TWO YEARS and five months after Eden Court Theatre closed its doors with a sold out concert by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham to begin a massive refurbishment and extension project, the theatre will reopen on 3 November 2007 with the same artists and another full house.

The Eden Court project cannot be said to have been plain sailing. Technical problems, escalating budgets, extending time-frames, and public criticism by people who should know better as well as the plain misguided all added to the difficulties of what was already a hugely complex job.

Doubtless mistakes were made along the way, but the completion date was always going to be a bit of a moveable feast, and the overspend – much of it incurred by unforeseen problems with the structure of the building itself – was not excessive by modern standards.

Complaints that Highland Council were putting 4 million pounds of tax payers money into the project at a time when services are under pressure rather ignored the fact that Highland Council are the owners of Eden Court, and stand to benefit substantially by their investment. The alternative would have been to pull the plug and be left with a partly finished and abandoned theatre, hardly a useful asset.

The mild furore over the resignation of Councillor Roddy Balfour (who has now become a handy rent-a-quote for anyone needing a negative comment on any aspect of Eden Court, or indeed the arts in general) brought the anti-Eden Court brigade out in force in the letters pages of the local press.

Well, they will just have to grit their teeth. The new theatre is set to re-open, and from what I have seen so far it will fully justify the effort that has gone into re-inventing the theatre complex as a state-of-the-art venue for the 21st century. Colin Marr, the director of Eden Court Theatre, talks us through the changes and their implications in this month’s interview. We wish them well.

On a less happy note, we are distressed to hear the news that An Tuireann in Portree has gone into liquidation with alleged debts of over £100,000. More gory details on this will doubtless emerge in the coming weeks, but it is undoubtedly bad news.

Plan B provide this month’s HITN member profile, and were one of a range of companies involved in last month’s inaugural Dràma Na h-Alba event in Inverness. One of the genuine regrets over Eden Court’s building over-run was that it was unavailable for that festival.

While they worked hard to make the most of the alternatives, fears that the audience would be stretched mighty thin were often justified, and it will be interesting to see what conclusions are drawn from this first venture when the post-mortem takes place.

There are lessons to be learned, but Dràma Na h-Alba itself is a valuable addition to the arts calendar in the Highlands & Islands, and its continuation – it is hoped it will be a bi-annual event – should certainly be strongly encouraged.

Things are winding down somewhat in what has surely been the busiest ever year for the arts in the region, but the festivals are not quite exhausted yet. The Inverness Film Festival will hansel the two new cinemas at Eden Court, and will launch on 15 November with the Coen Brothers’ ‘No Country For Old Men’.

Despite a rather soggy summer for outdoor events, the Forestry Commission will brave the elements this month in staging Between Two Worlds at Glenmore Forest Park, featuring work by environmental artist Diane Maclean, light artist Malcolm Innes and musician and story teller Bob Pegg. Read their own accounts of their contributions in our feature.

Eden Court itself sees the welcome return of both the orchestral subscription season and Scottish Opera to the main stage, while the new OneTouch Theatre will launch with a run of the Highland Quest winner, The Sundowe. Look out for reviews of these, and much more.

Finally, we have a new feature on the site this month. As you will see below, it is now possible for you to have your say on the articles we run, or on issues affecting arts in the Highlands & Islands via our blogging facility. We will be rolling this function out to other pages of Northings soon.

Kenny Mathieson
Commissioning Editor, Northings

Kenny Mathieson lives and works in Boat of Garten, Strathspey. He studied American and English Literature at the University of East Anglia, graduating with a BA (First Class) in 1978, and a PhD in 1983. He has been a freelance writer on various arts-related subjects since 1982, and contributes to the Inverness Courier, The Scotsman, The Herald, The List, and other publications. He has contributed to numerous reference books, and has written books on jazz and Celtic music.