The main theatre, with 500 seats, opened in 1955 in what has been the swimming pool. The slope of the pool floor made for good audience sightlines when it became the stalls, with the stage being constructed at what had been the “deep end”. In the ’60′s further meeting rooms and a scenery store were added. The 1980′s saw the Wallace Bennett Theatre converted into a flexible studio space.

Having served the community of Inverclyde for over 65 years, the Arts Guild Theatre closed our doors for the last time on Saturday 8th December.

The Guild will then move to its new purpose build home, The Beacon Arts Centre, on Greenock’s waterfront. After nearly 9 years of planning, design, construction and, of course, raising funds, we are almost ready to open the doors of The Beacon and show everyone what we have been so excited about for so long.

On behalf of Greenock Arts Guild, the charity which will continue to own, manage and operate The Beacon, we should like to thank all of our funders, donators, staff and volunteers for helping to make the Beacon a reality and for giving the community of Inverclyde one of the best arts centre’s in the UK.

 A warm festive welcome awaits everyone at The Beacon. We look forward to your company in the coming months and years.

Greenock-born actor Richard Wilson paid a visit to our new venue, The Beacon Arts Centre, while he was back in his home town last week.

He met our Chairman, Elliott McKelvie, and Julie Ellen, Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director of The Beacon.

Elliott said: “Richard was very impressed by the facilities within the Beacon, particularly the intimacy of the theatre spaces and the size of the stage and backstage areas.”

The Beacon, at Greenock’s Waterfront, will open within the next few weeks with the first performances in the theatres being in early 2013.

After the success of their summer school last year, Lynn Anderson and Mark Barclay have gone into partnership with the Arts Guild/Beacon Arts Centre to bring you two 1 week Musical Theatre Schools at the Guild. If you want to improve your singing voice and learn the essential breathing techniques that not only strengthen the voice, but more importantly protect it, then come along. Acting and dance classes too.

Lynn Anderson has a triple first degree from RSAMD and a Post Grad from Leeds . Highlights of her career are 8 years at Scottish Opera, performances with Pavarotti and Careras, extensive tv and film work, including a recurring role in Taggart and a film directed by Tony Palmer, plus musical theatre work.

Mark Barclay is Director of Kayos Theatre Company and has tutored around Europe with the International Schools Theatre Association.

This is a rare opportunity  for intensive singing training from one of Scotland’s leading vocalists. For just £75 for a full weeks course, plus a public performance at the Arts Guild to end the week in style, the cost has been kept deliberately low to encourage young people from 13 to 21 years to benefit from the chance to improve their singing, learn how to care for their voice and learn acting techniques for musical theatre.

Booking forms are available from the Arts Guild Theatre or by emailing bookings@artsguildtheatre.co.uk and can be downloaded  HERE

If you are interested in being part of our show cast or crew please email festival@artsguildtheatre.co.uk or just come along to our first rehearsal as detailed below. We understand that you may not be able to commit to every rehearsal listed below, but you can still take part so long as you can make it along to at least two rehearsals prior to the performance on 28th June.

Production Schedule

Casting& First Rehearsal – Monday 18th June ’12 at 7:30 to 9:30pm – Arts Guild Theatre Main Stage

Full script read through – Tuesday 19th June ‘12 at 7:30 to 9:30pm – Arts Guild Theatre Main Stage

Rehearsal – Wednesday 20th June ‘12 at 7:30 to 9:30pm – Wallace Bennett Theatre

Stage Dressing & Technical Rehearsal – Thursday 28th June ‘12 at 1pm to 4pm – Arts Guild Theatre Main Stage

Dress Rehearsal – Thursday 28th June ‘12 at 4:30pm to 6:30pm – Arts Guild Theatre Main Stage

Performance with Audience – Thursday 28th June ‘12 at 7:30pm – Arts Guild Theatre

Separate Tables Synopsis

Separate Tables was probably Rattigan’s finest work and demonstrates his art of characterisation. It consists of two plays set in the dining-room and lounge of a private genteel hotel in Bournemouth, in which the residents are obliged to take meals at individual tables, symbolising the isolation of the individuals. All characters apart from 3 transients live permanently at the hotel. Except for the two leads in each, the same characters appear in both.

