citizens theatre

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TAG and THE CITIZENS' THEATRE

TAG Theatre Company is part of the Citizens' Theatre Limited.

Established in 1967 as the Citizens' Theatre for Youth, TAG developed its work for children and young people across the city as it became Theatre About Glasgow, before emerging as one of the key companies providing theatre and educational activities for children and young people across Scotland - known simply as TAG.

In 2006 TAG moved back into The Citizens' Theatre to create an unrivalled company in Scotland. TAG and Citizens' now produce work for both main stage and studio audiences; touring theatre aimed primarily at children and young people for schools and venues across Scotland; a diverse range of workshops and participatory projects; an education & outreach programme tailored specifically to serve the local community; along with a Community Company and a YOUNG Co.!

These are exciting times for Citizens' Theatre Ltd. With Jeremy Raison and Guy Hollands at the helm as Joint Artistic Directors, we can look forward to a fantastic programme of work. We hope to seeing you soon at The Citizens' Theatre. 

The Citizens Theatre is located in the Gorbals close to Glasgow City Centre. (multimap)

119 Gorbals Street
Glasgow
G5 9DS

You can contact the Citizens' Box Office on 0141 429 0022.
The general admin number is 0141 429 5561.

www.citz.co.uk


CITIZENS' COMPANY HISTORY



The Citizens' Company was founded in 1943 by a group of theatre-minded men led by James Bridie, Scotland's best known playwright of the day.  The name of the new company was taken from the manifesto drawn up in 1909 for the Glasgow Repertory Theatre:


"The Repertory Theatre is Glasgow's own theatre.  It is a citizens' theatre in the fullest sense of the term.  Established to make Glasgow independent from London for its dramatic supplies, it produces plays which the Glasgow playgoers would otherwise not have the opportunity of seeing."


The company was originally based at the Athenaeum on Buchanan Street (now the Old Athenaeum) where the first production was of Bridie's own The Holy Isle.  In 1945 Harry McKelvie, the owner of the Royal Princess's Theatre on Gorbals Street, offered Bridie's company a generous 10 year lease on his theatre.  After renovations the name of the theatre was changed to the Citizens' Theatre and the Citizens' Company opened there on 11 September 1945 with J B Priestley's Johnson Over Jordan.

Between 1862 and the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, 18 theatres were built in Glasgow (during the same period, seven were built in Edinburgh).  The four that remain to this day are The Pavilion, The King's, Theatre Royal, and The Royal Princess's/Citizens'.  Built in 1878, The Royal Princess's was designed by Campbell Douglas, a friend and contemporary of Alexander 'Greek' Thomson.  The theatre seated 1,200, presenting melodrama, variety and pantomime. The theatre was inherited from Richard Waldon by Harry McKelvie, dubbed 'The Pantomime King', who had worked his way up from programme-seller to manager.  He wrote and produced the pantomimes that made him a fortune and would often run until spring.  McKelvie was superstitious enough to always insist on a thirteen letter title, a tradition continued by the Citizens' Company with titles such as such as Gaggiegalorum and The Tintock Cup.



By the 1880s The Royal Princess's and its neighbour the Palace Theatre were surrounded by the worst slums in Europe.  However, in spite of the appalling conditions of the neighbourhood, both theatres thrived in the early years of this century.  In the 1930s The Palace became a cinema and the advent of television further affected theatre's audience in the 1950s and 1960s. By the time the slums had been cleared, The Palace had become a Bingo Hall, and along with the Citizens' Theatre and the swimming baths opposite, was the only building that remained from the Victorian age. In 1977, an order was made with little warning for the destruction of The Palace. The then General Manager of the Citizens', Clare Blenkinsop, arranged a stay of execution in order to rescue the best Victorian fittings that were still a part of The Palace's decor. The four elephants' heads at the rear of the Citizens' foyer, along with the goddesses in the Circle Bar were part of The Palace's auditorium.  The jade box office was also rescued and is now in the Peoples' Palace, Glasgow. A replica of a Palace box complete with the remaining goddesses and elephant heads stand in the entrance to the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden.  By the end of the next decade the Citizens' had became recognised as one of the leading theatres in Britain.

