Kirkton Players gosteaming into classic

When it came to making the choice of play to perform as its first full-length production for four years, the Carluke-based Kirkton Players opted to re-create the classic Scottish musical comedy The Steamie.

This much-loved slice of Glasgow life as it was lived in the Fifties was written by popular playwright and actor Tony Roper who was a long-time resident of rural Clydesdale.

His work was such a hit when first produced in the Eighties that it was adapted for television and there were packed houses for a 25th anniversary production at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow in 2012.

Now the Kirkton Players have taken on the show and rehearsals are now underway for the production which will be staged at the company’s ‘home’, the Kirkton Church Hall on Carluke’s Station Road between December 3 and 5.

Preparing themselves for the principle parts are Kirkton troupers Margaret Smith as Doreen, Mary Tweedie as Dolly, Elayne Deary as Magrit and Hazel Cameron as Mrs Culfeathers.

They and the rest of the cast will be recreating the scenes in a traditional `Glescae wash-hoose’ on what was the busiest day of the year there, the last wash before Hogmanay.

The womens’ patter is repeatedly interrupted by the two male characters in the piece, Andy (played by Gerry Burns) and Sandy (Neil Philliben).

There is another male hand involved, albeit behind the scenes, in the shape of Kirkton director George Thomson.

The musical side of the production is in the capable hands on Anne Ramsay at the piano and four ladies from Kirkton Church Choir.

Director George promises to “pay homage to the original but with a few new elements to ensure audiences are watching a fresh piece of theatre.”

What will be preserved intact, he states, will be the sheer, glorious nostalgia of the whole thing!

Tickets for the show, at £10 each including interval refreshments, go on sale on Friday, September 25 and are available from any Kirkton player member or via [email protected] or by phoning 07818018822. .

Get steamed in!