Simon and Diane with Margot Hunter and Chris Monks of Dunedin Veterinary Centre, Tranent

Simon in the motion capture suit, filming for Tennents Visitor Centre, 2018

Midlothian Advertiser, 15/3/12



Handling Bach - Review 1 - Fringe Review

Handling Bach Review 1 - Fringe Review



Handling Bach - Review 2 - View from the Stalls. Please note the reviewer spelt Simon's name wrongly - but the review was good!

Handling Bach Review 2 - View from the Stalls



A blast from the past: Charles Endell, Esquire, 1979. Simon appeared as the bass player with 'Blunt Instrument' in an episode entitled "Slaughter on Piano Street"

Blunt Instrument - : from left, Freddie Boardlie, Pat, Lesley Mackie, Ron Emslie, Simon Tait



Currently appearing as Bobchinsky in The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogal, Communicado Theatre Company, Perth Theatre from 17th March to 2nd April 2011
View a YouTube preview here

The Government Inspector (Simon bottom left)




East Lothian Courier, Thursday 09/12/10




East Lothian News, 27/8/10

East Lothian News, 27/8/10

Simon makes SPL debut - at 54!
Published Date: 27 August 2010

A 54-year-old Haddington man has made his football debut after being selected to appear in a selection of mini-films that are being screened before and after Scottish Premier League games on Sky and ESPN throughout the 2010/11 season.
In the Carling television adverts, Simon Tait is cast as part of a passionate group of football devotees in their usual match day seats, which have been removed from their local stadium and go on a tour of Scotland, from lochs to mountain peaks, docks to factories.
Taking in some of Scotland's most iconic landmarks, from Glasgow's George Square to the Forth Road Bridge, this troupe of mates find football in every shape or form. Whether the fans are commenting on the formation of sheep, applauding a goal scored with a pebble, or enjoying the atmosphere of the mountains, they react to even the slightest glimpse of action - however inconsequential it may seem.
Simon found it easy to fit the part. He explained: "I love watching the SPL having been a fan of Hibernian FC, and football in general, since I was young. We had great fun making the Carling, which took us all over Scotland and gave us plenty of laughs. I'll look forward to seeing myself when I switch on to catch the next Hibs game!"

An out-take photo of the sheep

An out-take photo of the 4 football fans

Edinburgh Evening News, 24/8/10

Edinburgh Evening News, 24/8/10

Hibs-daft actor stars in series of adverts during SPL coverage
Published Date: 24 August 2010
By DAVID McCANN

HE has led the line in West End plays and starred as Macbeth in Stateside productions. But trained actor Simon Tait may have landed his biggest role yet as a nameless football fan cheering traffic jams, a flock of sheep and goals scored with a pebble for a series of TV adverts promoting Carling.
The Hibs-daft 54-year-old appears in more than 40 different short adverts sandwiched between commercial breaks on Sky and ESPN's coverage of the SPL. Each quirky 'mini-film' lasts just five seconds and features Mr Tait and three other Scots actors reacting to everyday events like it was part of an epic football match. The plot centres on the raucous foursome who have been transported - along with their terracing - from a football stadium to a series of iconic Scottish landmarks.
Haddington resident Mr Tait explained that as a dyed-in-the-wool Hibby the role wasn't a big departure. "I love watching the SPL having been a fan of Hibernian FC, and football in general, since I was young. We had great fun making the advert, which took us all over Scotland and gave us plenty of laughs. I'll look forward to seeing myself when I switch on to catch the next Hibs game!"
Among the locations featured in the marketing campaign were George Square and the River Clyde in Glasgow, the Firth of Forth and the Falkirk Wheel. "We got a lot of odd looks cheering buses and traffic in George Square," said Mr Tait. "There were a lot of drivers laughing along with us but also a few just shouting abuse. It's certainly the oddest thing I have ever done but we had so much fun. I had never met any of the other actors before but soon felt like I had known them all my life."
Despite the camaraderie, there were a few hairy moments, including a run-in with golf club-toting locals on the banks of the Clyde. "We were sitting on our mini-terrace in the Renfrew Ferry and noticed a couple of adults and two kids on the embankment taking golf clubs from a bag. Next thing we know they were whacking these golf balls at us and we were like sitting ducks in the river. It was like being in the trenches trying to evade these things."
But Mr Tait, who made his first curtain call in the 1970s and has been cast in a string of TV programmes including Taggart, said this advertising campaign was his finest hour. "I have been lucky to win many fine roles but this was the best job I have done," he said. "We had a great director and four Scottish actors to sit and talk about football. It was fantastic."

