19 BUSY YEARS OF
THEATRE IN CRIEFF.
Back in 1999, our first rehearsal space was the Crieff Hotel, which with its continuing support remains our regular base. Initially, membership subscriptions were just £5 and with the relatively small core of 19 founding members, it was glaringly obvious that £95 was not nearly enough to hire a hall and carry the expenses of a first production.
So to raise funds, Elspeth Fleming conceived and organised the 'A Little of What you Fancy' fashion show in the Crieff Hotel. Group members themselves strutted their stuff on the catwalk, while the fashions came courtesy of Crieff’s retailers, reflecting every aspect of Scottish leisure life, from cycling, skiing, climbing and hill walking to casual wear and formal highland evening wear. The show’s finale was a nattily choreographed dance routine to the movie tune ‘Putting On the Ritz’.
The Group’s inaugural production in 2000 was a one-night-only presentation – the farce 'I’ll Get My Man'. On stage then were several players very much involved in the Group today. You’ll still find Paul F Kelly, Ann Morrison and Colin Morrison – all players in that first production – now either performing on stage or working as part of the backstage technical team. ‘I’ll Get My Man’ was reviewed in the Strathearn Herald as ‘a strong team performance’ attracting ‘a substantial and enthusiastic audience’. So we were definitely off to a promising start.
Over the ensuing years Crieff Drama Group has brought to the theatre stage a wealth of talents in many forms. We’ve performed farce, comedy, spoof horror, thrillers and murder mysteries in one, two and three acts. We’ve presented pantomime, children’s shows, snippets of Shakespeare and written scripts for our own touring performances, staged both indoors and al fresco. We've staged rehearsed readings as part of the Crieff Drovers' Tryst annual event. We’ve produced hugely contrasting pieces, from acclaimed plays from London’s west end, such as Alan Ayckbourne’s ‘Between Mouthfuls’ to contemporary Scottish writing, as in our 10th Anniversary’s unexpected and uproarious take on Michael B Malone’s mischievous ‘Belly Buttons’ – 6 adults taking the roles of primary school children!
One thing that can be relied on from the Group at every appearance is a large helping of enterprise and surprise - fun for audience and cast alike, and highly entertaining.
With the energy and talents of the Group’s actors, technical crew and front of house team, together with the support of local businesses and the growing band of loyal theatregoers, we’re as enthusiastic and optimistic as we were on day one. To check out our full list of past productions, see the slide-out tags 'Diary of Productions' and 'Who, What, Where, Who?' under 'Our History'.
So to raise funds, Elspeth Fleming conceived and organised the 'A Little of What you Fancy' fashion show in the Crieff Hotel. Group members themselves strutted their stuff on the catwalk, while the fashions came courtesy of Crieff’s retailers, reflecting every aspect of Scottish leisure life, from cycling, skiing, climbing and hill walking to casual wear and formal highland evening wear. The show’s finale was a nattily choreographed dance routine to the movie tune ‘Putting On the Ritz’.
The Group’s inaugural production in 2000 was a one-night-only presentation – the farce 'I’ll Get My Man'. On stage then were several players very much involved in the Group today. You’ll still find Paul F Kelly, Ann Morrison and Colin Morrison – all players in that first production – now either performing on stage or working as part of the backstage technical team. ‘I’ll Get My Man’ was reviewed in the Strathearn Herald as ‘a strong team performance’ attracting ‘a substantial and enthusiastic audience’. So we were definitely off to a promising start.
Over the ensuing years Crieff Drama Group has brought to the theatre stage a wealth of talents in many forms. We’ve performed farce, comedy, spoof horror, thrillers and murder mysteries in one, two and three acts. We’ve presented pantomime, children’s shows, snippets of Shakespeare and written scripts for our own touring performances, staged both indoors and al fresco. We've staged rehearsed readings as part of the Crieff Drovers' Tryst annual event. We’ve produced hugely contrasting pieces, from acclaimed plays from London’s west end, such as Alan Ayckbourne’s ‘Between Mouthfuls’ to contemporary Scottish writing, as in our 10th Anniversary’s unexpected and uproarious take on Michael B Malone’s mischievous ‘Belly Buttons’ – 6 adults taking the roles of primary school children!
One thing that can be relied on from the Group at every appearance is a large helping of enterprise and surprise - fun for audience and cast alike, and highly entertaining.
With the energy and talents of the Group’s actors, technical crew and front of house team, together with the support of local businesses and the growing band of loyal theatregoers, we’re as enthusiastic and optimistic as we were on day one. To check out our full list of past productions, see the slide-out tags 'Diary of Productions' and 'Who, What, Where, Who?' under 'Our History'.
