Bunbanter’s Young Scottish Theatre Groups, Carronbridge

From Philip Anderson-Dyer

Bunbanter’s Young Scottish Theatre Groups, Carronbridge.

In January 2015 The Bunbury Banter Theatre Company CIC started a theatre group in Carronbridge (Nithsdale) with the aim of bringing the young people from Sanquhar, Thornhill and surrounding areas together and to develop student’s confidence, creativity and imagination through the medium of theatre, the use of storytelling and a variety of other creative practices.

So far this has been a huge success, attracting young people from both areas and forming the beginnings of an exceptionally solid, supportive and friendly group dynamic.

The first term's work has been focused on introducing basic theatrical skills, games and exercises, encouraging group bonding in order to create an 'ensemble'. In the course of this, students have explored many things including the ideas behind storytelling (such as fairy tales and Roald Dahl) and examined the origin of the chorus in Greek Theatre. Next Term, they will be moving onto a media project during the early weeks and have visitors popping in, later on in the term, such as a professional Lighting and Sound designer, who'll be exploring the technical side of the theatre.

The Bunbury Banter Theatre Comapny's main aim as an organisation is improving the access to theatre and when forming their groups locally, it was quickly discovered that transport is a recognised issue for many people living in rural areas. So, to counteract this, Bunbanter quickly organised a private bus service to and from the class, for the students from Sanquhar Academy and also arranged to open up their venue early, to accommodate those studying at Wallace Hall Academy; so they are able to get on the public bus from Thornhill which arrives at 4pm. Money and financial constraints can also be a block to young people accessing such classes but again Bunbanter have a number of resources in place, so they can offer scholarships and assistance, should that be needed by any of their students.

In addition to the younger group, next term Bunbanter is also going to open the second group for ages between 16-25 years. More information is to be released over the Easter break but similarly to the earlier class, their artistic director, Ali Anderson-Dyer, will be using all the disciplines and practices found within the theatre to further the students both individually and as a group, exploring many different performance styles and practices, whilst developing a fun and welcoming place to make new friends and learn new skills.

The Bunbury Banter Theatre Company CIC has a successful background of running fun, enjoyable and interesting classes across London and the UK; and as with all their work, the groups in Carronbridge exist to challenge and inspire young creatives in a safe and supported environment, regardless of personal circumstance.

See the Bunbanter website here for more information

Email info@bunbanter.com or Call 01848 330493

Tailor of Inverness touring New York, via Dalbeattie

From Sara Bain

Dogstar Theatre’s Tailor of Inverness, is amongst two Scottish plays selected for New York premieres in this year’s Brits off Broadway festival. And the region’s theatre lovers will be able to see why in May, when the drama comes to Dalbeattie Town Hall as part of the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival.

Brits off Broadway is an annual festival premiering British plays to New York audiences. Critically acclaimed, the festival is described as a showcase for innovative and provocative theatre and this year runs from April to June.

The productions are travelling to the US thanks to combined funding of £70,000 from Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government. Creative Scotland’s Open Project funding awarded Dogstar £11,457 through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.

Brits off Broadway opens with the Tailor of Inverness at the end of Scotland Week 2015, Scotland’s annual showcase of culture and creativity in North America. The Tailor of Inverness, the true story about how a boy from the Ukraine became a tailor in northern Scotland, will launch on 14 April 14. Following a 23-night run it will close on 3 May before it comes to Dalbeattie on 27 May.

Festival organisers have also chosen in My Father’s Words, a play about dementia, the Gaelic language and family revelations that span the Atlantic.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture Europe and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop said: “Scottish theatre and culture resonates across the world. “This is great opportunity for two brilliant productions to make their mark in the USA. It’s exciting that Brits off Broadway will start at the end of Scotland Week with In My Father’s words; a great Scottish play with internationalism at its heart. This year’s Brits of Broadway demonstrates confidence in Scottish talent and the role of our world-renowned festivals as platforms for international success.”

Brits off Broadway Executive Producer, Peter Tear said: “As a Scot based in New York it is always a pleasure to present outstanding Scottish work at 59E59 Theaters. “We have waited a few years to introduce the remarkable, inspiring story of The Tailor of Inverness to New Yorkers, and this year happily the stars aligned. Dogstar’s Matthew Zajac, Aidan O’Rourke and Grid Iron’s director Ben Harrison will be with us for the first time for Brits Off Broadway at the close of Scotland Week.”

