Tag: North Edinburgh Arts Centre

A Ragged Trousered Appreciation

A Timely Reminder

On Saturday 21 April at North Edinburgh Arts Centre the audience was treated to a brilliant performance by two magnificent actors playing all the characters in Robert Tressell’s classic story ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’.

The subject, of grinding exploitation of workers employed by a building and decorating firm, was played with emotion, seriousness and a good deal of humour. The confusion and self-interest of some of the characters has its modern counterparts, but so does the message of what must still be done.

The actors, Rodney Matthew and Neil Gore, will be giving performances of the play at the Edinburgh Fringe at Venue 2 this August. It deserves to – and should – play to packed houses.

A Delahoy 

Granton Youth Centre stages drama at North Edinburgh Arts

Just Like Everybody else – A6 Flyer

‘You look after your pals and they look after you – if you don’t who else will?’

Granton Youth Centre are staging ‘Just Like Everybody Else’ tomorrow at 2pm and again at 7pm in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

The young participants performed an excerpt of their drama at a recent Forth Neighbourhood Partnership meeting and it’s well worth seeing. Produced by GRIP, the project is supported by Cashback for Communities and tickets are £3/£2 (concessions) for the evening performance, with some free tickets available for the afternoon event. Contact Jane at Granton Youth Centre for more information, jane@grantonyouth.com or telephone 467 5854.

 

North Edinburgh's story goes world-wide

North Edinburgh Social History Group’s research archive is now available on-line. The group amassed a wealth of material whilst undertaking research for their ‘Never Give Up’ book, published last year, and the documents and photographs can now be found on-line following a collaborative project with lifelong learning agency Scran.

Scran, part of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, enables online access to resources from museums, galleries, archives and the media, supporting learning and teaching at all ages.

Scran’s Helen Foster worked with the local Social History Group to make their extensive resources available to a wider audience, and the online exhibition was launched last Saturday at North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

Social History Group member Roberta Blaikie explained: ‘It took us two years to produce ‘Never Give Up’ – the book, DVD and photo exhibition – and we realised it was important that all this research was saved for future generations and made available for others to access easily. We are all rubbish with computers, but thankfully we met up with Helen at Scran. We did a lot of talking, Helen listened and did all the hard work and now we’ve been able to get everything digitized!”

Brian Robertson, another enthusiastic group member, added: ‘We’re delighted that this material is now available on-line. Some of the pictures in the book are quite small and we had to leave some things out because of the limited space available, so it’s great that all the information we gathered over such a long time is now available on the internet for everyone interested in our area’s history’.

The collection was launched before Saturday’s performances of ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ and was accompanied by a new protest song penned and performed by group member Ian Moore.

Access to Scran’s archive is available through Edinburgh City Libraries – go to http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/capital-collections. You’ll find North Edinburgh Social History Group’s archives under Local and Family History.

North Edinburgh’s story goes world-wide

North Edinburgh Social History Group’s research archive is now available on-line. The group amassed a wealth of material whilst undertaking research for their ‘Never Give Up’ book, published last year, and the documents and photographs can now be found on-line following a collaborative project with lifelong learning agency Scran.

Scran, part of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, enables online access to resources from museums, galleries, archives and the media, supporting learning and teaching at all ages.

Scran’s Helen Foster worked with the local Social History Group to make their extensive resources available to a wider audience, and the online exhibition was launched last Saturday at North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

Social History Group member Roberta Blaikie explained: ‘It took us two years to produce ‘Never Give Up’ – the book, DVD and photo exhibition – and we realised it was important that all this research was saved for future generations and made available for others to access easily. We are all rubbish with computers, but thankfully we met up with Helen at Scran. We did a lot of talking, Helen listened and did all the hard work and now we’ve been able to get everything digitized!”

Brian Robertson, another enthusiastic group member, added: ‘We’re delighted that this material is now available on-line. Some of the pictures in the book are quite small and we had to leave some things out because of the limited space available, so it’s great that all the information we gathered over such a long time is now available on the internet for everyone interested in our area’s history’.

The collection was launched before Saturday’s performances of ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ and was accompanied by a new protest song penned and performed by group member Ian Moore.

Access to Scran’s archive is available through Edinburgh City Libraries – go to http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/capital-collections. You’ll find North Edinburgh Social History Group’s archives under Local and Family History.

Time running out for Ragged Trousered tickets!

There are still a few tickets available for tomorrow afternoon’s (2pm) performance of Ragged Trousered Philanthropists at North Edinburgh Arts Centre. Contact the Box Office on 315 2151 to snap these up!

Congratulations to Mr P Cairns of Wester Drylaw, who correctly identified Robert Tressell as the author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Mr Cairns wins two tickets to the evening performance.

Enjoy the show!

 

 

Stage classic set for local arts centre

North Edinburgh Arts Centre is the place to be next Saturday (21 April) when it stages the only Edinburgh performances of the classic ‘Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’.

This hilarious, fast-paced adaptation of Robert Tressell’s classic book shares with its audience a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators as they renovate ‘The Cave’, a three-storey town house, for Mayor Sweater. It traces their hardships and struggles for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England. These workers are the ‘philanthropists’ who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.

