Singer-songwriter KT Tunstall has revealed she started writing musicals while stuck at home during lockdown.
The Scottish musician told BBC Scotland she wanted to find a new way to “flex her musical muscles” while she was unable to play to live audiences.
They include a “rip-roaring, very funny” adaptation of the 2000 film Saving Grace, which was written by Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson.
“It’s a really new adventure for me, it’s very exciting,” she said.
The singer – who grew up in Fife with her adoptive parents – said her musical theatre collaborations will now be her focus for the next year.
And she hopes to see them performed on stage at the Edinburgh Festival.
Like many musicians, Tunstall has had gigs cancelled and rescheduled since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
It became “confusing and a bit heart-breaking”, she said.
As events moved online, she performed for fans around the world from her home in the US, where she has lived since 2015.
“I’m not going to lie, I don’t love it. I would definitely be telling you a fib if I said I loved singing into my laptop or my phone.”
But she added: “In the circumstances we just wanted to facilitate that feeling of community and being together and having a laugh and having a night out, even when we can’t.
“There’s a usefulness in it but I very much hope it’s a stopgap.”
‘Piqued my interest’
The singer, who shot to fame with her debut album Eye to the Telescope in 2004, said lockdown gave her an opportunity to rethink the direction of her career.
“I think the pandemic and the lockdown kind of forced these things. I think a lot of us kind of looked at what we’re doing, wondered if it’s exactly what we want to be spending our time doing,” she said.
“And [musicals] were always something that kind of piqued my interest and I was just so pleased that it came together at the right time.”
IMAGE SOURCE,STEVE AZZARAShe added: “It’s been very helpful in this sea of uncertainty where I can be using my craft and flexing my musical muscles but I’m actually just at home writing and collaborating with a team.”
And she is most excited about an adaptation of Saving Grace, a British comedy about a woman – played by Brenda Blethyn – who grows cannabis to pay off her late husband’s enormous debt.
Tunstall said it was a “really brilliant adaptation of the film”.
“We’ve done a really rip-roaring, very funny adaptation for the theatre. I’m really excited to finally turn this movie into a musical 20 years later.”
The musician will also be taking part in the Big Burns Supper festival on Burns Night – 25 January. It is normally held in Dumfries, but has now been moved online.
“No bones about it, it’s a real shame that we can’t be doing this in person but now I live in America I can see how important Burns Night is to Scots living all over the world,” she said.
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