Tag: Citadel Arts Group

Citadel Arts Group’s The Ghosts of North Leith

NEW SCORSESE MOVIE’S NORTH LEITH LINK

Citadel Arts Group were surprised to discover a connection between Lily Gladstone, star of Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and one of the main characters in their forthcoming show, The Ghosts of North Leith.

Lily Gladstone comes from Montana, of Blackfeet Indian stock. But on her mother’s side she is descended from the great-great grandfather of a first cousin of the 19th century UK Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. And – wait for it – Gladstone’s grandmother is Nellie Gladstones (the family later dropped the final ‘s’) who features in Citadel Arts Group’s The Ghosts of North Leith.

Nellie was a feisty businesswoman who, in Hilary Spiers’ section of the play, reprimands her son John for using slave labour on his plantations.

The fruits of this labour fetch up in Leith. Hilary Spiers writes, ‘The Sugar Boycott was a way for middle class women to show their abhorrence of the slave trade by refusing to buy slave-produced sugar.  Little is known of Nellie’s life which allowed me to give free rein to my imagination.  My play portrays her as something of a radical and an early feminist at odds with her family who derive much of their wealth from slavery.’

When slavery was abolished in 1833, Nellie’s son John Gladstone received the largest payment from the Slave Compensation Commission amounting to over £10m in modern currency. This money no doubt paid for the fine family gravestone in Coburg Street cemetery.

Slavery is a central issue in The Ghosts of North Leith. The play is based on the stories behind seven of the graves in Coburg Street Burial Ground. One tantalising stone commemorates a Jacob Stoney who died in Leith in 1820 but was born in Jamaica on the family plantation.

His fine stone was raised by his sister Mary who was still living in Jamaica.  Citadel’s writers have woven a story around these bare facts using detailed historical research and some inspired guesswork.

 Some are the graves are of well-known characters like Lady Anne Mackintosh who raised troops in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1756. Having enjoyed the Outlander books, playwright Rhona McAdam was attracted to this real-life Jacobite heroine. ‘I wondered how Lady Anne ended up in North Leith Burial Ground instead of the family estate in the Highlands.’ It appears Leith was a hotbed of Jacobite sympathy.

The figure who links all the stories is Robert Nicoll. Hailed as the second Robert Burns, Nicoll became a radical activist and newspaperman until his early death in 1837, aged only 33.

Nicoll is the conscience of the play, pointing out the hypocrisies and double think of the other characters, all stuck in the limbo of North Leith, regretting their unfulfilled lives. The play uses pathos, humour, music to add another chapter to the rich history of the port of Leith which Citadel has been celebrating for almost thirty years.

The cast is led by Mark Kydd, a Citadel regular. He writes: ‘As an adopted Leither, I’ve always been fascinated by its concealed history … vintage maps showing different street names and open fields in what are now built-up areas.

Citadel has a fine tradition of examining Leith’s past through its work, but here the writers have literally gone underground, exploring the lives of people buried in Coburg Street Cemetery though a combination of painstaking research and imaginative speculation.

One character in the play wryly observes: “They said the deid are quite forgotten after three generations”. We hope that this production goes some way towards redressing the balance by helping to celebrate these otherwise forgotten lives.

The script was given a trial performed reading at Leith Festival in June.

Director Liz Hare said: ’Thanks to the enthusiastic feedback of the Leith people and their supportive comments, we have developed and improved the script for three evening performances.

“Now we exploit light and darkness to create a truly disturbing atmosphere for our North Leith ghosts!”

The venue of the show is North Leith Parish Church, soon due to be released for sale by the Church of Scotland. This will be the audience’s last chance to see a live performance in this beautiful Georgian building, intended as the hub of Leith’s New Town.

Venue: North Leith Parish Church, 51 Madeira Street EH6 4AU

Dates: 14, 14, and 16 November at 7.30pm

Tickets £10/£9 from jamesellison@blueyonder.co.uk/07770 623 924

Writers: Carolyn and Brian Lincoln, John Lamb, Hilary Spiers, Elaine Campbell and Rhona McAdam.

Cast Mark Kydd, Deborah Whyte, Chelsea Grace, Fraser Allan Hogg and Grant MacIver.

Director: Liz Hare

Sound: Roddy Simpson

Costumes: Susan Chaney

SM: Maggie Brown

Technical Assistance: Stewart Emm.

The Ghosts of North Leith: Citadel Arts Group leave no stone unturned

Citadel’s Arts Group’s 12th foray into Leith Festival is an exploration of the atmospheric North Leith Burial Ground. Their playwrights workshop wondered what lies beneath Coburg Street and found a number of big characters interred in this small cemetery.

