MY dad, the actor and entertainer Johnny Beattie, used to go holidays to Rothesay as a boy, and later he performed there at The Pavilion and the Winter Gardens. He had a flat near the harbour in the town and I would often go and stay for a wee break. I grew fonder and fonder of Bute and around 12 years ago, after getting a couple of well-paid jobs, I decided I’d like to buy a place there too. I really wanted to be on an island – there is just something so relaxing about being surrounded by water.
We thought about it, and decided that instead of buying a place of my own, Dad and I would pool our resources and get something bigger, which is how we bought this four-bedroom conversion, the bottom half of a big Victorian semi.
I live in London most of the time, but it was important to me that it wasn’t just a second home that would lie empty. As well as Dad and I, friends and family often use the place, which means it is a proper part of the community.
We haven’t done a huge amount to the house, but we’ve changed the decor. With a second home, I think you can push the boat out a bit and be a bit more adventurous than you might be in your main house.
When I told Dad my plans for the dining room, he said: “You want to do what?” But he let me get on with it and it’s now a room that we both love. When friends come to dine it looks stunning with all the candles lit. And, to be honest, everything in it was either a gift or cheap as chips.
Ceiling sconces
Many years ago at the Fringe, I was in a production of Bill Bryden’s Mysteries at The Assembly Rooms. They’d floored over all the seats and hung all these items used by workers as lights. It was extraordinary and made a real impression me. Later, back home in London, I was in a lovely local shop called Zeitgeist and I saw these hanging sconces. I bought 16 of them and hooked them into the beams in the dining room. When friends are here I light little tea lights and it creates a wonderful, fun atmosphere.
Jennifer the gull
This is the seagull that thinks she’s an actress! She was actually one of three seagull props in a production of The Skin Of Our Teeth, which is set on a boardwalk in New Jersey, that I did at the Young Vic 10 years ago. At the end, I said I must have Jennifer and offered to buy her. They said I could take her on permanent loan. I later sent the designers pictures of her in her new home with other seagulls. She’s very quiet for a gull – but she has real presence.
Ceramic chest
This was a gift to me from Liz Lochhead [the poet and playwright, Scotland’s Makar] to mark the end of her production of Euripides’ Medea, in which I played the title role in 2000. It was such a fantastic experience. I think Liz was thinking of Medea as the potion and poison maker. The box is enamelled and inside it is the most wonderful midnight blue. When you do a play like that you become very aware of the gender politics and all the modern connections that make it very relevant today. I would love to do the play again.
Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots
Another strong woman! This picture was given to me by the playwright and polymath W Gordon Smith after I played the title role in his play about the last 36 hours of Mary’s life, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of her death in 1987. We did the play in Edinburgh, Glasgow and on Bute at Rothesay Castle. At the end of the play there is a scene where Mary is praying and lays her head on a block and throws her arms open. I’ll always remember that as I did this in Rothesay Castle, a huge crash of lightening flashed across the sky. The audience couldn’t believe it and neither could I. I think we all felt that Mary was out there watching us, and was making her presence felt.
Mushroom
This is a handmade model of a deadly webcap mushroom, which was given to me recently while filming the short film Spores, written by Frances Poet. Making the film was the most fabulous experience. People have been saying for years that the actress Lorraine McIntosh and I should play sisters – and here we finally got the chance. It’s a gorgeous wee film, hopefully it’ll get a release soon. Ironically, I can’t actually eat mushrooms as they make me feel ill.
Bronze giraffe
This is arguably my favourite item of everything I own. Dad and I went on holiday to Sintra in Portugal a few years ago and he said he wanted to get me something – this is what I chose. I saw it in a wee antique shop, haggled and got it for a good price. It’s such a beautiful thing – the lines are exquisite. It reminds me of getting up at 4am to see the eclipse of the moon over the Atlantic. It was such a special moment. And, of course, it makes me think of Dad.
Indian wall hanging
This is actually a bedspread I bought in Portobello Road while shopping with friend Jeannie MacArthur. We were at drama school together but hadn’t seen each other for 40 years when we bumped into each other on Byres Road one day. We’ve been great friends again ever since. She deals in textiles, sourcing fabrics like old saris and hangings from India, and puts them together to make the most fabulous shawls. We were out together one day and I was looking for something to hang on the dining room wall. We haggled it down and it always makes me think of Jeannie.
Lion head
This cost me £4.50 from TK Maxx in London. It was originally a horrid matt brown colour – it’s probably for the garden – but I cleaned it up and spray-painted it. I love finds like that – you never quite know how they are going to turn out. The ceiling stars in the room are mostly just drinks coasters from Gran Canaria. And the cushion covers are made from an old scarf I found in Oxfam. The seat covers are all made by my dad’s oldest friend Muriel Marshall – he’s known her since they were teenagers and there’s not a room in this house that doesn’t have something of hers in it.
Actress Maureen Beattie is appearing in The Deliverance, part of a trilogy of one-woman plays by Jennifer Tremblay, at the Edinburgh Assembly Roxy, part of the Edinburgh Fringe, until August 30.
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