David Bowie panto mystery at Musselburgh Brunton

THEATRE bosses are combing their archives for evidence that they missed out on casting David Bowie in a festive panto.

David Bowie on stage in Livingston in 1989

Celebrated mime artist Lindsay Kemp has claimed that he asked Bowie, who died this week, to perform in Puss in Boots at The Brunton in Musselburgh. But he says the Life on Mars star backed out when theatre chiefs refused his pay demands – of £15 a week.

Revealing the offer, Kemp – who also lived with Bowie for a short spell in Drummond Street – said: “His agent came back and said that £10 a week wasn’t really enough – could I get it up to £15? Management said no, we couldn’t. What Musselburgh missed.”

A study of a Bowie biography found that he was invited to take part in a panto with Kemp in 1968 – but The Brunton would have been under construction at that stage.

General manager Lesley Smith said: “The story of Musselburgh audiences missing out on seeing David Bowie perform locally in panto is certainly a fascinating one. Unfortunately, Kemp doesn’t tell us when this was, and we can’t find evidence in our archives that The Brunton was the venue.

“If this happened in 1968, it wouldn’t have been The Brunton as the building hadn’t been constructed. If anyone can shed further light on this, we’d love to hear about it.”