North Edinburgh memories translated from page to stage in play 'Getting Along with Gran'
Social history group’s booklet inspires play with intergenerational cast
Memories of people in North Edinburgh - from a Silverknowes beach romance to anti-Thatcher demos in the 1970s - have inspired a play which is to be staged in Leith later this month.
Citadel Arts Group is putting on two performances of ‘Getting Along with Gran’ which got four-star reviews when it had its debut earlier this year.
The play is based on the stories of members of the social history group at Royston/Wardieburn community centre, whose reminiscences were published in a booklet, ‘Windows to our Past’ which came out last year.
And it has been scripted by Rhona McAdam, Elaine Campbell, San Cassimally and Pamela Hanlon, all members of Citadel Arts Group’s playwrights’ workshop, who meet every week in Leith Dockers Club to develop new plays often based on local heritage and living memories.
The stories in ‘Getting Along with Gran’ are brought together through the evolving relationship between an 11-year old girl, Em, and her annoyingly forgetful and chatty grandmother, as Em gets caught up in some of Gran’s funny and troubling memories.
The playwrights collaborated with the members of the Royston/Wardieburn social history group behind the stories - Winifred Burke, Pat Gilhooley, Anna Hutchison, Bill and Greta McPhail, Helen McRae, David Norcliffe, Karen Soso, and Cathie Umobi. The two groups got together, talked about their experiences and expanded some of the stories for the play.
As well as contributing to the book, David Norcliffe stars in the play too, as the school janitor, which is what he was. And Helen McRae appears as herself in a film clip.
Also joining the Citadel’s professional actors on stage will be six young thespians from the Be Happy Performing Arts Company from Gorebridge, playing the children in the stories. And their teacher, Mairi Jayne Weir, stars as the little girl Em, the heroine of the play.
.jpeg?trim=0,13,0,12&crop=&width=640&quality=65)
The memories which inspired the play include those of Bill and Greta McPhail who met on Silverknowes beach in 1968. A proposal followed and they got married two years later. Bill, who lived in Drylaw, worked at Bruce Peebles, later to become Parsons Peebles, while Greta stayed on Pennywell Road and worked in a trendy shop called Bodkin at the foot of North Bridge.
Anna Hutchison, who moved to Edinburgh from Glasgow when she was 10, could not believe it when their new house in Royston had an inside toilet and played around with it so much it broke.
And Helen McRae joined the woodwork class at Craigroyston High School as an adult and went on to make a violin, as well as a new bed for her daughter.
When it was first performed at North Edinburgh Arts in June, ‘Getting Along with Gran’ was given a four-star review on All Edinburgh Theatre.com and was praised as “touching and amusing, performed with spirit and a light touch”. The reviewer said: “It’s a fun exercise in nostalgia, it’s a breezy and funny piece of accessible theatre.”
Liz Hare, artistic director at the Citadel and producer for the play, said: “The audience loved the show in June, and the company are confident Gran will go down a bomb with their regular Leith supporters.
“The play combines humour, nostalgia and a few slightly scary moments. It’s a show for all the family with a truly intergenerational cast.”
‘Getting Along with Gran’ is on at Leith Dockers Club, 17 Academy Street, Edinburgh EH6 7EE, on Thursday November 12 at 2.30 and 7pm. Tickets: £15/£12 concession from [email protected] 07954 296 568