Red Shoes Theatre Company

HENRI EDWARDS profiles the Elgin-based company

Mission Statement

Red Shoes Theatre Company Ltd aims to give people the opportunity, encouragement and skills to enable them to enrich their own life and the lives of others through the performing arts.

We are committed to the principles of social inclusion, education, training and performance opportunities for everyone. We are inclusive. We are non-judgemental. We recognise the skills and talents unique to every person with whom we work.

Tish Tindall had been teaching vocals at Buckie High School for a number of years when she was asked to develop a Performing Arts course for the school. This exercise made her realise that this was the area she wanted to work in and so she left full-time teaching in 2003 to set up her own business, Springboard Musical Theatre Company.

Two years on and with around forty students and large waiting lists, she asked Henri Edwards to work with her on developing the drama side of the business. Henri joined the business in August 2005 when it moved to rented accommodation within the newly opened Warehouse Theatre in Lossiemouth.

A year down the line and with student numbers still growing, they started to look at owning their own premises. The old ‘Two Red Shoes Ballroom’ was on the market at the time. Looking past all the alterations that had been carried out in the building over a thirty year period, they realised that much of the original building was intact, including the sprung dance floor.

After negotiation with funders, the building was purchased and the renovations started. Tish, Henri and their families did much of the work themselves and the result is a 100 seat studio theatre with flexible staging, theatre lighting and a high quality sound system. The building also has four teaching rooms, a small café, a technical room and recording studio.

Current Productions

Our musical theatre group for 7–18 year olds had opted to perform a panto this year. With the majority of cast members under 12, they have had a great time rehearsing and writing songs for their version of ‘Captain Hook’s Revenge’. This is being performed in Elgin for the Winter Festival.

The adult acting group have just begun rehearsing Michel Tremblay’s ‘The Guid Sisters’. This challenging play, written in French by a French Canadian, set in Montreal but translated into Glaswegian, has given the cast a lot to think about. The play will be performed in the Red Shoes at the beginning of February.

Meanwhile, work has started on writing a musical based on stories from the local fishing community.

Fantasy Theatre

At present, we are delighted to be working with a large selection of amateurs from the local area. In the future, we hope to be able to develop a professional Red Shoes Company which would perform in Moray and other locations around Scotland.

Golden Moment

Undoubtedly our golden moment was 12.47pm on 19 June 2007 when the Building Control Officer gave us the go-ahead to open our doors. We had a nursery school show booked and parents and children were queued up outside waiting for his decision. It was a huge relief when he said ‘Yes’ and we opened to a full house.

Not so golden moment

There were plenty not so great times in the year it took us to buy and renovate the building. There were so many times when we despaired of finding enough money, of ever seeing our families at weekends and worried about our health, mental and physical. Even now that things are going well and we are very busy, we would be loath to encourage anyone to do what we did because the cost, in all respects, was so high.

Highland Theatre – Is There Such A Thing, and If So, What Is It?

Having come all this way ourselves, we are so impressed by all the good work that goes on the Highlands. There are unique problems in the area due to low population centres and massive distances but theatre, when it does happen, is so important to our cultural experiences and our growth as a society that it should be supported and encouraged to the highest degree.

As to what it is…the voice of a hundred different communities, Gaelic, Doric and every nuance in between.

© Henri Edwards, 2007