The Mould that Changed the World

Delighted to announce our new production, soon to be premiered in Scotland at the National Museum of Scotland, and in England at the London Science Museum. Find out more HERE.

Are Burke and Hare to be resurrected once more?

After a couple of years of time-out for the Charades artists to explore other avenues and projects, there are some very promising noises going on at Charades HQ. This could well mean the return of William Burke, Long John Silver, Benn Gunn, King Loth, William Hare, Count Dracula and Jim Hawkins to name but a few. Here's a clip from BBC Radio Scotland's piece on the launch of Burke and Hare in East Lothian in anticipation.

Prestonpans

A big well done to a young cast at Prestonpans Primary School for yesterday's superb rendition of Treasure Island. Each of the three character groups shone when their moment under the lights came and not one member of the 60 strong cast failed to give their all. There was an eruption of applause from the audience as the curtain fell for the last time, a telling sign of the quality of the performance. A big well done to the law-abiding loyalists, the plundering pirates and the crazy castaways.

Kingsland shine as they send Burke and Hare to the gallows

Another wonderful performance of Burke and Hare took place on this misty Monday. Kingsland Primary's p5-6 classes took a sell-out audience on an exciting visit to Victorian Edinburgh, telling the boody tale of Burke and Hare. Many, many thanks and congratulations to all the talented young actors who were involved. Charades hope to return soon!

Also, an extra thank you very much to Macy and Naimh for their handmade cards and presents. 

It made our day and we thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate eggs on the way home. 

A new town for Burke and Hare to snatch cadavers in.

Thursday saw the Charades team performing with the very talented upper school at Newtown Primary in the Borders. Another quick blog post hardly does the talents of the young actors and singers justice, but they all showed wonderful promise and talent for stage. 

The school chef, in the kitchen next door, enjoyed the singing so much that she managed to find a couple of surplus lemon meringue pies for the Charades Team - now that is a first!

Superb stuff guys. Well done.

Pinkie St Peters

A big congratulations from all of us here at Charades HQ to the cast of Treasure Island at Pinkie St Peters in Musselburgh. Some superb singing from a talented cast gave the sell-out audience a real treat this afternoon.  

Well done.

All three groups at Pinkie rally embraced their character and the beautiful art work throughout the school showed how much the story had captured the imagination.

This excellent pirate ship was created by Keira, one of the pirates. 

Musselburgh Burgh join forces woth Burke and Hare

There are two infamous murderers in town in Musselburgh today. P5-7 at Burgh Primary are recounting the deadly tale, and the final performance is soon to begin. The dress rehearsal before lunch was superb with all the characters in the show portrayed so realistically by these young actors. 

Parents, grandparents, friends and family - you're in for a gruesome spectacular!

Treasure Island at St Boswells

The Charades team was at St Boswells primary in the Borders yesterday for the school's big performance of Treasure Island. After a morning of hard work adding the finishing touches to production, the parents turned out in force to witness the 2pm performance.

A big well done from all of us at Charades for a great job guys - excellent singing and acting all round.

A Happy New Year from all in the Charades team. We hope you have had a lovely holiday.

We came across a Christmas cracker joke that we couldn't resist sharing, most topical for those that have done or are about to embark on a production Treasure Island:

What is a pirate's favourite kind of cheese?

         Chedd-AAARGH!

All the best for the first day back at school.

A Grand Finale at Stow Primary

Tonight's performance of Burke and Hare at Stow Primary was the last of the term and what a show to end the run.

The original performance date for Stow was Thursday the 5th of December however sadly the show had to be postponed due to severe weather. Not to worry though, the cast made excellent use of their extra two weeks by rehearsing even more and creating a stunning mural and array of gravestones to decorate the hall. 

 

The day at Stow started on a high with an easy set up for Charades, it was almost as though we had done it all before…then cast arrived and performed and incredibly tight first run through with singing even more polished and melodious than it had been a few weeks ago. Notes were given on merits and possible improvements before lunch then it was into costume for the afternoon dress rehearsal. 

As the day progressed the quality of performance delivered by this talented young cast just got higher and higher, climaxing with a vibrant evening performance to a full house.

Well done Stow Primary School and have a lovely festive holiday, you deserve it.