Giles Havergal was appointed Artistic Director in July 1969, closely followed by Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald. Havergal and MacDonald remained at the helm until they retired in June 2003. Prowse remained as collaborator until the spring of 2004. Sadly Robert David MacDonald died in June of that year.

Their vision for the Citizens' Theatre included the lowering of ticket prices, the provision of free previews of every show and free programmes for every member of the audience. A policy adhered to for over thirty years.



The new atrium foyer of the theatre was built in 1989, as part of the development of Gorbals Street. This was followed in 1992 with the construction of the Stalls and Circle Studio spaces. These were established to provide an intimate environment for more experimental and less well known works. These have proved extremely successful as many of the Citizens' most popular touring shows, for instance Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting and Filth began as studio shows before developing into main stage and nation-wide successes.

Since 1987, when the company received National Lottery funding for building development work, the Citizens' has undertaken a large programme of improvements. This has included the installation of lifts, both backstage and in the foyer, wheelchair access ramps around the building, a new stage-door and a large-scale rehearsal room. The provision of these facilities enables patrons and staff who have physical disabilities or use wheelchairs full access to the whole building, while the new rehearsal space offers the chance for rehearsals for all the Citizens' venues while productions are running. The spaces are also used by a wide variety of other theatre and arts organisations, as well as TV, film and community projects.

The Theatre receives subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council, Glasgow City Council and smaller grants from other local authorities in the West of Scotland. Tickets for all performances are reasonably priced with concessions for school children, students, unemployed, registered disabled people and Senior Citizens. There is a Pay What You Can preview of each production.

Since February 1992, the Citizens' Theatre has had three auditoria. In addition to the 600 seat Citizens' Theatre, there are two studio theatres, the Circle Studio seating 120 and the Stalls Studio seating 60.

The Company, basing its repertoire on British and foreign classics, has since its formation performed 288 productions, including 24 world premieres, 22 British premieres and 27 Christmas shows. The casting draws on a pool of actors, many of whom have worked with the Company over the last 30 years, all of whom are paid the same.

The Citizens' Company has staged productions of works from authors as diverse as Albee and Webster, Orton and Schiller.



The Company has performed specially commissioned translations by Robert David MacDonald of works by Alegria, Arrabal, Balzac, Beaumarchais, Brecht, Buechner, Chekhov, Cocteau, Fassbinder, Genet, Goethe, Gogol, Goldoni, Henkel, Hochhuth, Ibsen, Kraus, Lermontov, Musset, Pirandello, Racine, Sartre, Schiller, Seneca, Strauss, Strindberg, Tolstoy, and Wedekind and new plays by MacDonald himself; Dracula (1972), Camille (1974), De Sade Show (1975), Chinchilla (1977), Summit Conference (1978), No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1978), A Waste of Time (1980), Don Juan (1980), Webster (1983), Anna Karenina (1987), Conundrum (1992), In Quest of Conscience (1994), Persons Unknown (1995), The Ice House (1998).

The Company has made guest appearances in Antwerp, Amsterdam, Bad Godesberg, Belgrade, Brussels, Caracas, Cologne, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, The Hague, Hamburg, Herrenhausen, London, Parma, Rome, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Teheran, Turin, Venice, Warsaw, Weisbaden, Wroclaw, Zagreb and Zurich.

Jeremy Raison was appointed Artistic Director of the Citizens' Theatre in November 2003. The first production he directed for the company was Therese Raquin in September 2004. The Borrowers was his second production for the Autumn season. In 2006, Guy Hollands became joint Artistic Director of the Citizens'.

Click here to visit the unofficial Citizens' Theatre site.