Q & A with Filter Co-Artistic Director Ollie Dimsdale

As we prepare to welcome back the anarchic Filter Theatre Company with another radical interpretation of a Shakespearean classic, we thought it was the perfect time to delve into the 'heat-oppressed' brain of Ollie Dimsdale. Ollie, Filter's Co-Artistic Director, talks about their unique approach to Shakespeare with their production of Macbeth. 

Filter impressed Citizens Theatre's audiences in 2014 with their unique take on Twelfth Night

Q&A with Macbeth Composer Tom Haines

Filter Theatre and Tobacco Factory Theatres’s production of Macbeth, opened at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bristol in September 2014. Central to this radical new version of Shakespeare’s gripping tragedy is the music, composed as part of the rehearsal process by Composer Tom Haines and performed by Musician Alan Pagan and the rest of the Macbeth cast. Using new technology and a fascinating array of weird and wonderful instruments, the music is both acoustically and aesthetically captivating. Tom Haines discusses the role of music in this new production

Looking Back at 2014 at the Citizens Theatre

...and what a year it's been!

Humbug or Humdinger?

The critics have seen A Christmas Carol directed by Dominic Hill and the verdict is in, but what did they think?

Cliff Burnett as Scrooge. Credit Tim Morozzo

Want to Perform With the Royal Shakespeare Company?

We've begun our search to find the best of Glasgow’s untapped theatrical talent to take part in a landmark production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2016 by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Citizens Theatre to mark 400 years since William Shakespeare’s death.

In Spring 2016 the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) will tour the UK with a new production of Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In each theatre, the professional cast will be joined by non-professional actors from the local area playing theatre’s most famous amateur company the Mechanicals, led by one of Shakespeare’s best-loved roles, Bottom. Amateur actors in Glasgow are invited to audition to join the cast for the production’s performances in the city, taking to the iconic Citizens stage as well as travelling to Stratford-Upon-Avon to perform at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

A fine Christmas tradition

Poster for the 2002 Christmas
production of Scrooge

His Majesty's Theatre and Royal Opera House (now called the Citizens Theatre) opened its doors to the public on Sat 28 Dec 1878 with a pantomime - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The Glasgow Herald reviewer who came to see the opening night commented that the theatre owner, Mr McFadyen was "at a great disadvantage" trying to finish building a theatre AND rehearse a technically difficult pantomime, but that "this being the season of pantomime" he really had "no choice in the matter", showing just how important it was, and still is, for theatres to have a strong pantomime or Christmas show.

Dickens' A Christmas Carol - "A Ghost Story of Christmas"

The Citizens Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol opens Sat 29 Nov, capturing the inventive, heart-warming and spine-tingling spirit of Dickens' original novella. Assistant Director Stephen Darcy explores the history and impact of this most enduring of Victorian tales.

Title page of the 1843 first edition.
From the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham

Have you ever heard of 'A Christmas Carol'? A book about a mean old man visited by ghosts? Why is such a story both so well known and so popular?

A Christmas Carol on Film

As we are getting ready to welcome our very own production of A Christmas Carol on to the Citizens' stage, it seems like the perfect time to explore the many screen adaptations that Dickens’ classic Christmas tale has inspired over the years.

The tale of a wicked old miser who embarks on a journey of redemption after being visited by supernatural guests has enthralled audiences for generations. As such it is a story that has proved irresistible to film-makers as they attempt to capture the original spirit of Dickens tale.

Many have felt the urge to embellish upon the original story with some very mixed results. Many illustrious actors have tackled the role of Ebenezer Scrooge over the years including Patrick Stewart, Albert Finney, Jim Carey, Michael Caine, Alastair Sim and even Marcel Marceau (also with varying degrees of credibility!).

So join us as we take a gallop through some of the more memorable screen versions of A Christmas Carol.

#LoveTheatre? Follow us on Wed 19 Nov

On Wed 19 Nov theatres, arts companies and cultural institutions from across the UK and beyond will come together to celebrate the very first CultureThemes / Guardian Culture Professionals Network  / Twitter UK  #LoveTheatre day on Twitter. It is an opportunity for every theatre fan to share what they love about their local theatre.

The Citizens Theatre will be tweeting during the day on our history, the preparations happening for A Christmas Carol, as well as lots of the other work we do. Here's a run down of our plans for the day:

10 - 12pm	On the stage: 70 years of The Citizens Theatre
12 - 3pm	Off the stage: What we do in the community
3 - 6pm	Behind the stage: preparations for A Christmas Carol
7 - 9.30pm	Showtime: Tweet along to live-stream of Untitled Projects’ Slope

Stewart Laing on Filming and Theatre Making

Untitled Projects' re-conceived production of Slope opens in the Circle Studio 12 Nov. As part of the theatrical experience the performances will be streamed live by new media platform Kiltr. As Artistic Director Stewart Laing explains, this is not the first or last time Untitled Projects have used film and technology as an intergral part of their theatre making.

Slope, in the Circle Studio 12 - 22 Nov
more info - book online

Untitled Projects is a company that specialises in making theatre – but there has only been one project in 16 years that hasn’t involved a substantial element of video – and that project was the original production of Slope in 2006. There was no reason to use video – so we didn’t.

As a loose collective of practitioners we are all interested in film as a medium. Our social conversations often orbit around movies we have seen – and certainly in development sessions on specific projects film is central to our discussion – as inspiration for images, narrative, acting, character and structure – perhaps more so than theatre or other live performance.