Back End Productions is renowned amongst the London theatrical scene for its original, funky new style of themed and musically diverse pantos, as well as for its wild parties! Founded twelve years ago by Gavin MacKay and Rupert Bean, the origins of the group trace back to St Andrews University’s annual charity panto, where along with perennial leading man and musical wunderkind Jake McQuitty, the guys got addicted to the attention of literally some adoring fans.  Roll forward to 1998 and the guys thought maybe that keeping the tradition alive, while raising money for great causes, would be a cunning way to attract the babes.  And so was Back End born.

Cunningly named after that most sought after role in the panto - the fragrant end of the horse - Back End Productions has always been a specialist pantomime group focused on raising money for charity. Jake picked up the production reins in 2006, and with Back End Productions Ltd formed in 2007 the three guys are trying (!) to take more of a guiding back seat, managing a transition to a younger generation.

Back End has now raised more than £250,000 for various charities over the years and our ambition is to keep on going.  In 2010 Helen Noble has joined as producer for the first time, and Neil Walker, another St Andrews panto veteran has taken up the directing reins in another transparent attempt to meet women.

So did it work for the founders?  Well Rupert and Jake have since settled down, though Gavin is still “auditioning for the role”, but the tradition of putting on a wacky panto for pantomime for great causes is thriving, and the younger generation are already proving themselves up to the task.

The Movers and Shakers – The Production Team

Gavin Mackay: Executive Producer and Back End Productions co-founder

Gavin is a serial entrepreneur with a lifelong commitment to charity work outside his business activities. From the age of 16 he had a compulsion to organise charity balls, dinners, parties and then came panto. He produced eight of the ten Back End Productions pantomimes co-producing the last two with fellow Back Ender, Jake McQuitty. Gavin now takes a guiding interest in the work of the pantomime, continuing to use his experience and contacts to assist the shows’ production and generally interfere in the process in ways only men worn grey by the toil of years can do. Of his major responsibilities these days he organises the cast and crew after parties, and he hasn’t quite left the stage entirely – he is the voice of god and the charity auctioneer. 

Gavin says: “there's nothing I love more than seeing panto back and looking stronger than ever. My goal is to make sure we have the talent and commitment of our cast and crew to take us to another 10 years and another huge sum for charity.”

Rupert Bean: Back End Productions co-founder and writer of Beauty and the Bu$t

Rupert has been working in the advertising industry for 14 years as a media planner and buyer, developing strategies for live entertainment clients in the West End and around the country. His clients include Bill Kenwright, The Barbican and Opera North. Rupert founded Back End Productions upon leaving the University of St Andrews, where he performed panto with Gavin and Jake. Rupert has written and directed all previous Backend Productions pantos and claims he hasn't looked back since! This year, having written Beauty and the Bust, Rupert is handing over the directing role to new talent (see Neil Walker).

Jake McQuitty: Executive Producer, Chairman of the Production Committee and Musical Director

Jake McQuitty is a lawyer at Berwin Leighton Paisner (The Lawyer's "Law Firm of the Year 2010") who started his career as a barrister in the Inner Temple. His experience of the cut and thrust of court room drama did little to prepare him for the demands of a 600-strong Pantomime audience crying "He's behind you!" After appearing as various villains and heroes for the past 10 shows, Jake has hung up his tights in favour of a quiet life as Chairman of the Production Committee. Jake is also a St Andrews alumnus and founding member of Back End Productions.

Jinty Cotton: Monte Carlo, aka Bust

Jinty has been the Back End Productions’ leading lady in every show since 1998, be it the goody goody protagonist (Trixibelle Midnight, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Aladette, Princess Kitty, Goldilocks), or the evil boo-inducing baddy parts (Yoohaha, Tallulah Monroe, Casino Legova, Queen Niagara). Jinty has a BA Hons in Performing Arts, was a post-graduate at the Royal Academy of Music and also performed on the stand-up, and has been instrumental in creating some of our pantomimes’ most iconic moments, from the Titanic parody in “Cinderella Under The Sea”, various projection gags behind her while singing serious ballads, to all the fantastic pun after pun after pun lines which have become one of her trademarks; indeed the best one of these was her reciting the entire phonetic alphabet as a gangster name in 2002’s “Babes in the Hood”! Jinty’s creative juices never stop flowing, and her inspired additions and script “tweaks” make each Back End panto so much better than it initially starts out at the first rehearsal. She is very much one of the beating hearts of the panto, and Back End Productions are incredibly proud to call her their leading light, hopefully for many years to come. 

Helen Noble: Producer

During her performing arts BA degree, Helen realised her passion and interests lay behind the scenes, organising theatre and events. She finished her degree whist also being a duty manager at the local arts centre and then returned to London to do a season as a stage manager for Battersea Arts Centre, Helen’s next port of call was the Ambassador Theatre Group’s Richmond theatre as Front of House (FOH) Manager, followed by FOH manager at Hammersmith’s multi arts and media Riverside Studios. Helen is now Theatre Manager at North London’s Almeida Theatre. In-between these full time jobs, she has worked on several street theatre festivals and stage-managed huge public events, including Trafalgar Square events and the Thames festival. This is Helen’s first official venture into producing.

Neil Walker: Director and Texas “Snake Eyes” Holdem

Another from the St Andrews gang, Neil is Branded Content Director for ZenithOptimedia, a top five media agency. For those of us that don’t speak the language of marketing, a Branded Content Director helps big brands clients, including O2, Toyota and Puma, to go beyond traditional advertising, which tends to interrupt people when they are getting on with their day, and actually step into the world of making things that people want to genuinely watch, play or do, such as TV shows, iPhone applications, social media games. Most recently, Neil has just brought a new TV show called Carpool to Dave for Toyota. When not working, or in Panto, Neil does almost nothing of interest that everyone else doesn't do.

Tony Noble: Set Designer

Shepherd Bush boy Tony Noble started his film career as runner for a film production company in London’s swinging Soho at some point in the 1960’s With some trepidation he was lured into the world of freelancing and went on to work on many films including ‘The Virgin Soldiers, Connecting Rooms, The Man Who Had Power Over Women and Monty Python’s first feature ‘And Now For Something Completely Different’.

Tony has designed countless commercials for many well known directors including Alan Parker, Hugh Hudson, Adrian Lynne as well as Ridley and Tony Scott. He even found time for more feature films along the way too, including

• Whoops Apocolypse,
• Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,
• Rendition
• Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist (in which he made his own hitchcock esque cameo)
• Moon
• The Divide