Forest Theatre Company was formed in August 2001 by Suzanne Teed, Jacquie Speirs and Marian Mead with sponsorship from Teed Business Continuity. Their aim was to promote theatre and music in the heart of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. The group built on the tradition of theatrical involvement in Gartmore where, for many years, the Gartmore Players had performed pantomimes that were l
argely written and produced by Jean Woodburn. Forest Theatre Company is an amateur theatrical group based at Gartmore Village Hall. We always welcome new members. Our shows bring together members of the community and further afield, with a wide range of talents.....performance, music, set design and construction, props, costume, publicity, backstage help and front of house. The group produces an annual Musical, usually in March, with occasional other events. We aim to create high quality productions, which often involve a wide range of ages (7 - 77!). Forest Theatre Company are especially proud of our role in encouraging an enjoyment in theatre in local young people. Some of our young members have even gone on to pursue careers in the arts, in music, acting, stage management, costume and even one opera singer! We are very fortunate to have Gartmore Village Hall as our base, providing an excellent performance space and a comfortable, welcoming place to rehearse. Auditions are normally held in June or August and rehearsals run through the winter months. The first production in May 2002 was Annie and involved a cast of 42 adults and children - as well as a dog! Produced and directed by Suzanne Teed and Marian Mead with Jacquie Speirs as Musical Director – the show was a resounding success! Fiddler on the Roof, Songs from the Shows, Oliver! and The Sound of Music all followed to great acclaim and audiences grew larger and larger as the company became more widely known. FTC were honoured when local composer Sally Beamish and local poet Donald Goodbrand Saunders announced that they wanted to write a musical for the company. The result was Shenachie - a wonderful love story set in the time of the Highland Clearances directed by Vicky Glasse-Davies. Shenachie went on to be entered into Cameron Mackintosh's competition The Highland Quest in July 2006 where it was selected to be one of the 5 finalists. In March 2007, FTC moved in a slightly different direction by performing the musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors which had everyone laughing and rocking in the aisles. This production brought Stephen Langston of SL-Productions into our fold and he offered his musical, Faeries, to us and directed the show in 2008. Faeries was performed by actors from Stow College (and our own Suzanne Teed as the Mother) at the Edinburgh Festival in August that year. A huge fundraiser for the village hall brought 'The Committed' to the stage. The cast and crew brought together their musical talents to perform the songs from the film The Commitments. Additional musicians came in the form of several teachers from McLaren High School! The King and I in 2009 was a colourful show when skilled villagers came up trumps with fabulous period costumes, headdresses, elaborate masks and props. Later that year, we branched out into the world of pantomime and Cinderella was performed by our under 16 members to high acclaim. A culmination of songs from hit musicals was turned into A Night at the Musicals in March 2010 and this proved the ideal stage for our teenage members to come to the fore and show their dancing, singing and acting talents off to an incredibly high standard. To celebrate our 10th year we performed My Fair Lady in March 2011 and the shows kept getting better and better in terms of their staging, costumes...and performances! The Wizard of Oz was the last show to be produced in the old hall when it closed in 2012 and there were ‘no holds barred’ with pyrotechnic explosions and a yellow brick road marching around the ‘band’.
2013 and 2014 the group took a break while the fabulous new hall took shape. In 2015, The Addams Family Musical took the village by storm, with a wonderful set and props created by Tom Abernethy and Alan McCormick. Vicky Glasse-Davies directed and this was the first of several recent shows with Rosie Lang as Musical Director. There was much hilarity in rehearsing and performing this darkly comic show. Goodnight Mister Tom, a Scottish premiere of this little-known show was our musical in 2016. This was a true ensemble piece with most of the cast playing multiple roles. Many of the audience were moved by the powerful performances in this show, which moved between humour and some very difficult subject matter.
2017 - Peter Pan a Musical Adventure. This modern adaptation of the classic story involved lots of challenges - how to fly being the most obvious! We were given expert tuition on the stage fighting, and this is also the only show in which a prop (the Crocodile), had its own curtain call and massive round of applause! The Beast from the East hit us with blizzards and snow drifts in 2018 but ‘the show must go on’ and our dedicated team put on an amazing production of Oliver! against the odds.
2019 - The Sound of Music. There is a reason why this musical remains hugely popular...it’s impossible to stop singing those songs...but our talented young Von Trapps had to master a lot of complicated choreography at the same time and change their clothes seven times! Some of the fabulous costumes originally made by Isobel Orr in 2006 were used again in this production. In October 2019 Forest Theatre Company were invited to provide costumed actors of all ages, to assist with a re-enactment of 160th anniversary of the inauguration of the Loch Katrine Aqueduct by Queen Victoria. The sun shone and a great day out was had by our assembled Victorians.
2020 - Into The Woods. This was the most complicated show the group had ever attempted, both in terms of music and structure, but they rose to the challenge magnificently! Our set for this show was designed by Alex Paton who jumped at the idea as she ‘has a passion for trees’. Her Giant’s legs even sneaked into the BBC 2 TV programme about the pub (hanging out of a bedroom window). Who could ever have imagined that one week after the final performance the country would be in lockdown! What shall we do next?! Would you like to get involved? We’d love to have you! For further information on Forest Theatre Company, please contact Vicky Glasse-Davies (Director) on 07769 792331