Book tickets for the Dalbeattie show on the DG Arts website here

Theatre Royal final Funding Push

From the Theatre Royal

When the curtain falls on opening night, there will be a collective sigh of relief at the newly-refurbished Theatre Royal in Dumfries. Not least because now, 10 months before the building reopens following its renovation, there is no curtain.

But that is a minor hurdle for the volunteers who have already raised the £1.9m needed to fund the comprehensive facelift. In their final push to finish the theatre, The Guild of Players, the volunteers who own the building, are breaking with the fundraising norm.

They hope to raise about £20,000 in cash donations but they have also appealed for donations of the physical items they need to create a working theatre. In addition to a good quality stage curtain, the guild has drawn up a wish list of items including computers for a media suite, a washing machine for cleaning costumes and a industrial freezer for storing interval ice cream.

Group member Kristen Layne said: "In terms of props and theatre-type things, we have a tonne of that which will be going back in. We are certainly not starting from scratch. "What we need is things like tables and chairs in the bar. We have always just had folding tables because we had multi-use rooms. "And we'll have a much bigger lobby - we never had room before for chairs and counters."

The guild hope they can persuade businesses to donate large items and that individual supporters will make cash donations. They are also looking to make money from selling props, costumes and other theatre paraphernalia which has accumulated in the building.

In their first jumble sale they raised £800. Amongst the items on sale were ties in "50 shades of grey" and about 60 waistcoats. Ms Layne said: "Things like that get accumulated but it wasn't until we got it all accumulated at our new base at the Crichton that we realised we had so many duplicates." Built in 1792, the Theatre Royal is acknowledged as the oldest working theatre in Scotland but it has been closed for the last year.

The group received a series of grants and donations, including an award of £322,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to finance building work which will see the theatre expand into two neighbouring houses. They hope to open the theatre for the 2015 pantomime season, before an official opening in early 2016.

To make a donation head to the Theatre's fundly page here

DG Arts Festival Programme Announced

From DG Arts Festival

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli will be among the headliners at the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival.

A total of 82 acts will perform at 42 venues across the south-west over 10 days at the end of May. The event, which is in its 36th year, will also feature performances by the award-winning folk singer Bella Hardy and Scotland's Makar Liz Lochhead.

Young musicians: John Gilderdale-Smith, from Castle Douglas; Zoe Bestel, of Wigtown; Robyn Stapleton from Stranraer; and Deri Ronan, of Thornhill.

The programme was launched at Loch Arthur, Beeswing, on Wednesday. Organisers have pledged to showcase world-class music, theatre, comedy and literature in towns, villages and remote rural areas across the region.

Highlights include:

HARDEEP SINGH KOHLI – HARDEEP IS YOUR LOVE
FRIDAY 22 MAY, 7:30 PM. £15
THE CORNER HOUSE HOTEL, HIGH STREET, ANNAN DG12 6DL
Master of pace and quick-witted patter, there’s much more to Hardeep Singh Kohli than being a media funny man in a colourful turban.

SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
FRIDAY 22 MAY, 8:00 PM. £20
EASTERBROOK HALL, THE CRICHTON, BANKEND ROAD, DUMFRIES, DG1 4TA
This event was kindly supported in memory of NLH.

A celebration of two of Russia’s most celebrated composers heralds the sensational start to this year’s Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival.

KIDDER THEATRE NORMAL / MADNESS
SATURDAY 23 MAY, 7:30 PM. £10
THE SWALLOW THEATRE, MOSS PARK, WHITHORN, NEWTON STEWART DG8 8DR (also showing in New Galloway)
Kidder Theatre brings the very best in drama to the region with its critically acclaimed humorous and heart-breaking play Normal / Madness.

GAVIN MARWICK’S – JOURNEYMAN SPECTACULAR
SUNDAY 24 MAY, 7:30 PM. £15
CASTLE DOUGLAS TOWN HALL , ST ANDREW STREET, CASTLE DOUGLAS DG7 1DB
Described as ‘a folk festival on stage’, Gavin Marwick’s Journeyman Spectacular is a phenomenal musical experience of short sets of 10 performers and a constantly changing musical line-up.

