Elizabeth Newman Archives - Page 2 of 2

The Magic of Christmas – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

11Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Magic of Christmas – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Perhaps the biggest nightmare for theatreland through the pandemic has been the loss of the lucrative festive shows they use to subsidise their riskier offerings during the year. So, like so many venues the team at Pitlochry Festival Theatre have been forced to offer their seasonal production online, which in all honesty is no replacement for the sheer joy of sitting in a theatre full of overexcited kids with adults in tow keen to relive their youth - all secretly hoping things will go wrong. It may be no substitute, but a four strong cast deliver a charming half hour show in the theatre’s garden as hapless elves Hari and Lari smash the fourth wall inviting cyber viewers to join a journey as they seek the missing North Star that guides Santa as he gives every kid in the world a press...

Casting announced for Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s The Magic of Christmas

30Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Casting announced for Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s The Magic of Christmas

Pitlochry Festival Theatre in partnership with the Macrobert Arts Centre have today announced the casting for their forthcoming filmed Christmas production of The Magic of Christmas. The production’s exciting cast will feature singer and actress Clare Grogan (Gregory’s Girl, Barefoot in the Park, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Royal Lyceum Edinburgh and lead singer of iconic Scottish band, Altered Images) as Mrs Claus, Colin McCredie (DC Stuart Fraser in Taggart and Nick Morrison in River City) as Santa, Barbara Hockaday (North and South and Summer Holiday, Pitlochry Festival Theatre) as Lari and Ali Watt (A Christmas Carol and The Monarch of the Glen, Pitlochry Festival Theatre) as Hari. As the journey begins, our favourite Christmas elves Lari and Hari have a big problem! The cheek...

Pitlochry Festival Theatre to spread Christmas joy with a filmed live performance of The Magic of Christmas

29Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Pitlochry Festival Theatre to spread Christmas joy with a filmed live performance of The Magic of Christmas

Pitlochry Festival Theatre is excited to announce that it will be presenting a filmed live performance of their forthcoming Christmas production – The Magic of Christmas, in partnership with the Macrobert Arts Centre. This must-see Christmas show, which will be shot in Stirling and Pitlochry, will be available to Pitlochry Festival Theatre ticket-bookers from 9th – 23rd December and on the big screen at the Macrobert Arts Centre from the 11th – 21st December. As the journey begins, our favourite Christmas elves Lari and Hari have a big problem! The cheeky duo were playing football with Prancer, Dancer and Vixen and have lost the North Star! With no North Star, how will Santa find his way to all the houses to deliver the presents this Christmas? Suitable for everyone, from babes-in...

Pitlochry Festival Theatre launch four months of online premières

22Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Pitlochry Festival Theatre launch four months of online premières

As part of their response to lockdown Pitlochry Festival Theatre is launching four months of online premieres as part of its three-year Shades of Tay project, The series of new digitals works under the banner of A Love Letter to Scotland launch on August 7th and are written by an exciting line-up of British playwrights and poets including Timberlake Wertenbaker, Jo Clifford, Hannah Khalil, Peter Arnott, Abi Zakarian and Chinonyerem Odimba. They are being brought to life by the theatre’s 2020 Summer Season ensemble and form a vital part of the theatre’s tri-daily, digital series #PFTLightHopeJoy, which launched just before lockdown began. Inspired by the River Tay and its surrounding landscape the works will be performed as audio dramas, podcasts, short films. The cast will also pe...

Adventures with the Painted People – Pitlochry Festival Theatre/BBC Radio 3

10Jun

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Scotland

Adventures with the Painted People – Pitlochry Festival Theatre/BBC Radio 3

Leading Scottish playwright David Greig’s first play since 2013 was going to be the centrepiece of the new season at Pitlochry Festival Theatre until Covid-19 forced them to close their doors. But the virus has forced theatres to become much more agile so Adventures with the Painted People has been rejigged to be part of their online Shades of the Tay offer, and not surprisingly given Greig’s reputation BBC Radio 3 snapped it up for their Arts in Quarantine series It’s the same story set in 86AD as disgraced Roman officer and wannabe poet Lucius is captured by the fierce Picts lead by Caledonian witch with a heart Eithne, who is keen to use her captive to negotiate a peace with the disciplined legionnaires who are massacring their wild menfolk. By a quirk of theatrical luck Ei...

Elizabeth Newman finds new ways of making work

2Jun

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews

Elizabeth Newman finds new ways of making work

In the second part of an interview with Pitlochry Festival Theatre Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman our Features Editor Paul Clarke hears about the innovative work her team are doing to stay connected to their audience and community. Like most artistic directors Elizabeth Newman was focused on staging her next season at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and then COVID-19 struck forcing her to abandon most of that work as the theatre closed its doors. That meant Newman and her team at the Perthshire venue had to quickly pivot away from the traditional way of making theatre into a very different way of connecting with their audience at the self-styled ‘theatre in the woods’. “As we entered lockdown we launched some really key initiatives,” recalls Elizabeth. “The first was PFT ...

Elizabeth Newman is keeping theatre alive in the hills

31May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews

Elizabeth Newman is keeping theatre alive in the hills

In the first of a two-part interview with Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Elizabeth Newman our Features Editor Paul Clarke asks her about the challenges of being an artistic director in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. After eight successful years as Bolton Octagon’s Artistic Director, Elizabeth Newman moved across the border to lead the team at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, but just as she was preparing to launch a new season of productions COVID-19 struck. Elizabeth and her team at the Perthshire venue are in lockdown after scrapping that season of work. They’ve been using that time to create online work in the maelstrom of a totally unprecedented challenge for the theatre world that managed to keep the lights on even as the Luftwaffe were dropping bombs on London. There's not ...