404 Ink has sealed the deal on a ‘Victor and Barry’ reflective by Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson.
Scotland’s current Publisher of the Year, 404 Ink, have acquired world rights to Victor and Barry’s Kelvinside Compendium: A Meander Down Memory Close by actors Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson.
The full-colour, highly illustrated reflective will be published in July 2024 to mark 40 years since Cumming and Masson performed as Victor and Barry at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1984.
Their Kelvinside Compendium collects the actors’ reminiscences around characters Victor MacIlvaney and Barry McLeish with classic scripts, interviews, memorabilia and materials from back in the day, also featuring fond memories from celebrity fans and collaborators, including actor David Morrisey (The Walking Dead) and TV presenter Kirsty Wark, and a foreword from former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The fictional duo began as a college cabaret to entertain final year drama students at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 1982, making their way through venues before their debut at the Fringe. They became stalwarts of Scotland’s comedy scene and beyond via endless shows, stints on STV and the BBC through the latter half of the decade, and a tour in Australia, before parting ways in the mid ’90s.
Cumming and Masson later starred in BBC sitcom The High Life, with Masson subsequently appearing in shows including The Crown and Eastenders, now an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company; and Cumming going on to perform on Broadway, in TV’s The Good Wife and, recently, as the host of The Traitors US.
While this will be a great read for fans of Victor and Barry, and Cumming and Masson, the compendium is also a moving, inspirational insight into what it takes to cut your teeth in theatre that seasoned actors and budding students will enjoy alike. The compendium will celebrate a cornerstone of Scottish cultural history and be a key title for 404 Ink in 2024.
Laura Jones, 404 Ink said: “It goes without saying that it’s a privilege to be publishing an equally nostalgic and hilarious reflective on Alan and Forbes’ early career duo who offered a genteel, harmonious parodying of amateur dramatics and Glasgow’s aspirational gentrification in the ’80s before their careers took them to prolific new heights in writing and performance. Quite unlike anything 404 Ink has published before, this Kelvinside Compendium marks and experimental turning point for our list that we hope readers will enjoy as much as we have.”
Alan Cumming & Forbes Masson said: “Victor and Barry have had such a huge effect on both our lives. What we learned as writers and performers has influenced and stayed with us all through our careers, so looking back and celebrating the incredible experiences and the huge amount of laughs Victor and Barry gave us and our audiences has been a joy and we can’t wait to share it with everyone.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
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