REVIEW: It’s Not Where You Start – Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow
From child 305106 in Scotland’s care system and the pavements of Glasgow’s less salubrious streets to an acting career that has included working with Ken Loach and Harrison Ford to ultimately finding his true purpose in life, Scott Kyle presents his starkly honest life journey in It’s Not Where You Start.
Very much shaped by a childhood lived out in a Glasgow pre-European City of Culture and the world-conquering Glasgow’s Miles Better campaign that saw a city at it’s peak. Poverty, violence, the perennial sectarian problem and time spent in foster care all combined to form the man Kyle is today.
Act One opens on an animation that charts Kyle’s early years. He pulls a few punches in the retelling of his less than stable start in life, refraining from laying bare the full reasons for his removal from his family at two years old. The second son of two, young, volatile people, both damaged by their own life experiences, you can’t help think that he is protecting both his father whom he didn’t see for 30 years and especially his mother, who he was eventually returned to.
Amid the harrowing moments, there is hope and Kyle (clad in a half Rangers/half Celtic tartan suit) acknowledges the people who touched his life at this vulnerable time. Giving credit to his carers and to the neighbours and friend’s families who showed him there was an alterative to the life he had been living.
Eventually embarking on a college acting course Kyle found a different world open up, but it was a fateful trip to the local library and the discovery of the playscript of Des Dillon’s Singin’ I’m No A Billy, He’s a Tim, that was the true turning point in Kyle’s life. Fired up by finding a work that spoke the same language as him , breathed the same air as he did, Kyle went on to successfully produce multiple runs of Dillon’s play, culminating in a performance at Glasgow’s behemoth of a venue – The Hydro. However, it was at this highest of high’s that Kyle was dealt the lowest of blows, with Dillon taking the show back into his own control.
Act Two, in contrast, plays out on a stage set with red carpet, velvet ropes and Oscar statues. Kyle charts his screen credits, ranging from Loach’s The Angel’s Share and TV giant Outlander to an almost missed opportunity with Harrison Ford.
Covid meant a 360 degree change of career with a job as a carer for a young Autistic man and a journey into the world of fostering that brought two children to their “forever home” with Kyle and his wife.
From a life of ups and downs, Kyle eventually found the thing that has given him the most purpose and fulfilment, not the accolades or awards, but being a foster carer.
Kyle is an earnest and sincere host and here in his home town, with a crowd who are more than cognisant of this city and its past struggles, his story hits home with more of a punch. There are high highs and low lows but ultimately the show delivers hope, hope that no matter the hand you’re dealt, you always have the power to change it.
Reviewed on 22 October 2026 | Image: Contributed
