THE YEAR IN REVIEW: 2022
Here’s our snapshot review of 2022:
Leith Theatre Elves
It is a year where we have had amazing cultural content highlights, where we have kept our strategic focus, where we have pottered outdoors with our volunteer gardening group, where we have increased our building knowledge and always with business development in mind.
In January, we leapt straight into set-building after returning from our Christmas break as National Theatre of Scotland and Selkie Productions kicked off our year, immersing us in film and theatre. We just loved all of it. The process, the sets, the costumes and a hugely talented creative family moving in with us until spring. Lots of learning for the small LT team, and lots of friendships and creative excitement.
In February we were able invite audiences back into the building for 3 special limited shows of the groundbreaking film/theatre hybrid production that is The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. We sat wearing headsets and watched as live action happening below in our film sets, projected onto a huge screen on our main stage. The production was live-streamed to cinemas for 1 night. So innovative.
In March, after the crazy filming schedule, we squeezed in a little holiday break before returning to work to welcome the folk from Edinburgh International Festival back through the doors for their annual programme launch party celebration for 2022; notably, Fergus Linehan’s final year in charge. Such fun to have the city’s cultural sector in the room and anticipate what August might look like once again. We also scheduled smaller niche projects across the month and enjoyed these scattered across the programme as we started to plan for the next.
April and the coming of spring meant we were able to get outside and give the outside of the building some TLC. It was the start of garden clearing with our lovely volunteers with lots of tea and cake to help the process. We housed a week-long creative film project alongside general clearing and making good. It was a month of working hard and preparing the space and celebrated Easter with plenty of chocolate bunnies. It was also an opportunity to start to honor pre-pandemic programme, from Crowdfunder teas and tours to celebrations. It was nice to feel like things were getting back to normal.
In May we were ready to host BBC’s The Bidding Room! Incredible to have series 4 and 5 shot onsite and across all areas of the building. We loved seeing the main set being built in the Main Auditorium, surrounded by lots of antiques and treasures; mirroring our very own lovely building! The cast and crew could be found from morning to night enjoying full breakfasts, lunches and cups of tea overlooking the garden as well as welcoming so many interesting members of the public bringing their very own treasures to sell. We cant wait to see Nigel Havers presenting from our Female Chorus room – a space we decorated last year for our Live In Leith series.
May also brought a new LT team member! Douglas started at the beginning of The Bidding Room shoot and really hit the ground running.
June saw us focused on the Bidding Room day to day, but with lots of strategic stuff in the background, from business planning to websites. This was the month of the Queen’s jubilee and we also were able to host our pre-pandemic wedding celebrations in the height of a fairly hot summer. Of course, there’s always space for some building repairs and maintenance, especially outside while the weather’s clement!
It was July when The Bidding Room wrapped up and derigged and almost immediately we started to gear up for August’s Edinburgh International Festival. This was a month of transition, we not only had a few more weddings in the diary, we also celebrated our very own Leith Theatre 90th birthday with cupcakes and friends through the city! Birthday celebrations were made even more special by launching our very own Live In Leith series on STV Player.
August of course needs no introduction! What a month we had with so many incredible artists and musicians gracing our stage. There were too many to pick a favourite from our side but it will never tire that in August we spotlight the future of this venue as we welcome capacity crowds to hear fabulous gigs. August also was the month we announced our new Chair, Bob Last, to Leith Theatre Trust, an exciting development for our future.
In September we said goodbye to long-standing team member Callum who flew off to warmer climes Down Under before we all took a well-earned rest. Holiday month brought a change of season, and a chance to regather; summer was over and it was time for new chapters.
By October we were firmly into autumn and what a delight to welcome the Jekyll and Hyde production back into the building to do pick up shots as they went into final edit for the feature film ready for Sky Arts. Just afterwards we welcomed the BFI Academy with their new course of students setting out to explore filmmaking skills and learning. What a pleasure to share the venue with them and hopefully we will see them back in 2023 to show us their films. October also saw us welcome folks into the building to see our Mary Moriarty portrait after the sad passing of Mary, Queen of Leith. We enjoyed sharing some lovely stories of Mary over cups of tea and loaned the wonderful painting to Leith Library, where it can still be viewed.
It also brought nights out for the team…we headed north to celebrate the SAY awards with SMIA and fellow music sector bods, and we also partied at The Usher Hall with The Snuts – “Always” a highlight.
November brought many small shoot and productions and Douglas was very much in control as Lynn and Anna burrowed away on PCs meeting strategic deadlines for the business – only taking a break when Scottish Chamber Orchestra was in the main auditorium shooting their digital programme (available from 5th Jan) – just incredible sounds and gorgeous music in a very chilly and grand space.
Dipping into December we have had everything from architects meetings and building planning to NHS bloodbanks back in the building. We have loved doing December Discovery heritage tours this month and certainly plan more of those in the New Year. It was also a month for onboarding new Board members and getting ready for plans in 2023. A December flooding issue didn’t even dampen our spirits as we cleared up following the unexpected cold snap.
Good wishes and thanks to all of our supporters and everyone we have worked with through the year. Thanks 2022!