Seven members of Citadel’s group of older writers each chose to research the story behind one of the graves.

There are people whose achievements and eccentricities will be dramatized in a play, The Ghosts of North Leith. Using music, humour and poetry, the drama will raise awareness of this fascinating area of Leith history.

In the Coburg Street Burial Ground lies Lady Anne Mackintosh nicknamed the ‘Colonel’. Playwright Rhona McAdam explains she was drawn to her ‘as she seemed a strong, independent woman, taking part in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. 

“Her husband, Sir Angus, chief of Clan Mackintosh, was a Captain in the government troops.  Since he was unable, or unwilling, to raise the clan to fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie, Lady Anne did it instead. 

“When the Jacobites won the Battle of Prestonpans, Sir Angus surrendered to his wife.  After the Battle of Culloden, when the Jacobites were defeated, Lady Anne surrendered to her husband.’  

Jim Brown took on the poet, Robert NicolI, heralded as the next Robert Burns. Jim said: ‘I became fascinated by Robert Nicoll because he was a poet, writer and radical newspaper man born in 1814, who packed so much into his short life. He died aged 23.’

No stone marks the burial place of 12-year-old Matilda Molesworth, but burial records indicate the spot. She features in the real-life story of the Trinity poltergeist. One of the collection of unexplained happenings in Catherine Crowe’s 1848 book “The Night Side of Nature“, it has popped up in anthologies of uncanny happenings ever since.

Another member of Citadel’s playwrights’ workshop, novelist Hilary Spiers explains: ” I’ve long been interested in the history of slavery in Scotland.

“While John Gladstones (buried in North Leith graveyard) and his grandson William Gladstone are better known, I felt John’s wife Nellie (who was known to be a very capable woman) might well have held views at odds with the men in her family. Women were a strong if largely unsung force in the abolitionist movement’.

Elaine Campbell came across the North Leith gravestone of three children and told us: ‘I was intrigued. Who were these three bairns so lovingly remembered?

“In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when the Millar children lived and died, infant mortality was ferociously high. Sadly all attempts to locate the children in church records proved fruitless.

“There were Millars living in Leith at the time.  I have assumed Peter, John and Archibald were part of this extended, prosperous family of merchants. Although the “Three Cherubs” is my fictional account, I drew on historical material to describe their short lives and untimely deaths.

“By telling their story I hope to have given voice to the countless children who lie long forgotten in North Leith Graveyard’. 

Was it chance or Divine intervention that led writers Carolyn and Brian Lincoln to the gravestone of the Rev. Dr. David Johnston? Previous attempts at finding the grave of this pillar of the North Leith community had proved fruitless.

The Lincolns were paying one last visit to the Coburg Street churchyard, when they noticed the letters D.D. poking through the moss. D.D. Doctor of Divinity.  They scraped away some moss and there was the name. David Johnston (1735-1824) served the parish for nearly 60 years, a strong leader when Leith was seriously threatened by the ships of John Paul Jones, who supported the breakaway American colonies.

The play, which includes all these stories, and more, will be given a trial performed reading in North Leith Parish Church on 15 June. Citadel Arts Group seeks feedback from this first audience at Leith Festival with a view to staging a full performance of the play later in the year in the same venue.

North Leith Parish Church in Madeira Street welcomes Citadel Arts Group’s interest in the burial ground, and the church building which was to have been the keystone of Leith’s ‘New Town’.

Tim Bell told us: ‘I welcome the play as a chance for local and Edinburgh people to see this beautiful Georgian Church before it is released from the Church of Scotland estate in 2024’.

Venue: North Leith Parish Church, 51 Madeira Street EH6 4AU

Date: June 15th 7pm

Tickets: £5 from lizhare@blueyonder.co.uk /07770 623 924

Associated event: Hilary Spiers will lead a free guided tour of North Leith Burial Ground in Coburg Street on Monday June 12th at 2pm. Places are limited. Book from Liz Hare

Writers: Carolyn and Brian Lincoln, Jim Brown, John Lamb, Hilary Spiers, Elaine Campbell and Rhona McAdam.

Cast: Mark Kydd, Deborah Whyte, Chelsea Grace, Gregor Davidson, Dale McQueen.

Director: Liz Hare

Sound: Stewart Emm

Citadel Arts Group (SC 034687) is a Leith-based theatre company which specialises in creating new plays based on local stories, memories, and history.

Real life story inspires Caring

New play premieres in Edinburgh in November

A mother’s experience of caring for her severely disabled son is the basis for a new play which will be performed next month at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

Caring, by Rhona McAdam from Edinburgh, describes the daily struggle of living with a disabled teenager, and is based on her own life story.