This enduring and absorbing classic story is brought to life by Neil Gore and Rodney Matthew, two hugely talented and experienced performers, using comedy routines and entertaining songs of the Music Hall, with a few surprises along the way!

Robert Tressell’s book has become a classic of working-class literature since its first publication in 1914.  The themes and style of the piece are eternally relevant and provoking as it puts life and politics into sharp focus in an entertaining and accessible way.

Stephen Lowe’s version of the story was first seen in 1978, when Joint Stock Theatre Company toured the country playing to packed houses. The play was revived at the Half Moon Theatre, London in 1983 and again for a touring production by the Birmingham Rep in 1991.

Townsend Productions’ ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ excellent cast features Rodney Matthew who joins the production straight off the back of ‘Jerusalem’ in the West End.  He has worked at many of the leading repertory theatres, including West Yorkshire Playhouse  where he worked for a year and at Dundee Rep where he spent a memorable five years performing in classical, musical and new work around Scotland. Matthew is joined on stage in the two-hander by the talented Neil Gore (Song of Singapore, Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End). The production is directed by Louise Townsend, with the creative team including designs by Fine Time Fontayne and lighting by Jo Dawson.

The play has had the Backing of the unions RMT, Unite, Unite, Scotland, TUC, SETUC, GMB, PCS, Wales TUC, NUT, Accord, UCATT NASWT and the FBU.

Tickets for The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (performances at 2pm and 7pm) are priced at £10.00 Conc. £5.00 and can be purchased at North Edinburgh Arts Box Office: 0131 315 2151.

STOP PRESS

Tickets for the evening performance are already sold out and tickets for the matinée are going fast. However you can win tickets for the play – North Edinburgh Arts has two tickets to give away for the matinée and NEN has to more for the evening performance. Check out April’s NEN to find out how to win tickets to a must-see show!

CORE’s Soundkidz performing today

 

CORE (Community Organisation for Race Equality) is inviting you to a music group event this afternoon in North Edinburgh Arts Centre from 3.30pm.

CORE Youth and Children’s Development Worker Hazel Lyons explains: “CORE started a music-making group last December at North Edinburgh Arts Centre and children from the Greater Pilton area have been focusing on music making and discovering different types of music. Throughout the sessions youth workers have been working with the children to explore new forms of music and improve their music skills, with the help of different guest musicians coming along each week.”.

She adds: “The children have been working towards putting on a performance and would love to show you everything that they have learned. CORE would therefore like to invite you to this event on Saturday 31 March at North Edinburgh Arts Centre. The performance will last from 3.30-4.30pm and there will also be refreshments. The children have worked so well together, learned new skills and had lots of fun – we are all really looking forward to the performance”.

 

CORE's Soundkidz performing today

 

CORE (Community Organisation for Race Equality) is inviting you to a music group event this afternoon in North Edinburgh Arts Centre from 3.30pm.

CORE Youth and Children’s Development Worker Hazel Lyons explains: “CORE started a music-making group last December at North Edinburgh Arts Centre and children from the Greater Pilton area have been focusing on music making and discovering different types of music. Throughout the sessions youth workers have been working with the children to explore new forms of music and improve their music skills, with the help of different guest musicians coming along each week.”.

She adds: “The children have been working towards putting on a performance and would love to show you everything that they have learned. CORE would therefore like to invite you to this event on Saturday 31 March at North Edinburgh Arts Centre. The performance will last from 3.30-4.30pm and there will also be refreshments. The children have worked so well together, learned new skills and had lots of fun – we are all really looking forward to the performance”.

 

Eighty attend Dosh Day

Around eighty people attended North Edinburgh’s first ever Dosh Day at North Edinburgh Arts Centre this afternoon, taking the opportunity to find out how they can cut their costs and maximise their household income.

The event was organised by the Lottery-funded Money Matters project. Castle Rock Edinvar’s Head of Neighbourhood Regeneration Heather McNaughton explained: “A group of Housing Associations in Edinburgh work together with the Citizens Advice Edinburgh to help tenants to access debt advice and to encourage people to use support to maximise their income and remain out of unsustainable debt.  As part of the project we had previously co-ordinated a “Dosh Day” in Craigmillar which was very successful and we are now bringing the concept to North Edinburgh with the kind support of local organisations and agencies.”

Citizens Advice Bureaux, Granton Information Centre, Community Renewal, JobCentre Plus, Cyrenians and Volunteer Centre Edinburgh were among the organisations attending on the day, so there was no shortage of sound financial advice.

Art’s cool with MYDG at North Edinburgh Arts

Young people from Muirhouse Youth Development Group (MYDG) will be staging an art exhibition at North Edinburgh Arts Centre next week.

The Arts Cool and Urban Arts exhibition opens with a launch event at the arts centre on Thursday 29 March from 5.30 – 7.30pm, and everyone’s welcome!

For further informaiton email joanne@mydg.org.uk or telephone 332 3356.