STANLEY ODD
SUNDAY 24 MAY, 8:30 PM. £12
THE CORNER HOUSE HOTEL, HIGH STREET, ANNAN DG12 6DL
5.00PM – WORKSHOP WITH DAVE HOOK
Alternative Scottish hip-hop with heart, mind, wit, grit, conscience and superb live musicianship, Stanley Odd’s sound is reaching well beyond the rapidly burgeoning subculture from which it emerged, borne on an escalating grapevine buzz that’s set to ramp-up several notches further, with the release of their second album Reject.

Freedom Square and Unite Don’t Fight to Tour Dumfries and Galloway

From Carolyn Yates and Sid Ambrose

Two hard hitting new plays based on Sectarianism, will premier across Dumfries and Galloway over the month of February. Freedom Square and Unite Don’t Fight will be performed by young people from the Ryan Youth Theatre and Dumfries Junior Guild. The free shows will embark on a pan Galloway tour with performances scheduled to take place from Stranraer to Dumfries.

Freedom Square has been described in promotional material as “The spark of first love across Scotland’s New Divide in the incendiary week of the referendum. She’s a Yes, he’s a no, their parents are bigots, and the Orange Lodge are gearing up to attack the square – what can possibly go wrong”?

Dumfries Young Guild of Players

Whilst Unite Don’t Fight, portrays a gritty and extreme example of Sectarianism. It tells the story of how four siblings have their family and home destroyed as victims of a religious hatred attack.  What starts as banter results in an arson attack and the death of their parents.  Hear them tell their side of the story as their nightmare is relived over and over again in the mind of the killer.

Both plays are supported by grants from the Voluntary Action Fund, Scottish Government’s Tackling Sectarianism Small Grant Programme and have been assisted by the Kirkcudbright based South West Scotland Sectarian Project.

Chris Taylor ( Freedom Square Director)

Freedom Square has been commissioned by Wigtown Festival Company, It was written and devised by award winning playwright Des Dillon in conjunction with the Ryan Youth Theatre, and is directed by Chris Taylor. Unite Don’t Fight has been written and directed by Dumfries based James Napper who has had a long association with local youth theatre groups.

The intention of the performances is to raise awareness of sectarianism which blights many communities across Scotland. Stevie Carr from the South West Scotland Sectarian Project Commented “Sectarianism can take many forms, from so called banter to prejudice and violence, l believe the plays are a great way to communicate with young people and make them better informed about sectarianism which at the end of the day is just another form of bullying.”

The inaugural performance of both plays will take place in a double bill at the Ryan Centre Theatre Stranraer between 6 and 8 pm on the 16^th February. The free performances will be followed by a meet and greet session with the cast and crew, for those interested in finding out more about the plays and the issues raised.

Other double bill performances will take place on the 17^th February from 7 to 9pm in New Galloway Town Hall and on the 27^th February at the Brigend Theatre Dumfries. A further solo showing of Unite Don’t Fight is scheduled for the Old Well Theatre Moffat on February the 20^th starting at 7pm.

For further information on the performances please contact Carolyn Yates, Literature Development

carolyn@literaturedevelopment.org  Phone: 01988 402036, Mobile: 07717179653

Please note although these are free events you may need to register your interest first to guarantee entry.       

The Effect on Tour - Langholm and Castle Douglas dates

From Heart of Hawick

Rehearsals are now underway at Tower Mill, Hawick, for Firebrand Theatre Company’s Scottish premiere of The Effect, by Lucy Prebble one of today’s most celebrated playwrights. The first performance of the tour opens at Heart of Hawick with a preview on Thursday 19 February and runs until Saturday 21 February  followed by performances in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perthshire, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders.

The Effect, is an unconventional and moving love story; sexy, funny, and thought-provoking in the exploration of the limits of medicine in today's pill-popping culture and spiced with warmth, humour and intelligence.

Director Richard Baron says: "Inspired by the consequences of a drugs trial at a private research unit at Northwick Park Hospital in which six volunteers suffered multiple organ failure, this is a highly topical and unusual love story in that it looks provocatively, movingly and humorously at the taboo subject of mental health and poses serious questions about the effectiveness and morality of the hugely successful anti-depressant drug industry. It asks what is a "normal" mind, do depressed people have a more accurate view of the world and is love itself merely a chemical reaction?

