HER character may have been killed off towards the end of Scottish soap opera River City but actor Claire Dargo is very much alive and will be appearing in a new show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe this month.
However, the axing of the long-running BBC soap is still a sore point for Dargo and Scott Fletcher, who will be joining her in the world premiere of Overtone by award-winning writer Tom Brennan.
River City fans are still waiting to find out what will happen to Fletcher’s character, Angus, who is in the last episode of the show which will finish at the end of this month.
“All I will say is that hopefully the audience will get the happy ending that they’ve been waiting for because Angus has not had much luck in life the last few years,” said Fletcher.
Dargo finished her five-year stint in River City earlier this year after her character, Karen Connolly, died as a result of being pushed down the stairs.
Fletcher was in the show for 12 years and said he took the news of its axing “pretty badly”.
“I’ve got two kids now and I just felt a massive weight of responsibility to keep my work stable, so it took me a long time to come to terms with it,” he said. “We did get a year’s notice but I had a pretty rough year.
“I still wholeheartedly disagree with the decision but I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to be there for 12 years and also incredibly proud of what we put out every week.
“What you don’t see is that there’s this amazingly talented camera crew, sound crew and directors who came up through the ranks on that show and that’s going to be a huge loss to our industry.”
Dargo said she was worried that in the future, the BBC would bring crews from south of the Border to shoot productions in Scotland, even though the corporation has said that the money saved from axing the soap will be put back into Scottish productions. She said that even if Scotland-based workers were used, it was not yet known how much work would be created.
Dargo added that selling off the site and all the props seemed like a huge waste.
“There was so much there that could have been moved on to different projects,” Fletcher agreed.
He had worried that having been on the soap for 12 years, he might struggle for work once it ended but so far has been in demand, as has Dargo, and both are looking forward to a return to the Fringe.
Even though they were on River City for so long, their characters were never on screen at the same time, making this the first time they have acted together.
Fortunately, they didn’t discover they hated each other.
“It’s been a joy,” said Dargo. “It’s scary going back to theatre after so much time on telly but Scott’s been there to hold my hand throughout and it’s been lovely.
“In River City, we would see each other in passing in the green room or in the corridors or at lunch and we’d have a chat, but you never got to work with half the people that you were actually in a show with, which is quite crazy.”
Added Fletcher: “It’s been really nice and a lot of fun to actually work together and get to know each other a bit better.”
Although they may be better known for their River City roles, the pair are no strangers to the stage.
Dargo’s theatre credits include Thread and Crush, earning two Stage Awards nominations, while her screen work includes Shetland, Doctors and Catastrophe.
Fletcher has appeared in The Little Vampire, Gary: Tank Commander, Only an Excuse?, Monarch of the Glen, Taggart and numerous productions for the National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Citizens Theatre.
He returns to the Fringe having appeared in the original Edinburgh Fringe production of Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair’s acclaimed Square Go.
In the new production, two teenagers meet after choir practice and begin what becomes the most important relationship of their lives.
Years later, an unexpected encounter with their former choir director forces them to confront the lasting psychological impact he has had on both their lives and their relationship.
As past and present collide, the play explores power dynamics, memory and the ways formative experiences continue to shape adulthood. The show examines what a healthy relationship really looks like, asking whether it is ever possible to fully escape the influence of the past.
The production is directed by John Hoggarth, whose previous work includes Fringe First-winning Brown Boys Swim. Overtone can be seen at the Pleasance Dome until August 30 (not 12, 19 and 26).
