'Match made in heaven' inspires hall to upgrade for touring theatre shows
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A Highland village hall is set to take on a new role using its stage to attract more touring theatre productions.
This week, North Kessock Village Hall will host a week of performances of musical comedy Nunsensations, produced by Alan Mackintosh and directed by Claire Fisher with a cast also featuring familiar names on the Inverness amateur theatre scene.
Alan explained: "Finding the North Kessock Village Hall was a bit of a fluke – a conversation with someone in the show, our director Claire, who knew someone on the committee – Carron McDiarmid!
"And it turned out they are wanting to increase their event/gig portfolio, so it seemed like a match made in heaven!"
It was as a result of agreeing to host the four nights of shows, that the hall committee decided to explore the possibility of throwing open the doors of the hall to other theatre groups and touring productions, also bringing more entertainment into the village.
Committee member Carron McDiarmid said: “We have a lovely deep stage, it’s got red theatre curtains and stage ‘blacks’ and we are now applying for funding for audio and lighting.
“My role has been to look at how to improve the fabric of the hall and with the other committee members look at how we can make a place where people can congregate and come together, and try lots of different things, really.
“We have a lovely stage area has been a bit underused, and we all want to see the hall being used to its best potential really.”
The idea to put Nunsensations on there came through Carron and her links with the amateur theatre community in Inverness.
“I’m good friends with Claire Fisher who is the director of the show and Alan Mackintosh who is producing it.
“I first met Claire when I was involved in The Florians. We were talking about their new show and about finding a venue to stage it in and I suggested the hall here.
“They came over and went ‘Wow!’ so that’s how it happened!”
The hall has a busy role in the community at North Kessock.
“Over the last six months we have been providing warm spaces with food and providing space so people can come together.
“We’ve reinstated a New Year’s ceilidh, and there are all the things it does now in the community – toddlers, badminton and dances.
"It would be lovely to have a wider repertoire of things to see in the hall, such as film screenings and we could do some themed nights and have some food to complement the story of the film we were showing. So it would be more of a cultural centre. It would be quite nice to do more artistic things too.
“If we have tables and food provided, it can hold about 120 people. But for theatre performances we can have up to 200 people, that is what our licence is for.
“The hall was built in 1971 and it has had some improvements in the last 10 years or so. A new heating system was put in and glass bricks were put in for the windows which previously just had corrugated plastic there. But it is showing its age now – it is over 50 years old – so it needs some more improvements, but it is still a well-used and lovely space.
“We’ve got a programme of improvements and more use of the stage is something we would love to see.
“Not everyone from the village is able to go into Inverness easily or has transport. And it would just be something else to bring to the village.”
Nunsensations is on at North Kessock Village Hall from Wednesday, July 5 to Saturday, July 8 at 7.30pm. there is also a Saturday matinee performance at 2.30pm.
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