Greetings from our President
My name is Irene Beaver and I am President of the club for the year 2007-2008. I first came in contact with EPT when my friend asked me to sit with her as she did box office for a Fringe production in the 60s. It was a Scots comedy in the YMCA in South St Andrew's Street. We were both still at School. I must say I found the men very glamorous (aye the men!). I remember them wearing dinner suits, although on reflection they were probably dressed up for the opening night 'swally'. Willie Ross, a Secretary of State for Scotland, was invited to one of those "dos" and, unless my memory is playing tricks on me, Compton Mackenzie, our Patron, also came along.
Everyone was very kind to us - Maureen Cullen (now Cochrane), Jenny Calcott and Effie Robertson, both now with Leitheatre, and all the others. I had never come across adults who treated me like one of the team. One night I asked David Clayton how I could join this group, and that was that - a lifetime of enjoyment, friendships, teamwork, a great social life, an education in all aspects of theatre and an involvement with people of all ages and of all social classes.
Through my involvement with drama I have worked with other groups like Tempo and was a director of the Scottish Mime Theatre. I have taken part in many workshops over the years, the most memorable being with English National Opera, The Art of Coarse Acting author Michael Green and renowned mime, Pat Keysell.
Over the years I have acted, directed, written, built sets, crewed, been prompt, done props and lights and been dresser to the dame. One of my most important jobs has been Front of House which I love because you get to meet the customers. In fact I encourage all our members to tear tickets at some point.
One of the things I like about EPT is that we don't have 'stars'. You might be the lead in one play but in the next you might be helping with props. After all, where would the actors be without all the Technical Crew, Wardrobe or FoH? I'll tell you. They would be on a bare stage in the dark, with no costumes and no audience. In fact there would be no EPT.
We used to go on tour - oh all right, we took 'Barefoot in the Park' to the Brunton Theatre and performed regularly in Newbattle College. One unforgettable year we took Alan Cochrane's production of 'When we are Married' to the Scottish Three Act Festival Final in Greenock. Just about the whole club went and when the announcement was made that we had won, we almost brought the place down. Perhaps we might go on tour again.
There are plenty of us although we are always looking for more members, especially on the technical side. I have been a member for forty years now and there are several who have been members of EPT for longer than me. I have seen dozens come and go but we have many long serving members so I guess we must be doing something right.
The year 2008 is a very important year for us as it marks our 50th year on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It seems fitting that the longest serving group on the Fringe is from Edinburgh and that we bear our city's name. It means so much to us to have performed Scots Comedy for all those years to our fellow Edinburghers as well as to visitors from all over the world who like to sample a little bit of Scottish culture in amongst all the International offerings. We hope that you will come along to our 50th Anniversary Scots comedy during the Fringe in St Peter's Church Hall, Lutton Place in Newington in 2008.
Thank you for hitting our site (I believe that is the correct expression). If you would like to join us or even just to have a look around our premises with a view to joining EPT please contact me.