The Gang comes back

DYB! Dyb! Dyb! It's the highlight of the year for many of the Capital's Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies who next week get the opportunity to show their performance skills in the 57th Gang Show to be staged in the Capital.

Members of the Gang Show gang Pic: Contributed

From Tuesday, 250 young people from Scouting and Girlguiding across the city will swap their camping gear, hiking boots and outdoor pursuits for bright lights, sparkling costumes and backstage life.

Performed annually at the King’s Theatre since 1960 the Gang Show is the biggest show of its type in the world.

With a cast of Cub Scouts, Brownies, Scouts and Guides, Explorer Scouts and Young Leaders the Gang Show allows members of South East Scotland Scouts and Girlguiding Edinburgh to build confidence, make new friends and have a great time performing on one of the city’s most famous stages, the Old Lady of Leven Street.

Expect songs from musicals, pop favourites as well as comedy sketches and a rousing finale.

Additionally, the show this year has a special item presented by the Cub Scouts in the cast as they celebrate their centenary.

Performing a range of songs by One Direction, the Cubs are sure to be a highlight of the Gang Show this year.

The Gang Show, an amateur theatrical variety show, was created by actor, producer and Scout Leader Ralph Reader.

In 1931 he was asked if he could write a Scout based amateur production to raise funds for a swimming pool at the Downe Scout Camp.

The curtain rose on The Gangs All Here at London’s Scala Theatre a year later. Baden Powell, founder of The Boy Scouts Association and the Girl Guides persuaded Reader to produce a further show in 1933 - The Gang Comes Back - and the Gang Show was born.

And for those wondering about the old Scouting adage of ‘Dyb, dyb, dyb. Dob, dob, dob’ - an acronym for ‘Do your best’ and ‘Do our best’, apparently.

Gang Show 2016, King’s Theatre, Leven Street, Tuesday-Saturday, 7pm (matinee 2.15pm), £11-£18, 0131-529 6000