Leith Shines in Summer Festival Season
What a great few weeks Leith has had for Leith Festival events! They have been an absolute delight, helped in part by some lovely sunny days and a generally cheery mood held by all. Turns out that blue skies, Gala Day and Proclaimers gigs go really well together!
When we were planning what we should do to take part in the festival, we had to think about what we could offer from a building undergoing some fairly disruptive investigative works. However, the building is the total star of the show so as a team we decided that our Leith Festival should definitely be built around getting people inside the space.
We ran a series of heritage tours across the week after Gala Day (12th – 16th June), booked through Eventbrite and hosted by us. We started each tour in the Thomas Morton Hall in varying levels of stifling heat with teas and coffees and gently melting kitkats for all. It was a lovely opportunity to invite small groups in to tell our story, meet the team behind the ongoing development and share some Leith Theatre hospitality.
An informal presentation kicked off each tour, which gave us the chance to put our journey into context. We were able to highlight some wonderful archive photos and early images of a newly-built Leith Town Hall and Library and talk people through the impact that we’ve had since the original action group became Leith Theatre Trust and took over early operations.
It was great to revisit our community focus through Covid, the creative content we were able to produce via our production arm, Live in Leith, and some of the early building works undertaken to allow initial use of the main auditorium. (Much discussion of delinquent pigeons overrunning the place here!)
Next up was the donning of the hi-vis, an element we were all quite taken with and have wondered since whether we should incorporate into our day to day office wear… This felt important when taking members of the public into a space which currently has so many contractors inside, investigating and repairing various parts of the main auditorium.
Up on the stage was the perfect vantage point to tell stories about the 70s heyday of famous bands performing here, show off the rake and invite plenty of photos. In a rare occurrence, three of our upper window covers are off for investigative work and repair, letting the beauty of the oval windows and the light shine through.
After some happy mooching around backstage and an exit through the old stage door entrance, we were able to admire the symmetry and the external architectural features and curved walls of Leith Theatre and its sister building, Leith library.
We answered some great questions during the tours and met lots of people new to the area and just discovering Leith Theatre for the first time, as well as locals who remember visiting in the past. We were so happy to welcome you all through the doors and talk about our future plans and ambitions.
Keep an eye out for more potential tours in the not too distant future!