Iain Johnstone is best known in the North-East for creating some of the best-loved pantos ever seen.

Now he's back with a tale of King Arthur that is more Morecambe and Wise than Morgan le Fey and Wisdom. He talks to Viv Hardwick.

FOR six years, Iain Johnstone helped to create some of the North-East's best traditional pantomimes before Newcastle's Northern Stage took the bold but disappointing decision to change direction.

Musical director Johnstone, designer-director Neil Murray and writer Stuart Patterson put together projects like Beauty And The Beast and The Snow Queen which had audiences flocking to the Newcastle University-based Playhouse.

Ultimately, Northern Stage's reputation for creative drama meant the format had to change, but Johnstone's music made a lasting impression and he talks fondly of capturing the imagination of a generation of children.

What comes as a surprise - apart from the fact no other North-East theatre took up the talented trio when Northern Stage looked elsewhere - is that Johnstone likes to tread the boards himself.

And to emphasise the point, the 44-year-old's returning to Tyneside next week as part of an acting trio who are bringing Arthur, The Story Of A King to life at Newcastle's Theatre Royal, where tickets are already 90 per cent sold.

The Edinburgh composer, actor and director explains: "I did about 14 shows in all for Northern Stage and I appeared in four or five as well, but the Christmas shows were such a big job it was impossible to appear on stage.

"I always thought in terms of the music I was creating as me becoming the extra actor because there was such a strong collaboration between the actors and the music."

On the decision to axe his panto services, he chooses his words carefully and says: "How political can I get about this? The six years of shows I created were the best, but I would say that, wouldn't I? In a sense, when I left it all started going downhill. But I had a fantastic time and it offered me the opportunity to create music for projects like Twelfth Night."

One or two of the Christmas shows that Johnstone worked on were repeated by Northern Stage, but he's delighted that a lot of people who remember his work have booked to see Arthur, which he has co-created for Scotland's Wee Stories' company.

Initially, Arthur doesn't appear to be an obvious choice for the Scots. The mythical English king traditionally linked to Cornwall and West country places like Glastonbury has an obvious affinity with Scotland for two reasons, according to Johnstone.

"I think the Welsh might have a lot of say about Arthur being English, but he, more importantly, was a Celtic king fighting against the invaders. One of the latest claims being made to being the site of Arthur's castle of Camelot has come from East Lothian... so he might be a Scot after all," he says.

Johnstone, who previously collaborated with Wee Stories co-founder Andy Cannon and Irish director David Trouton on Excalibur, is now linking up with the same duo on Arthur.

The three appear on stage in what Johnstone calls Arthur "the Morecambe and Wise version".

He says: "We try to explain the legend of King Arthur with me as a bit of an Eric Morecambe idiot who can't take it too seriously. We even start the show in front of the curtains as a bit of an Eric and Ernie homage."

The Arthurian round table also appeals to Johnstone as a staunch republican who is anxious to see the Scottish Assembly's "expensive but essential" building completed in Edinburgh. He feels that the Assembly's decision-making process involving many shades of political opinion is nearer to a Round Table democracy than anything seen at Westminster.

Hopes are high that this production will be asked to take on a run in the West End after theatrical producers run the rule over the show at Richmond in London at the end of the tour.

"It's still a fact that you need to take a show into London to get noticed. People who book theatre are still geographically-challenged, they simply will not climb on a train and travel three hours to Newcastle. So it's still difficult for a Northern production to transfer to London."

Meanwhile, the composer will continue his many collaborations inside and outside Scotland, which have seen him work with Stockholm's Stadstheatern, Hexham's Theatre San Frontieres, touring company Told By An Idiot, Radios 3 and 4, the Cauld Blast Orchestra, dance companies and, most recently, music for A Life In The Theatre by David Mamet at the Royal Lyceum.

Johnstone is, actually, more gleeful over Wee Stories finally persuading listings magazines that it is more than just a children's theatre company.

"Until now, whatever we do, Wee Stories has always been listed in the children's section up in Scotland. Thanks to Arthur, we've finally been listed in both children's and adult's sections. It's quite a breakthrough for us," he laughs.

* Arthur, The Story Of A King runs at Newcastle's Theatre Royal from Wednesday until Saturday. Box office: 0870 905 5060

Published: 11/03/2004