and gritty, a working-class culture that examines the power of a voice, the pressure of performance and the value of laughter.

McKnight does not shy away from acknowledging the misogyny, racism and homophobia that has couched pantomime for decades and his own part peddling this. However, his handling of difficult subjects is raw, honest and self-aware as he recounts his own experiences with homophobia and his fight to normalise and introduce gay love on Christmas stages. 

Pushing on the baton of innovation, McKnight acknowledges he has grown old in a profession he sought to change, inviting the next generation to push forward. She’s Behind You answers any questions you may have on the way in. An unapologetically and proudly Scottish performance, McKnight delivers a perfectly balanced hour (and fifteen minutes) of comedy, ‘oh no it isn’ts’, musical numbers and gravitas. 

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She's Behind You, Traverse Theatre (Traverse One), until 24 Aug, various times, £17.50-25 (further concessions available)