|
Box Office Now Open
0131 529 6000
Edinburgh Gang Show is produced by
EDINBURGH GANG SHOW PRODUCTIONS LIMITED
a company independent of South East Scotland Regional Scout Council and Girlguiding Edinburgh
EGSPL is a company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland SC 239507 and is a Registered Scottish Charity SC 033837
Star of the UK tour of 'Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat', Craig Chalmers, backs Edinburgh Gang Show's appeal for a property to store a valuable and historic Scottish theatre archive.
If you can help or would like more information please contact John Andrew, Edinburgh Gang Show Technical Director - on 0783 620 9495 or via South East Scotland Regional Scout Council on 0131 229 3756 or info@southeastscotlandscouts.org.uk
THE final curtain could come down on thousands of priceless theatre props if worried owners can’t beat the clock to find them a new home.
Among the historic collection are scenic backdrops and costumes that brought legends Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy to fame when they were used throughout the fifties and sixties variety shows.
The archive also played a part in the career of a more recent theatre great - Joseph star Craig Chalmers, when he performed in front of them as a young boy.
Over the years, owners at the Edinburgh Gang Show have accumulated and preserved the collection to prevent the loss of the valuable pieces of Scottish history.
But now the extensive stock - with pieces donated from theatres and production companies throughout the years - could be lost forever.
Up until now the collection was housed in farm buildings on the outskirts of Edinburgh, but notice has been given and the stores are desperately looking for a new home.
John Andrew, technical director for the Gang Show said: “We have been given notice to quit and we are already well past the deadline for moving these valuable assets to a new location. We desperately want to safeguard this irreplaceable living and working archive of Scottish theatrical productions.”
But they are now facing the fact that if nowhere suitable is located, the stock will have to be destroyed.
The 40ft high painted back-clothes, created by Howard & Wyndham theatre company in the 40s for their extravagant variety shows, include those that helped launch Fulton and Milroy to fame with ‘Francie and Josie’.
Stanley Baxter and Jimmy Logan also performed in front of them as they carved their stage career.
18,000 costumes and many smaller props make the archive the largest collection in Scotland.
John added: “Some of the stock we have goes back 40 or 50 years and it is steeped in the history of Scottish theatre and variety performances. We have managed to hang onto it this long, but it seems now that the chances of keeping it are getting more and more unlikely. If we can’t find someone to help, the items face being destroyed.
“Scotland has had a very, very rich variety tradition and historical value. Many of the items in our collection date from the time when variety and pantomime were the main thing being produced in Scotland.
“As far as we are concerned some of this material should be contained in a museum because it has such a strong link to the past. It needs to be maintained - not just for now, but for future generations to look back at the style of theatre that was most prevalent in Scotland and enjoy it as we have.”
Aside from the loss of the unique collection, the annual production of the Gang Show is in jeopardy too, and organisers are desperate to stop this from happening.
Mr Andrew added: “If anyone can help us source a suitable home for the collection they would be making a significant contribution to ensuring the Gang Show runs for many years to come.”
Craig Chalmers, who entered talent show Any Dream Will Do, and has the lead role of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat touring production, is backing the hunt for a new home because he says he has parts of the collection to thank for his stage career.
He explained: “When I was young I jumped at the chance of performing in the Gang Show in front of those very backdrops, and it was there that I first discovered I could sing. Without the production I might not have been given the chance to get on stage.”
And the Edinburgh-born 25-year-old insisted that stopping the show – which he performed in four times - would be a great loss.
He said: “The Gang Show is a great thing for young people to be a part of, and it is sad that because of a lack of storage, not only will that come to an end, but these wonderful backdrops might also be lost for the future.
“I’ll be disappointed if they don’t find somewhere new to store the collection, because so many children will no longer be given the opportunity to perform.”
Lauren Crooks, Deadline Press & Picture Agency
EDINBURGH GANG SHOW 2007
Review by Thom Dibdin, Edinburgh Evening News
****
THERE is a real air of confidence about this year's Gang Show, performed by young people from various Scouting and Guiding groups around Edinburgh.
The whole production has made a step change in its character. It is still packed with a variety-orientated mix of songs, routines from the musicals and comic sketches. And the quality is equal to the high standards set in recent years.
This year's show, however, feels much more like an event that is owned by the whole of Edinburgh, not just members of the Scouting and Guiding movement.
Of all the amateur productions staged over the year in Edinburgh, and maybe of all the professional productions too, the Gang Show is the one that succeeds in taking the temperature of the city - reflecting what it is like as a living, growing place.
The rump of original songs by Ralph Reader, who created the first Gang Show 75 years ago, has become so small as to be insignificant.
Indeed, of the five numbers still credited to him in the programme, only two have not been given additional lyrics by this year's director, Andy Johnston.
Of course the heart of the show is still about getting young people up on stage. Some 250 are performing at one point of the proceedings or another. Almost 100 of those feature in the main cast.
This being the case, you might expect a few lax moments. But aside from the odd flinch early on when a chorus member noticed their pals or parents in the stalls, the only noticeable fault was an unkempt necktie on a front-row soloist in one of the few numbers performed in uniform.
For the rest, this takes large groups of chorus members and sets them off singing and dancing across the stage with verve and attention to choreographic detail.
A typically strong number is one simply titled 'Together', which features groups of Cubs and Brownies alternating in a medley of songs from Joseph and The Sound of Music.
So much for the spectacle. Much more representative of 21st century Gang Show is 'It Sucks to be Me'. Five young soloists bemoan their lots as the likes of Alex Salmond, Vladimir Romanov and Amy Winehouse. Although it is Matthew Dryden who has the real problem - as a builder digging up Leith Walk for the trams.
Time and again, the local references slip in. It could almost be pantomime - and in the major second half number Robin Hood, it actually is. Big, spectacular, funny, pantomime - complete with ungentle digs at the opposition and a song sheet.
The Gang Show is no longer a date only to be marked in the Scouting movement's diary, it has become a date on Edinburgh's theatrical calendar. If you fancy going out tonight but have not made up your mind where, go see the Gang Show.
THOM DIBDIN, Edinburgh Evening News. Friday 23rd November 2007
Join over 250 young people every November at the King's Theatre for an evening of modern comedy, music and dance in a fast moving show that is guaranteed to entertain you.
|
_1.jpg)
