THE glitzy showbiz world of West End musicals arrived in Dunfermline this week but the actors dispelled the notion of pampered stars by opting to live in tents!

Most of the male cast members of 'Blood Brothers', which has been playing to packed and enthusiastic houses at the Alhambra, have been living under canvas in a campsite near Inverkeithing.

After leaving the stage to standing ovations, the cast have been enjoying themselves into the early hours around a camp fire under the stars, braving the autumn chill.

As well as being a box-office success - it opened on Monday to a sell-out and big audiences have followed since - the Kenwright company seem to be loving their time in Dunfermline.

Sean Jones, who plays one half of the Blood Brothers, Mickey, said, "Everybody's talking about how welcome they've been made to feel in the town.

"Quite often when you go to a place the response is 'yeah, yeah it's another show', 'yeah, yeah it's another bunch of actors' but here everyone's been really welcoming at the theatre and there seems to be a lot of love and passion for the theatre.

"Everyone seems to be happy to have us here and that obviously makes us very pleased to be here.

"When the audience came in for the first performance the atmosphere pretty much blew us away.

"For me, I still love the part of Mickey which I seem to have been playing for 60 years! It's still exciting to go to new towns and see new places.

"I've been sightseeing today. I've been around the Abbey and the Abbot House.

When you come to a historic town like Dunfermline you'd be crazy not to look around.

"It's one of those places where you can enjoy the history and find out all about the great kings who lived here.

"If I was just to spend the time here walking up and down the High Street to Marks and Spencers it would be a waste really.

"We know town centres up and down the country and they all pretty much look the same so it's good to make the most of coming to a new place." Anna Sambrooks, who plays Mickey's wife, Linda, said, "I've been in the town shopping today and the people have been so friendly and chatty.

"People in the street who had seen the show last night were coming up and chatting to us.

"It's been brilliant and the audiences have been up on their feet, laughing and joining in which makes it a great atmosphere for everyone on stage as well as the audience.

"It's an emotional show. Most people leave crying so bring your tissues.

"There's a lot of the guys from the cast camping so we sat around the bonfire last night and cooked some dinner.

"They do that quite a lot as we travel around the country. They're like gypsies. We're quite happy to sit around the fire then go back to our nice warm rooms.

"It's a lovely close company and you have to become like a family as you travel up and down the country to places you don't know." Paula Tappenden (Mrs Lyons) said, "I've never been to Dunfermline before. I've played in Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen but this is a first for me. It's a beautiful theatre and hopefully more shows such as this will follow." Simon Willmont, who plays the other twin, Eddie, said, "It's been great coming here.

"It's exciting to be part of a company that's visiting a theatre like this which has been empty for so long. I found it fascinating hearing about the whole history of the place.

"We've had great audiences and the theatre staff have been really friendly.

"I've had a bit of a wander around the area and will definitely be exploring more during the week. It seems a very historical town.

"I'm on the camp-site but I'm cheating a little bit. Me and one of the other guys are in a small caravan instead of a tent.

"We're on the same site but we're under a roof and we've got heating. It's more like we've got spiders and creepy crawlies to be honest but it's great because we have so much fun.

"We were sat around the camp fire having a good old chat and a drink until the early hours of the morning.

"Even now that we're coming into October, there's a few who will probably keep camping until the end of the tour because they're absolutely crazy.

"It's good fun. We all muck in and have a laugh together.

"We've got a little espresso machine in the caravan so we're thinking about opening the side hatch and starting our own version of 'Starbucks' to the ones in the tents, getting them warmed up on these cold mornings!

"It's maybe not what people expect when you have Blood Brothers coming to town but it's good fun."