Harlequin Celebrating 30 years of Youth Theatre the continuing story of Harlequin ≈ Eastwood Theatre for Youth by Grace Smith and Kenneth Robertson ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to the following people: Leen Davidson ­ who planted the seed of an idea for these "memoirs" at a committee meeting some years ago, Kenneth Robertson – who contributed to this book with his memories of the last nine years, and Avril Robertson ­ for research and typing, all of which she assured me she enjoyed immensely. Despite the best efforts of our proof­readers, there may be some unintentional errors and omissions in these pages for which we apologise. Grace Smith January 2007 FOREWORD TO “THE FIRST 21 YEARS” As you will read in the following pages, Harlequin has a chequered story to tell over the last thirty years. My small part in their story originated in 1977 when the former Eastwood District Council agreed to the use of their secondary title of "Eastwood Theatre for Youth" and contributed the sum of £100.00 to help the original office bearers to get the Club up and running. £100.00 seems such a paltry sum by today's standards. I watched the Club go from strength to strength over twenty five years as Honorary President, with all the ups and downs that this entailed, and how pleasing it is to know that the ups prevailed. This is particularly memorable when you think that the justification for it all, “to train youngsters in all aspects of theatre work", has been carried out on a purely voluntary basis. How remarkable, creditable and praiseworthy in this day and age. Wherever they go next ­ and their 100th performance is not far away ­ we can only wish them every success in their good works, because it must not be forgotten how much the whole Community benefits from such an enthusiastic and willing team of volunteers. As I say in my programme foreword ­ "Please, Sit Back, Relax and Enjoy" the story which unfolds in the pages ahead. Ian S Hutchison Honorary President 1998 – 2002 FOREWORD TO “THE CONTINUING STORY OF HARLEQUIN ~ EASTWOOD THEATRE FOR YOUTH” When invited in 2002 to take up the position of Honorary President, I felt very honoured. Harlequin has played such a large part in my life, giving me opportunities I would never have had elsewhere in the amateur field. Since I stepped down from active participation in the activities of the Club in the new millennium, one of the features which has given me most satisfaction is to watch the numbers of young people, all of whom have come through the ranks of the Club, take their place in the production teams over the last few years. It has given me great pleasure to prepare this book. It has rekindled so many memories for me. Thank you for giving Kenneth and I the chance to share our memories with you – enjoy your read! Grace Smith Honorary President 2002 – present day 1 HARLEQUIN CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF YOUTH THEATRE In 1976, the Seekers, the Junior Youth Fellowship of Giffnock Congregational Church, decided to mount a show for Christmas. Their leaders ­ Roy Henderson, Douglas Smith and John Young ­ chose the pantomime "Cinderella", booked Eastwood Theatre for a week in November, and approached me to produce the show. 76 children from all over the district took part in the production, which was voted a big success, which prompted me to say that what we really needed to do was start a theatre group for young people in the district. And so it all began... One evening in February 1977 a group of people met together in a house in Giffnock. The subject under discussion was the formation of a theatre group in the Eastwood area catering solely for the needs of young people. Discussion was fast and furious, ranging over all the problems we could foresee ­ and these were many ­ not least the fact that we had no money and no real assurance that we would get support in the area. However, by the end of the evening we had agreed on one thing ­ to have a go! We chose a name ­ Harlequin (the hero/rascal of Commedia, which eventually gave us panto). Douglas Smith designed a badge, and we were off! We chose our first committee under the leadership of Dr John Clark as President, advertised in the local papers for youngsters to come forward if interested, and started rehearsals for our first show, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", which was to take place in Clarkston Hall during Civic Week in May 1977. We had no money ­ only enthusiasm. Eastwood District Council gave us the princely sum of £100 to help us get started ­ which is why we took the name Eastwood Theatre for Youth. Douglas Smith made the scenery, such as it was; our choreographer, Margaret Beith, made the principals' costumes, assisted by those of us who haunted jumble sales for suitable fabrics; a local dance teacher who was retiring gave us costumes, including a number of woodland creature outfits which appeared with monotonous regularity until they literally fell apart years later, to the relief of those who had to wear them! In that first show we had 58 youngsters on stage and that set the pattern for the following years. We have never been short of youngsters ­ rather the reverse in fact ­ and soon we had a waiting list of youngsters wanting to participate in the club. After the success of "Snow White", when it was obvious that the need and interest were there, we made plans to present our first pantomime, "Aladdin", in Eastwood Theatre. And so the pattern for the next few years was set. We presented two shows a year ­ one a pantomime in November, and the other a musical show in May as part of Civic Week. The yearly pantomime has been a very important aspect of Harlequin's contribution to the community over the years. Last year, 2006, saw the presentation of our twenty seventh panto. We place a strong emphasis on family entertainment and for this reason have a very strong support from the district. All of us involved have our own favourite and also our own memories: ... of the time when one of the main principals "ran away from home" after the dress rehearsal, leaving us not knowing whether we would have a principal on the first night; ... of the time, in "Pied Piper", when Douglas Smith stepped on­stage as Dame, opened his mouth to speak and his false teeth shot across the stage, reducing the other cast member, Muriel Dinsmor, and most of the audience to hysterics; ... of the time when Michael Adair as Dame came zooming on stage on a skateboard and walloped a flat, which promptly fell over one of the cast ­ fortunately it was an arched flat and Nora treated the matter with great aplomb; ... of the time when Susan Kernohan, the principal boy, took ill on the day of Scott Manson (l), David Shaw (c), Iain Davidson (r) the dress rehearsal and had to be replaced by “Cinderella” ­ November 2001 Vicki Turnbull, who played the part for the week, holding the script in one hand. The pantos, of course, are so much more sophisticated now than in the early days. That first one, "Aladdin", probably cost us about £500 – the budget for "Snow White" in 2006 was £7000 ­ quite a jump! 2 In 1978 we made the decision to enter the field of competitive drama. It's always difficult, especially when running a new group, to compare your own efforts with the efforts of comparable groups. In 1978 there were very few youth groups around, so for us it was almost impossible to make any comparison at all. Thus began our involvement in the Pollok Festival, which in those days was well respected in both music and drama circles. This took place in April, which fitted in well to our programme of November and May productions. Our first play for presentation in 1978 was "Hallowe'en" by James Scotland and, much to our delight, we were awarded two Cups ­ one for the best youth team and one for the best set and props for the entire festival! The play was produced by myself and stage managed by Robert Young. Now we knew we were doing really well! This success was repeated in 1979 and again in 1982 and 1983. The Festival was a great opportunity for us to present straight drama and gave opportunities to those more interested in that side of theatre. After the first two years when I produced the plays, it gave the opportunity for others of "have a go" at direction and Anna Brabson, Neil Paton and Alex Keith took advantage of this. It also gave the youngsters the opportunity to hear a professional make comment on their work ­ all very worthwhile outcomes. Sadly, thereafter Pollok Centre had a change of committee and interest in sustaining the Festival lapsed and, indeed, it finally died out altogether ­ a great pity and a great loss to amateur drama. For us, though, it had served a most useful purpose ­ it had given us much­needed encouragement in our early days, spurring us on to even greater efforts. In 1979 Stewart Douglas joined our production team as Musical Director. Stewart had a vision of building up the musical side and forming our own orchestral section of youngsters with musical skills. This was what Harlequin was all about ­ giving young people the opportunity to extend their skills. And so it came about that for some years Harlequin was one of the few groups to have their own orchestra, and what a bonus that was.