ACCLAIMED Scottish singer Horse McDonald admits she has to be ‘careful’ on stage after turning her life story into an award-winning one-woman play.

She is one of the country’s most celebrated vocalists and has performed all over the world and toured with the likes of Tina Turner, BB King, Bryan Ferry and Burt Bacharach.

But in her brave new play, charting her incredible life story being on stage has never felt so different.

‘Horse in Careful’ comes to the Beacon Arts Centre on Saturday and takes audiences on an emotional ‘rollercoaster’ from her days growing up gay in Lanark in the 1970s to becoming one of Scotland’s finest musicians.

Horse told Showbuzz: “It’s what I call the antithesis of singing because when I sing and perform, I move around and come out of song and chat to people whereas with this, the minute you start you cannot come out of character and it’s the opposite of standing and singing with an audience.

“Maggie Kinloch is such a great director and she’s very good and most of the time her direction is subliminal pushing and moving you around, but at one point when we were rehearsing she was like:  ‘Horse this is all about stillness, you must be still’ and that’s been one of the hardest things.

“One minute I’m saying my lines and the next, I feel something at my feet – she’s on the ground holding my ankles to stop me moving!”

The show – which is now on tour to 18 venues around the country – has been hugely successful and also includes a musical performance by Horse and a question and answer session at the end.

She admits it is incredibly tough at times keeping in character whilst recalling some of the darkest moments of her life.

But Horse revealed she has a connection to Inverclyde and says the area always brings a smile to her face.

She said: “I’m actually writing my autobiography at the moment and I know my mum and dad lived in Gourock for a while.

“I laugh because my mum said at one point my dad and his friend Archie had made this little boat and they said ‘we’re just going out for a wee while’ and they were out for hours. Basically the little boat had gone out and into the bay and they had to be rescued.

“That makes me laugh whenever I think about Gourock or Greenock. I do have a little connection with the area and also my keyboard player Gemma Silby is a Gourock lass.”

Horse in Careful is on at the Beacon on Saturday at 8pm.

For tickets and more information visit www.beaconartscentre.co.uk or call 723723.