The play, performed by Citadel Arts Group on November 3 and 4, with support from the Lottery, will be free, with a special invitation extended to carers’ groups in the city.

Rhona McAdam, who lives in Colinton, says: “It’s a realistic view of a mother caring for her teenage son.

“She is finding it tougher to care for him because he has a lot of physical care needs.  Now he’s getting older she is maybe mothering him too much.  In the play it’s his fifteenth birthday and she’s telling him he can’t have another beer.”

According to charity Care for Carers there are now more than 800,000 adult carers in Scotland, and 82 per cent have no time for respite or breaks.

Rhona based the character of Joey on her own son Ruairidh, who had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and died this year, aged 29, shortly after she finished writing the play.

Boys and young men with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy lack a protein which causes progressive muscle weakness, leading to respiratory problems and difficulty swallowing.

The writer hopes others will be able to relate to the story.

“These are characters and these are their struggles – but it could be any teenager or any mother.

“All Joey wants to do is play on his X Box   For Joey it’s a world where he can do things, run, and fight.”

In the play the character of the mother struggles to look after herself as well as her son, but comes to realise she needs to find a way to do this.

“I tried to make it realistic.  Mum is no saint – in fact neither Mum or Joey is angelic.  They are both a bit grumpy with each other. Mum is tired and a bit frustrated and Joey resents his mum for being annoyed.

“I wanted to show the reality of caring – but also that normal life goes on – whatever difficulties you face.”

Rhona McAdam was one of the writers of Leithers One Family, the play based on a family of Leithers, which Citadel Arts Group created and staged online during lockdown.  

A version of the play Leithers Live, was performed at Custom House, Leith in June.

As well as losing her son this year Rhona also lost her husband Iain, who died during lockdown in December 2021.   Writing the play and working with Citadel has given her a welcome focus.

She says: “I have written short stories before but I have really enjoyed being part of the collaborative process and working with actors and directors.”

Caring, which will be directed by Mark Kydd, will be staged at the Storytelling Centre on November 3 and 4.

The part of Mum will be played by Laverne Edmonds, Joey will be played by Fraser Allan Hogg, while Dale McQueen will take the supporting roles.

Liz Hare, director of the Citadel Arts Group says: “It will be a very welcome return to the Storytelling Centre for us. Although we are usually associated with Leith, the group originally performed at the Storytelling Centre.  It’s a beautiful theatre space and we’re delighted to be going back.

“We’ve done a lot of work with Care for Carers and the Carers’ Group from the Eric Liddell Centre running creative writing workshops and Rhona’s play fits in really well with that.   We did an early run through of the play with Edinburgh carers and they gave feedback and suggestions to help with the development of the script.”

Erica Whitaker Wallis, of Care for Carers said: “Across Scotland, there were an estimated 700,000 to 800,000 unpaid carers before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Survey work from Scottish Government in September 2020 suggests the number of adult carers had grown to around 839,000. As a result of the pandemic 90 per cent of carers are spending more time caring, with 82 per cent having had no access to respite or breaks from caring.

“It is therefore more important than ever that we continue to shine a light on the vital contribution that unpaid carers make to our society.

As an organisation we work alongside community partners to provide carers with access to short break opportunities which this year has involved providing drama workshops with Citadel Arts.

“For a carer, just a few hours break away from their caring role can make a big difference to their wellbeing which is why we view these partnerships as so important.”

The project received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.

Director Mark Kydd said: “I think people will enjoy the play.  In spite of the seriousness of the subject matter it’s surprising, it’s funny and it’s playful.

“Because the character Joey loves gaming he wants to be a superhero of his own story and that adds a fantasy element to the narrative.”

Caring, by Rhona McAdam, will be performed at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, High Street, Edinburgh on November 3 and 4, with a matinee on November 4

Thursday 3 November, 7pm

Friday 4 November, 4pm and 7pm

There will be a Q and A after the matinee on November 4 with Erica Whittaker Wallis from Care for Carers.

LEITHERS LIVE tickets selling fast

Tickets for Citadel Arts Group’s Leith Festival show, LEITHERS LIVE, are now on sale and selling fast.

This site specific show, set around Leith Custom House, follows the indomitable Preston family from the 1300s to the present day.

Tickets £10/£8 from ftennick@hotmail.com or phone 01875 717 340.

