MONTHS of work by performers, musicians and volunteers came to fruition in Strachur last week as an ambitious new community musical took to the stage.
Strachur and District Community Theatre staged four performances of The Stag King at Strachur Memorial Hall, bringing together adults, young people and some of the community’s youngest performers.
The production transformed the hall into the fictional world of the Hartlands, complete with original music, elaborate costumes, puppets and masks created through hundreds of hours of work by members of the theatre group and wider community.
Organisers admitted they had not fully appreciated the scale of what they had created until the lights went up and The Stag King finally came to life in front of an audience.
Alana Mathers worked with the production’s choir to bring the words and music of the Hartlands to life, while costume design lead Sam Morgan oversaw the creation of the show’s extensive collection of costumes using fabric, feathers, tartan and plenty of imagination.
Puppet design lead Matthieu Genex was responsible for the puppets and masks which helped create the distinctive world of the production.
They were joined by a wider creative team, including Kirstie Dowse-Walker and Lucy Neish, as well as members of Strachur and District Community Theatre, the choir and volunteers from across the community.
Behind the scenes, volunteers painted, stitched, built and carried scenery and props, while cast members spent months rehearsing ahead of the four performances.
The theatre group said one of the highlights was seeing performers of different generations sharing the same stage and watching younger cast members grow in confidence as the production developed.
Director Sheena was said to be beyond delighted to see a story which had once existed only in her imagination transformed into a full-scale community musical.
The group said the reaction from audiences across the four performances – including the applause, laughter and comments received by the cast – had made the months of preparation worthwhile.
The production also carried a particularly poignant meaning for those involved, with the memory of Gordon Neish remaining at the heart of the project throughout its run.
Paying tribute to everyone who helped make the show possible, the group said: “Months of hard work, hundreds and hundreds of hours, a little madness, a lot of laughter and an extraordinary amount of creativity all came together to create something that I think everyone involved can be immensely proud of.
“The Stag King happened. The Hartlands lived. Strachur filled the hall with a little bit of magic. And together, we absolutely did it.”
Thanks were also extended to Strachur Memorial Hall, Strachur Filling Station and the production’s sponsors and supporters, as well as the large number of volunteers who worked behind the scenes to bring The Stag King to the stage.
