Leith-based Citadel Arts Group has discovered yet another local venue to try out new drama. Later this month, they will be in the Pianodrome which is located inside the former Debenhams store at Ocean Terminal.
The company will present A Mannequin for All Seasons in the Pianodrome on 26 November at 7pm.Â
The Living Memory Association has turned the empty store into a Leith community hub in a meanwhile development. In the building leased by the Wee Museum of Memory, you can find everything for arts and crafts, poetry readings, a fencing club, kids’ discos and even a circus.Â
The Pianodrome is currently to be found in the former Debenhams offering a 78-seat tiered auditorium. The beautiful performance space is the creation of musicians and inventors Tim Vincent-Smith and Matthew Wright and was in residence at the former Royal High School over the summer.
In today’s throwaway culture, they have created ‘a unique playable community centre built entirely from otherwise disused pianos’. Miles Tubb of the Living Memory Association said: “They came to us in April with the piano sculptures and the theatre came direct from its residency at the old Royal High School during the Festival in September.”
This will be the latest of a series of Leith venues where Citadel Arts Group has presented plays to the local community. This year it was the Custom House, an ideal location for site-specific theatre. Before that the company presented plays in the Granary, South Leith Church Hall, numerous schools and sheltered housing centres and most frequently in Leith Dockers Club, where they are based.
The programme of plays the arts group will offer in the Pianodrome will be directed by noted novelist and playwright Hilary Spiers. Director Hilary Spiers said: ‘It’s such an exciting space to work in – the imagination runs riot. As do the imaginations of our six writers who use the mannequins as launch pads for some very weird and wonderful stories.’
A Mannequin for All Seasons is on 26 November at 7pm. Tickets are free and can be booked from lizhare@blueyonder.co.uk
Cast are Citadel regulars: Gregor Davidson, Chelsea Grace, Mark Kydd, Mairi Jayne Weir and Deborah Whyte.
The scripts are by Citadel Playwrights Workshop members: Elaine Campbell, William Haddow, Rhona McAdam, Lizzie McLean, Alan Mountford, and Hilary Spiers.Â
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