The King’s Theatre, Glasgow, reveals tribute to the late Gerard Kelly

The King’s Theatre in Glasgow this week revealed a permanent tribute and memorial to one of the brightest jewels in its long-reigning crown: the late, great Gerard Kelly. Pal to thousands of pantomime patrons until his untimely and sudden death on 28th October 2010, Kelly will forevermore be remembered by the theatre and his fans in a comic and unusual way. The General Manager at the King’s spoke of the importance of creating something which was fun and accessible to theatregoers. No austere marble statues and no watercolour portraits – Kelly will be remembered with the public display of a bronzed pair of his famous Doc Martins.”We had talked over at great length what we should do to commemorate the life of a man who was as synonymous with the King’s Theatre as Panto is to Christmas. In the end we choose what we thought would be a very fitting tribute to Kelly and something that would raise a smile on the faces of our audience.” The boots are on-display on the stairway leading to the grand circle. They were revealed to the public, to his family and to his friends, Glaswegian legends of pantomime and Scottish comedy, Tony Roper, Elaine C. Smith and Gavin Mitchell, on what would have been Kelly’s 54th birthday.