Reviews of "The Rendition Monologues"

'What's On Stage' August 22, 2009
St John’s Church,
17-23 Aug, 4pm

“This story is not history.” Such is the stark reminder that accompanies Rendition Monologues, voiced lest we forget what we have seen is still going on right now, right this minute, today.
Little chance of that. Iceandfire’s verbatim theatre piece is playing a week-long run at St John’s Church, not just as part of the Fringe but also the Edinburgh Festival of Spirituality and Peace. And peace is in short supply for those whose stories make up this devastating hour.
Christine Bacon’s script is woven from the real-life testimonies of four men – one German, one Canadian, one Palestinian and one Briton (Binyam Mohammed) – all subjected to the CIA practice of ‘extraordinary rendition’, the torture of terrorist suspects in aeroplanes, so-called ‘black site’ prisons and indefinite detention camps such as Guantanamo Bay.
Those testimonies, mixed in with the voices of US and UK politicians, officials and lawyers, are shared out between a five-strong cast, who first appear in a uniform of blue jeans and black T-shirts, and carrying identical black folders containing their script. Initially, the stories appear confused and mixed up, before each man has the chance to reveal the horrifying truth of their treatment.
It’s hard to know what’s more shocking: the pain, beatings, isolation and humiliation inflicted on these men by US intelligence services or the UK foreign office staff who offer Mohammed a cup of tea with extra sugar “because you’ll need this where you are going”.
Be warned. This play will leave you angry. Angry and most likely guilty too at British complicity in this unlawful, inhuman practice. Hard to review it as theatre, still more to give it a star rating. But if five stars mean a show is unmissable, then Rendition Monologues must get them. See it, perform it or ask for others to perform it for you (iceandfire’s outreach network will stage it anywhere at any time). This story will not be history until we make it so.
- Nancy Groves


Some photographs from The Rendition Monologues (courtesy of Ben Chessell, copyright Ben Chessell)

The Rendition Monologues, August 2009, Edinburgh Festival

The Rendition Monologues, August 2009, Edinburgh Festival

The Rendition Monologues, August 2009, Edinburgh Festival

The Rendition Monologues, August 2009, Edinburgh Festival

The Rendition Monologues, August 2009, Edinburgh Festival
The Rendition Monologues, August 2009, Edinburgh Festival

The Scotsman
Published Date: 22 August 2009
RENDITION MONOLOGUES
ST JOHN'S CHURCH (VENUE 127)

IN MOST western countries, we take for granted the existence of some kind of rule of law, however flawed. But to those who, since 2001, have fallen victim to the system of "extraordinary rendition" operated by many western powers and their allies, it often seems as though they have slipped through the safety net of basic civil rights into a strange transnational limbo; a lawless global no man's land which has no way of correcting its errors, and no mechanism for dealing justly and decently with those who fall under suspicion.

Rendition Monologues, playing at St John's Church this week – and also part of the Edinburgh Festival of Spirituality & Peace – hardly constitutes a play. The show, staged by human rights specialists Iceandfire Theatre, simply presents four verbatim testimonials by men – including the British resident Binyam Mohammed, held for more than four years at Guantanamo Bay – who have fallen foul of this global system of kidnap, forced transportation, interrogation and frequent torture.

But the content of their stories is enough to shame everyone involved in operating or condoning a system which exists purely to facilitate illegal forms of prisoner abuse.

The show features a beautiful original score by composer and pianist Michael Edwards, played by himself and cellist Jeremy Tiang, and five striking performances, notably from Ery Nzaramba as Binyam Mohammed; and if the Fringe is partly about giving a voice to those who struggle to make themselves heard, then this show fulfils that purpose with impressive force and integrity.


Streaker emulates Simon's latest advert appearance:

Daily Record, 27th Oct 2009

Following Simon's appearance in the latest Holland and Barrett advertisement, a St Andrews man was prompted to emulate Simon's example and go shopping nude. This is how the Daily Record reported it. With their usual lack of grasp of detail, they have managed to get the captions the wrong way round. Simon is, of course, in the picture on the right of the lower scan...

Mary Rose review, Edinburgh Festival, August 2007

Mary Rose review, Edinburgh Festival, August 2007

Macbeth review, Edinburgh Festival, August 2007

Macbeth, Edinburgh Festival, August 2005

Macbeth, Edinburgh Festival, August 2005

Macbeth, Edinburgh Festival, August 2005
More photos from Macbeth in the blog

The Literary Tour, Edinburgh, 2007

The Literary Tour, Edinburgh, 2007

The Literary Tour, Edinburgh, 2007

The Literary Tour, Edinburgh, 2007

The Literary Tour, Edinburgh, 2007