In Table No. 1, a down-at-heels journalist is confronted by his ex-wife, a former model who provoked him to a violent act that sent him to prison and ruined him. Still loving each other, they nevertheless go through another terrible scene and it is the hotel manager, Miss Coo-per, who finds a way to repair their broken lives.

In Table No. 2, a bogus army Major without the background and edu-cation he claims and a neurotic girl with a ruthless domineering mother are attracted to each other. A sordid scandal threatens to drive them apart, but when all seems lost Miss Cooper comes to the rescue

In the original stage drama, the lewd incident which acted as a catalyst for the blossoming of human relationships involved another man.

Made in Scotland is a curated showcase of some of the most exciting dance and theatre productions from Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It was set-up to raise the international profile of Scottish dance and theatre, and is a joint initiative between the Festival Fringe Society, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Creative Scotland - supported by the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.

The Made in Scotland 2012 programme was announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs on the 16 May 2012.

The showcase includes 12 productions which represents not only a shortlist of Edinburgh Festival Fringe highlights but also some of the finest work being produced in Scotland today. You can read all about the 12 selected shows on the Made in Scotland website.

The programme was selected by a distinguished panel of programmers, cultural managers and commentators:

• Chair: Kath M Mainland  – Chief Executive, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society
• Anthony Baker - Artistic Director, Dance City, Newcastle
• Mary Brennan - Dance and performance critic, The Herald
• Anita Clark - Portfolio Manager Festivals, Touring and Dance, Creative Scotland
• Julie Ellen - Artistic Director, Beacon Arts Centre
• Susan Feldman - Artistic Director, St Anne’s Warehouse, New York
• Andrew Jones - Senior Advisor of Drama and Dance, British Council
• Jon Morgan - Director, Federation of Scottish Theatre

With additional advice from William Galinsky Norfolk and Norwich Festival.

For the latest news and reviews please connect with Made in Scotland 2012 here on Twitter andFacebook.

Information on applying to be part of the Made in Scotland 2013 programme will be available in August.

International Touring

A key aim of the initiative is to maximise the benefit for Scottish artists on the international platform that is the Fringe. As part of this, funding is allocated to support Scottish dance and theatre companies to take up international touring opportunities arising from performances at the Fringe. To date, Made in Scotland has supported companies to present their work in Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand. (http://www.creativescotland.com/investment/madeinscotland2012)

We are delighted to announce that The Beacon will benefit from Creative Scotland’s First in a Lifetime funding Programme.

“Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, was in Glasgow to announce that the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland have boosted their support for the Year of Creative Scotland by nearly £2.2m, with total investment now hitting nearly £8m.

The additional funding comes in response to overwhelming interest in Creative Scotland’s Year of Creative Scotland funding programmes.

It means an extra twenty four projects will receive support through the expansion of Creative Scotland’s First in a Lifetime funding programme.

Ms Hyslop was at Elder Park to meet children from Riverside Primary School and representatives of the Friends of George Wyllie, who have received First in a Lifetime investment to work with communities in Glasgow and Inverclyde on initiatives including the Big Little Paper Boats schools project, where schoolchildren will create an Origami Line of paper boats to be exhibited at the George Wyllie Retrospective exhibition in November.

With projects stretching the length and breadth of the country, from the Isle of Barra to the Gorbals, the First in a Lifetime programme sees the Year of Creative Scotland 2012 reach into care homes, family centres, sporting venues, schools and streets.

The Beacon will work with communities in Port Glasgow, East Greenock and Larkfield/Braeside to develop inspiring, inclusive, quality artistic residency engagement programme led by professional artists of international standing, resulting in artistic performances.” Creative Scotland 08/05/2012

For further information and and a full list of the projects involved in the First in a Lifetime programme please follow this link: http://www.creativescotland.com/news/first-in-a-lifetime-creative-experiences-for-scotland-08052012

We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. There is still a little time for those of you who want to join in on the festival but haven’t submitted ideas as yet, please get in touch with us today or tomorrow if you wish to play a part in our final farewell to the Arts Guild Theatre.