Citadel announce new Leith show

CITADEL ARTS GROUP present a performed reading of new Scottish comedy

NAN & RITA and the DEAR DEPARTED

By Edinburgh writer Carolyn Lincoln

Top actors Lynne McCallum (Still Game, Taggart) and Estrid Barton (Howard’s End, Still Game, Theodosia) will once again team up for the new Scottish comedy Nan & Rita and the Dear Departed by Edinburgh writer Carolyn Lincoln.

Directed by Adam Tomkins, this is the pandemic-postponed follow-up to Nan & Rita and the Holy Grail which won great feedback in 2018:

“Entertaining dialogue…very clever and genuine use of Scots… fine satirical touches.” “A breath of fresh air and a bloody good laugh.” “Full of energy…well performed… excellent timing… lovely warm performances.”

This lunchtime performance will be in the popular PLAY, PIE AND DOCKERS PINT format. Arrive at Leith Dockers Club at 12:30 for your pie and drink and the performance starts at 1pm. Make sure you allow for extra travelling time because of the current tram works.

Carolyn Lincoln is a former Glasgow Herald staff journalist, radio ‘soap’ writer and occasional contributor to The Scotsman.

Over the years Leith based registered charity Citadel Arts Group has sought to encourage older writers and creatives to take professionally-produced drama and new writing to places and people other Scottish drama doesn’t usually reach.

Performance details

Wednesday 27th April 2022.

Leith Dockers Club, 17 Academy Street, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 7EE.

People should arrive at 12.30 to collect their drink and pie (meat or veg). 

The show starts at 1pm.

Ticket price: £8 / £6 (senior citizens, students, unemployed)

Tickets can be reserved from lizhare@blueyonder.co.uk or paid for at the door, subject to availability. 

Further information: Adam Tomkins (Director) adam.paul.tomkins@gmail.com       

As the nights draw in …

Heart of Newhaven’s October newsletter

All about project updates …


Our friendship benches are now being decorated!

On October 8th, a group of older and younger people  from the New Spin intergenerational project at the Citadel will decorate the first of our six friendship benches, all of which have been made by Mens Shed.

The New Spin group will be working with local artist Johnathan Elders to create patterns for the backs of the bench. Further benches will be decorated in further sessions, so each will be unique. The project is being run with the help of Thrive, to celebrate World Mental Health Day on 10th October.

Fruit tree planting in Victoria Park

Our Greening Team have been busy with plans for the area and pupils from Trinity High and Trinity Primary Schools will be helping to plant some young fruit trees in Victoria Park this winter to enhance the area, by adding beauty, interest and biodiversity.

There are already a couple of small trees in situ, so those will be added to, to create a mini orchard. The trees will be Scottish heritage fruit trees, specially chosen for the site, and will include apple, pear and plum. 

Each one will have its own protective cage, provided by Edinburgh City Council, and the pupils will learn from a Royal Botanic Gardens representative how best to plant and care for them.

We hope to work on more tree-planting and wilding projects in the future, not just in the parks but in the more built-up parts of our neighbourhood, where urban nature needs some encouragement. 

 Keep abreast of the latest news on our Greening Page

Environment Page


And more on green issues

The Heart of Newhaven Community was assessed by It’s Your Neighbourhood, part of the Keep Scotland Beautiful charity recently, and despite it only being the first year of our association with them, we have scored a Level 3, (out of five) which means we are “advancing”.

The score was helped by having achieved our goal of funding from the Scottish Land Fund to acquire the site, as well as successfully engaging with a variety of local communities and groups. Well done everyone involved. The next level is “thriving” and the top level is “outstanding”. How long will it be?

Forth Reflections

On October 22nd from 2pm – 4 pm we are collaborating with an exhibition in the main entrance to Ocean Terminal called ‘Forth Reflections and Expressions of Wellbeing’. The event is being organised in conjunction with the Edinburgh Wellbeing PACT and the Forth/Edinburgh Shoreline Project.

Conceived during the dark days of winter lockdown this project is the passionate responses of well over a hundred different people to a part of the Forth coast that is special to them.

A long storyline of enmeshed crafted memories and visions of the Forth has emerged, linking the Fife, Edinburgh and East Lothian coasts, biodiversity, people and communities.

Each participant expressed their response to their chosen 1km of coast on a calico square and many people have focused on the coast’s local history and wildlife, its beauty and diversity and the many species and memories that have been and are still being lost. While frustration and anger can be seen in many pieces about marine and intertidal pollution, there is also heartfelt hope for the future.

We hope that as many people as possible will call in and have a chat. Not only will it be an opportunity to talk to us about our plans for the Heart in general but we also want to have conversations about wellbeing and what it means to each of us in our community. As inspiration we will be displaying a selection of the calico squares created by local people.

