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IT’S BEEN an impressive year for Ardfern-based fACTory in 2007, whose theatre workshops have become a prominent feature in the local arts scene.
The company received a start-up grant in 2006 and have been constantly developing ever since.
Last Autumn, their students stood motionless for an incredible one hour during the Lantern Parade in a tableau of frozen statues.
Five months later, the senior group was collecting a cup for best youth drama and another for best set for their performance of Bombshell, a play penned by one of the group’s directors. This was performed again at Craignish Village Hall alongside other plays involving the two younger groups.
Just after Easter rehearsals started for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which had been chosen for the Arts Festival to give students a taste of the Bard. They rose to the occasion in spectacular fashion as faeries and elves of the forest. The production was pronounced a roaring success by all who came to see it (even Shakespeare sceptics!).
In the meantime, fACTory had been approached by the BBC on the hunt for ‘lively and articulate’ 6-7 year olds. All three children who were available for audition landed a role in Cbeebies’ Nina and the Neurons.
‘We are exhausted but very proud of our achievements’, said Vivienne Dobbie, who runs the company with her daughter, Lippy. ‘Drama is so good for young and old alike. You get to examine all sorts of issues and it helps you grow in confidence and as a person because emphasis is put on teamwork and not on individual stardom.’
fACTory is starting another children’s workshop in Tayvallich this Autumn but is also available for one-off workshops, school and amateur productions.
