Audiences in Pitlochry have been enjoying the first taste of a new musical extravaganza celebrating all of the very best of the Scottish ceilidh tradition. The musical, simply named CEILIDH, has been playing to audiences in the town hall from October 7 and will run through October 17 - giving locals the chance to get up close and join in with the dancing and the fun alongside some of the finest writing and performing talent.
Award-winning creative team
The show has been written by the award-winning writing duo Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie - aka Noisemaker - and is directed by the Tony Award winning Sam Pinkleton, who has been behind productions including 'Oh, Mary!' on Broadway and the West End and 'The Rocky Horror Show' at Studio 54. It has been described as a joyous, irreverent, heart-pounding celebration of Scotland's culture, community, and the power of gathering together.
The production features a cast of brilliant young Scottish talent pulled together by the artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Alan Cumming. One of those members of the cast is Pitlochry local Helen Logan, who is part of the noisy ensemble.
Interactive experience for audiences
She said ahead of the shows: "It's a really fun evening to come along to, it's quite unique in that it's a completely interactive experience for the audience if they want it to be. You can choose to participate or you can have a really good night if you choose not to get up and join in the ceilidh dancing."
"It's a wonderful celebration of what it is to be Scottish, you start the evening at strangers and hopefully by the end of the night, you won't be. This show might be quite different in Scotland compared to when it is elsewhere because a lot of these audiences won't know the same amount of ceilidh dances that audiences in Scotland would, so that will be interesting in how it translates. It's a whole evening of lots of trade music, folk music and lots of original music alongside a really beautiful story."
Pride for the community
The premiere performances in Pitlochry kick off the show's UK tour before it heads all over the country to destinations including Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh. But Helen admits having her Perthshire home at the centre of the show's origins was a real source of pride.
Helen continued: "I think it's a huge thing for Pitlochry and the fact it has come to the town hall is even more special because it has recently come into community ownership, so there's a huge drive in making the town hall much more part of the community and that's really personal to me as someone who lives in the town. I feel like this is the perfect thing to bring there and many of the shows are sold out which shows the demand and is a real coup for the community. The people will bring that energy and they will be fighting to get on that dance floor because they know all of the dances - we will not be struggling to get people up and involved!"