Call in to see the display and have a chat.

Keep watching our website and social media platforms for the latest news, as we await the move of Victoria Primary School pupils to their new home and the handover of the keys for the site from Edinburgh City Council to the Heart.

Newhaven Fishwives take centre stage in new audio play

Newhaven’s iconic fishwives are at the heart of the latest audio drama from Leith-based theatre company, Citadel Arts Group.

The Fishwives, by Lizzie McLean, stars Nicola Roy as one of the titular fishwives. Nicola is the host and creator of The Cultural Coven podcast and she enjoyed international success playing Elmire in an award-winning production of Liz Lochead’s Tartuffe at the 2020 Adelaide Fringe.

The Fishwives may be set in 1812, but it highlights some surprisingly modern attitudes, as the play’s Director, Mark Kydd explains: “What really struck me about the play was the degree of autonomy and financial independence enjoyed by Newhaven Fishwives in the early nineteenth century, not a period renowned for women’s emancipation.

“I think Lizzie’s writing beautifully captures the strength, humour and camaraderie of these women.”

Nicola (whose character helps a Leith lad evade the clutches of the notorious pressgangs who roamed the ports during the Napoleonic Wars) agrees: “The Fishwives is a beautiful, lively little piece about the resilience, humour and rather modern Newhaven Fishwives.

“As an Edinburgh girl and actress it was great to work in east coast dialect which the writer, Lizzie, captured so well and to learn of the important history and contribution of these ‘on the surface’ ordinary women.”

Not only is the play set in Newhaven, but the production also has a number of connections with the area.

The play’s writer, Lizzie McLean, is Newhaven based, as is musician Sophia Abrahamsen, whose expertise helped bring the vibrant history of the Newhaven Fishwives to life.

Producer and founder of Citadel Arts Group, Liz Hare says: “We wanted to make sure the play was as accurate as possible, so had asked Sophia – who’s in the Newhaven Choir – to help us find some traditional songs to feature in the piece.

“Not only did she find us three wonderful songs, which she also performs in the play, but she was also able to share her historical expertise on the fishwives, helping us with details such as authentic names and language.

“As the last known Newhaven fishwife is believed to have retired as recently as 1976, there are still many people who will remember these remarkable women, so it was particularly important to us to honor their history and traditions”

The Fishwives will be available online at www.citadelgoesviral.com from Sunday 13 June.

Scotmid Community Connect cash for three local projects

Three charities based in the East of Scotland have been awarded £8,500 each, thanks to Scotmid Co-operative’s Community Connect award scheme.

Children with Cancer & Leukaemia Advice and Support for Parents (CCLASP), the Citadel Arts Group and Venture Scotland, secured the funding after being shortlisted by the convenience retailer as one of nine good causes across Scotland to receive financial support from a total pot of £75,000.

Edinburgh-based Venture Scotland, a charity which provides young people aged between 16 and 30, who are struggling with life, the chance to take part in a personal development course based in the outdoors, expressed their gratitude at receiving the lifeline funding.

David Brackenridge, CEO of Venture Scotland, said: “The pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone. However, it has been particularly hard for young people who were already struggling with their mental health before we went into lockdown.

“Scotmid’s generous funding will allow us to continue to support disadvantaged young people through our outdoors based personal development Journey programmes, to enable them to lead happier, healthier and more fulfilled lives.”

Since Scotmid’s Community Connect launched in 2017, more than £450,000 has been awarded to 54 good cause groups enabling key projects to come to life in local areas.

Harry Cairney, Chair of East Regional Committee at Scotmid, said: “The pandemic has created numerous challenges for communities to overcome and adapt to.

“Community Connect was established to enable us to extend the ways in which we can support the communities that we serve, and we are delighted to provide Venture Scotland, CCLASP and the Citadel Arts Centre, with this funding as they continue to provide vital support to their communities.”

CCLASP has provided vital support for families living with a child with cancer for the last 25 years. They offer families respite holidays at their cottage in Muthill. These holidays provide an oasis of peace for families at their darkest of times and any funds will be used to keep this amazing offering open to families needing a break.

Based in Leith for the last 10 years, Citadel Arts Group stimulates and expresses the creativity of older people through stories, memory books and lively dramas helping to celebrate the history of Leith. Funding will be used to create audio plays inspired by the stories to entertain the whole community.

In normal times, Scotmid would typically select a shortlist of community projects which its members then vote on to allocate different amounts of funding.

However, due to the pandemic, the Scotmid Board agreed that all shortlisted charities and community groups would receive equal amounts of funding within each region.