It's a very inventive piece that demands brave acting performances. We are therefore delighted to introduce Firebrand audiences to talented new faces Cameron Crighton and Scarlett Mack as the young drug trialists and experienced actors Pauline Knowles (A Slow Air) and Jonathan Coote (fresh from his West End appearance in The Audience starring Helen Mirren) as the supervising doctors, passionately opposed in their understanding of the science of depression and the value of medical intervention. Hopefully The Effect will stir the mind and move the heart."

Connie (Scarlett Mack) is a psychology student. Tristan (Cameron Crighton) is a charming drifter. Both have signed up to a clinical trial for a new antidepressant super-drug and sealed off from the outside world, the attraction between them turns into deeper feelings as their doses get stronger. They've been warned of side effects - can they trust their feelings, or is this just a chemical romance?

As the trial's overseeing physician (Pauline Knowles) and her superior (Jonathan Coote) contend with the illicit relationship of their charges, they become increasingly conflicted about the ethical implications of their work. It's soon clear they have a past beyond the laboratory and neither is objective about the complex issues that surround them.

Directed by award winning Richard Baron, The Effect features a stellar cast with set design by Ken Harrison, who received rave reviews for his design for The Ladykillers at Pitlochry Festival Theatre; lighting design by Matt Eagland and soundscape by Jon Beales all of whom have worked on previous Firebrand productions.

The original production opened to great acclaim at the National Theatre in 2012 and won the Critic's Circle Award for Best New Play for brilliant young playwright Lucy Prebble, author of the West End hit Enron and TV's Secret Diary of a Call Girl.    

The Effect is supported by Creative Scotland and presented in partnership with Heart of Hawick  and sponsored by Friends of Firebrand.

Tower Mill, Heart of Hawick  Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 February at 7.30pm

Tickets: (preview) Thursday 19 February £10

Friday 20 & Saturday 21 February £12

Fullarton Theatre, Castle Douglas Friday 6 March at 7.30pm 

Tickets: £10/£8

Box Office: 01556 504506 www.thefullarton.co.uk

Buccleuch Centre, Langholm Saturday 7 March at 7.30pm

Tickets: £10/£8

Box Office: 01387 381196 www.buccleuchcentre.com

Youth Theatre Arts Scotland - Interchange 2015

From Carolyn Yates

Saturday 21st March 2015 - Sunday 22nd March 2015

Howden Park Centre, Howden, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 6AE

For drama/theatre professionals.  Tickets are now on sale for Interchange 2015:  Scotland's only annual training conference for professionals who use drama and theatre in their work with young people. Now in its 11th year, this two day event provides a range of learning opportunities for delegates of all levels, skills and abilities. Workshop leaders include John Borstal, from Dance Exchange USA, with an introduction on Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process for giving and getting feedback on artistic work.

The costs are:

£150 Full weekend for YTAS members

£200 Full weekend for non members

£90 Saturday or Sunday only for YTAS members

£120 Saturday or Sunday only for non members

Bursaries are available.

Full details available online here

Sanitise at Big Burns Supper

From Lianne Whitelaw

A woman alone in her bathroom – what does it mean to be clean and what does it mean to be dirty?

Sanitise is a highly visual theatre show coming to Big Burns Supper on Tuesday 27^th January at 1pm. This is first stop in a nationwide Scottish tour, following a successful Fringe run in August where the production won a Scotsman Fringe First Award and was nominated for an Arches Brick Award.

Set in the most private of places, where dirt can be flushed away in an instant, Sanitise is a theatrical journey through the fantasy world of one woman alone in her bathroom. Combining physical theatre, dance, music and illustration, Sanitise is a quirky, imaginative production without words, looking at a part of life we never talk about and follows one woman's quest for domestic and sexual liberation. Disgusted by much of the outside world, her bathroom has become a sanctuary of cleanliness and an unlikely venue for self-expression. But there is something dark living beneath the bath and as her inner and outer life is revealed we discover a woman torn between fantasy and fear as she negotiates her relationship with literal and figurative filth.  What does it mean to be clean and what does it mean to be dirty?

Sanitise was created by two young Edinburgh based artists, Caitlin Skinner and Melanie Jordan, who aim to make bold visual theatre which opens up the audience's imaginations, their sense of humour and ultimately their minds. 

Sanitise will play at Electric Theatre Workshop on Tuesday 27^th January at 1pm, as part of Big Burns Supper. Tickets can be bought at the Box Office at 28 Munches Street or online at here