Performers often get told to break a leg...but Leah MacRae hopes to stay injury-free when she returns to the East Renfrewshire stage where she once ruptured her Achilles tendon.

The River City star turned around sharply at Eastwood Park Theatre during the debut performance of her show My Big Fat Fabulous Diary, only to feel as though someone had shot her in the ankle.

The injury happened at the end of Act One and she soldiered on through Act Two in a wheelchair before heading to hospital and beginning a long road to recovery.

But despite her agonising experience in 2017, the East Renfrewshire actress and comedian is determined to put that to the back of her mind and can’t wait to return with her new show on Friday, June 24.

Leah, who plays Ellie McLean in the hit BBC TV soap, told the Barrhead News: “It’s so important to support all of our live venues after the devastation that Covid caused to the industry but particularly the smaller, local ones.

“Eastwood Theatre is my local venue and is actually the first stage I ever performed on when I was a teenager.

“Last time I performed there professionally, I snapped my Achilles tendon on stage in front of an audience, so hopefully I can stick to comedy this time and no drama.”

The evening of new material follows a sell-out Scottish tour of My Big Fat Fabulous Diary in 2019 and a hugely-successful one-woman debut at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

It promises to provide “big, chubby belly laughs galore” as Leah makes light work of weighty issues.

“I am delighted to return to Eastwood for my first solo performance in over two years, with a work in progress towards this year’s Edinburgh Fringe,” added Leah, who lives in Clarkston and also appeared in hit TV comedy Gary: Tank Commander.

Her show is one of a number of productions being staged at Eastwood Park Theatre in the coming momths.

The Giffnock venue will also welcome veteran stand-up comedian Fred MacAulay with his show What(ever) Next on Sunday, June 12.

Alun Cochrane, known from TV comedy shows such as Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You, will also perform at Eastwood on Saturday, October 15.

For more details about any of these shows, or to book tickets, visit ercultureandleisure.org/theatre.