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History of
Company Shows & Productions
130th Glasgow Boys' Brigade
The 130th Glasgow Company, The Boys’ Brigade first experimented
with a “show” in the 1970’s. An evening of
fund-raising for the blind was planned and “Café
Noir” took the format of a light meal being served to parents
and friends at candle-lit tables around the church hall interspersed
with musical, cabaret-style items.
In 1976 and 1978, “The Munchkin’s Garden” and
“Fingals Cave-In”, were
short musical plays which were performed after the audience had enjoyed
a three course meal. The stage area in the centre of the hall was made
from the tops of table tennis tables placed on top of dozens of milk
crates. The performers were senior Boys and younger ones with a bit of
talent. The other Boys from the Company worked behind the scenes or
were waiters.
By 1980, the Company’s staff included John Cammidge, a BBC
cameraman who had access to microphones, lighting, a professional
mixing desk and speakers, and Gregor Anderson, a teacher who had access
to scenery and props. The shows could now be staged to a much higher
standard. That year, “Close Encounters of the Absurd
Kind” was produced with great use of lighting and sound
effects.
1982 saw “Hi Noon!”, a tale set in a wild-west
saloon with an evil rancher trying to take over someone’s land.
The saloon also had musical performers – a barber shop quartet
and even Can-Can dancers. Laurel and Hardy performed “On The
Trail of The Lonesome Pine” and Fairy Nuff performed
“Wandrin’ Star”.
The format continued in 1984 with “A Fistful of
Splonders” set in Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest. The
hall was decked in army camouflage to create a forest effect and, by
then, almost every Boy in the Company had a part on stage. There was
even a song parody with the musical accompaniment being provided by
someone who was a music teacher.
1986 saw “Roman In The Gloamin’” with
murderous Caledonians taking on Julius Caesar. Scenery was borrowed
from a city centre department store and the hall had Roman columns and
statues. The stage was constructed with BBC rostra and the show
finished with an audience sing-a-long to some more musical parodies
written by the BB Staff.
In 1988, “Caper
Ceilidh” was staged over two evenings. The first
night’s tickets were sold at a lower price for the show only
while the second night included the meal. A haunted Scottish castle
with two feuding families, sword dancers, a coach load of tourists and
an evil tax inspector singing “Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire?” were all included.
In 1990, the decision was made to discontinue the meal and to use the
actual church hall stage and curtains. Seating was in theatrical rows
and the WWII Colditz castle drama “Where Seagulls Dare”
raised funds for deaf children. British and German uniforms were hired
from a shop in the city centre. ‘Vera Lynn’ performed and a
group of Boys with plastic instruments mimed to a Glen Miller number.
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