The Ghosts of North Leith
Citadel Arts Group present The Ghosts of North Leith at North Leith Parish Church from 14th to 16th November!
About The Ghosts of North Leith
The venue of the show is North Leith Parish Church, soon due to be released for sale by the Church of Scotland. This will be the audience’s last chance to see a live performance in this beautiful Georgian building, intended as the hub of Leith’s New Town.
Tickets £10/£9 from jamesellison@blueyonder.co.uk/07770 623 924
Citadel Arts Group were surprised to discover a connection between Lily Gladstone, star of Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and one of the main characters in their forthcoming show, The Ghosts of North Leith.
Lily Gladstone comes from Montana, of Blackfeet Indian stock. But on her mother’s side she is descended from the great-great grandfather of a first cousin of the 19th century UK Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. And – wait for it – Gladstone’s grandmother is Nellie Gladstones (the family later dropped the final ‘s’) who features in Citadel Arts Group’s The Ghosts of North Leith. Nellie was a feisty businesswoman who, in Hilary Spiers’ section of the play, reprimands her son John for using slave labour on his plantations. The fruits of this labour fetch up in Leith. Hilary Spiers writes, ‘The Sugar Boycott was a way for middle class women to show their abhorrence of the slave trade by refusing to buy slave-produced sugar. Little is known of Nellie’s life which allowed me to give free rein to my imagination. My play portrays her as something of a radical and an early feminist at odds with her family who derive much of their wealth from slavery.’
When slavery was abolished in 1833, Nellie’s son John Gladstone received the largest payment from the Slave Compensation Commission amounting to over £10m in modern currency. This money no doubt paid for the fine family gravestone in Coburg Street cemetery.
Slavery is a central issue in The Ghosts of North Leith. The play is based on the stories behind seven of the graves in Coburg Street Burial Ground. One tantalising stone commemorates a Jacob Stoney who died in Leith in 1820 but was born in Jamaica on the family plantation. His fine stone was raised by his sister Mary who was still living in Jamaica. Citadel’s writers have woven a story around these bare facts using detailed historical research and some inspired guesswork.
Some are the graves are of well-known characters like Lady Anne Mackintosh who raised troops in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1756. Having enjoyed the Outlander books, playwright Rhona McAdam was attracted to this real-life Jacobite heroine. ‘I wondered how Lady Anne ended up in North Leith Burial Ground instead of the family estate in the Highlands.’ It appears Leith was a hotbed of Jacobite sympathy.
The figure who links all the stories is Robert Nicoll. Hailed as the second Robert Burns, Nicoll became a radical activist and newspaperman until his early death in 1837, aged only 33. Nicoll is the conscience of the play, pointing out the hypocrisies and double think of the other characters, all stuck in the limbo of North Leith, regretting their unfulfilled lives. The play uses pathos, humour, music to add another chapter to the rich history of the port of Leith which Citadel has been celebrating for almost thirty years.
The cast is led by Mark Kydd, a Citadel regular. He writes: 'As an adopted Leither, I've always been fascinated by its concealed history... vintage maps showing different street names and open fields in what are now built-up areas.
Citadel has a fine tradition of examining Leith's past through its work, but here the writers have literally gone underground, exploring the lives of people buried in Coburg Street Cemetery though a combination of painstaking research and imaginative speculation. One character in the play wryly observes: "They said the deid are quite forgotten after three generations". We hope that this production goes some way towards redressing the balance by helping to celebrate these otherwise forgotten lives.
The script was given a trial performed reading at Leith Festival in June. Director Liz Hare writes: "Thanks to the enthusiastic feedback of the Leith people and their supportive comments, we have developed and improved the script for three evening performances. Now we exploit light and darkness to create a truly disturbing atmosphere for our North Leith ghosts.’
Where possible we will update our listings to notify of cancelled, postponed and rescheduled events, however we STRONGLY ADVISE that you check with the venue/organiser in the first instance for updates.
All information (whether in text or photographs) is supplied in good faith but should not be relied upon as being a statement of representation or fact.GOT AN EVENT TO SHARE? It's free to post your events on What's On Edinburgh, click here to find out more!
Want to be the first to hear about what's happening in Edinburgh? Just hit 'Like' on our Facebook page, join the What's On Scotland Facebook Group and 'Follow' on our Twitter account and you're all set!Sponsored Links
Similar events you might like...
Close-Up Magic at The Joker & Thief
Experience close-up magic with Tim Licata, one of Scotland’s most entertaining sleight-of-hand artists, at your table in the lovely Joker & Thief pub every Thursday!
READ MORE
Stand Up Horror
Actor, writer and tour guide Alex Staniforth invents a horror story every night at Stand Up Horror... you decide what the characters do, find and sometimes - yes sometimes - even love!
READ MORE
The Roze Garden
Looking for the best Thursday night out in Edinburgh? Discover The Roze Garden - Edinburgh’s Cabaret and Club Night at The Street!
READ MORE
Moonspinners
Join us for a new quarterly series of full-moon celebrations, with live storytelling, music and a rotating programme of incredible performers.
READ MORE
Edinburgh Magic
Kevin Quantum invites you to an intimate and quite astonishing evening of magic, mystery and wonder in one of Edinburgh’s most historic and enchanting hotels; The Caledonian!
READ MORE
99 Red Hot Kitties and a Cockatoo
Come and enjoy an afternoon filled with Burlesque, Drag, and Cabaret at at The Lab in CC Blooms!
READ MORE
Monster Cabaret
Join Madame Maeve for her creepy cabaret at the Banshee Labyrinth, as she host a collection of familiar monsters but not as you know them.
READ MORE
Ghosts of the Banshee
Are you brave enough to attend an unsettling night of ghosts in the Banshee Labyrinth - Scotland's Most Haunted Pub - built into the legendary South Bridge Vaults.
READ MORE
Dr. Bonk’s Macarbaret
Scotland's silliest surgeon, Dr. Bonk, is back with his hit SELL-OUT SHOW 'Dr Bonk's Macarbaret', an evening of drag, burlesque, music, comedy, and medical mayhem!
READ MORESponsored Links
Find other events in Edinburgh
Sponsored Links