Red Carpet Gala Performance of The STEAMIE to Celebrate Anniversary and Raise Funds

Producers Neil Laidlaw and Jason Haigh Ellery are proud to announce that a special red carpet gala performance of Tony Roper's The Steamie will be held on Tuesday 24 October at King's Theatre, Glasgow as part of the play's 30th anniversary celebrations.

The Steamie has been playing to great acclaim since opening in Kirkcaldy in September and has so far enthralled audiences in Aberdeen, Dundee, Ayr, Inverness and Stirling.

Written and directed by Tony Roper, the 2017 productions stars Libby McArthur as Dolly, Mary McCusker as Mrs Culfeathers, Steven McNicoll as Andy, Carmen Pieraccini as Margrit and Fiona Wood as Doreen.

The play runs at the King's Theatre in Glasgow from Tuesday 24 October until Saturday 4 November.

Bringing together the stars of Scottish theatre and screen in a celebration of this seminal Scottish play, the gala night will also raise fund for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

A number of tickets will be sold through the RCS to raise funds for the institution in its 170th anniversary year. The Royal Conservatoire has consistently played a key part in creating a rich and successful theatre scene in Scotland over the last two centuries, and the producers are excited to join forces with them for the event to mark this incredible milestone.

Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: "For 30 years, The Steamie has enchanted audiences with its homage to Glasgow of years gone by.

"From Tony Roper to Neil Laidlaw, our alumni are involved in all facets of the production, highlighting the versatility and creativity of the students who pursue studies in the performing and production arts at the Royal Conservatoire.

"The Steamie remains a treasured part of Scotland's theatrical heritage and with so many graduates involved, it's only right for the Royal Conservatoire to celebrate this historic milestone in the same year our institution marks its 170th anniversary."

The Royal Conservatoire is ranked number one in Scotland for graduate employability. Established in 1847, the institution is celebrating its 170th anniversary in 2017 and has built on its roots as a national academy of music to become one of Europe's most multi-disciplinary performing arts higher education centres, offering specialised training across music, drama, dance, production and film.

The writer Tony Roper and producer Neil Laidlaw are both alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Tony Roper is a Scottish actor, comedian, writer, playwright and director who first wrote The Steamie in 1987 and directed the 25th anniversary production in 2012. As an actor his first major role was in Scotch and Rye and he is most recognisable as Jamesie Cotter from Rab C Nesbitt. Tony's other plays include Paddies Market, a conceptual sequel to The Steamie, and Rikki and Me, a play about the comedy actor Rikki Fulton. He has written two novels based on Rikki Fulton's character Rev I.M Jolly. His autobiography I'll No Tell You Again was published in 2014.

Tony says: "In my late forties I sat down with a biro and a jotter and wrote my first ever play. Thirty years have since passed and The Steamie is still there, giving laughter and tears and touching that intangible something in an audience that has made it a favourite night out."

This is the third time Neil Laidlaw has produced a tour of The Steamie, first in 2009 and then the 25th anniversary tour in 2012. Originally from Burntisland, Neil is now based in London's West End. Recent successes include co-producing the Olivier Award nominated revival of Show Boat and the Olivier Award winning Gypsy starringImelda Staunton; co-producing The Young Vic's production of A Doll's House starring Hattie Morahan, at the Duke of York's in the West End and BAM in New York; and the UK tour of Annie which will transfer to the West End later this year staring Miranda Hart.

Neil said: "The Steamie is one of the greatest Scottish plays - I am extremely proud to have had the opportunity to have been associated with it in the past and am now even more excited to be producing this 30th anniversary celebration. I first saw it in a student production at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland while studying there. Dawn Steele played Mrs Culfeathers fabulously!"

The Steamie is a Scottish theatrical classic; an ode to the hard working women of the 1950s and to a bygone Glasgow. The young Doreen envisions a new future, while Mrs Culfeathers looks back to the past - the play is a snapshot of a society, of a time and a cross section of strong women, all rolled into Roper's hilarious comedy. As The Scotsman said in 2012, it is a "wonderful pattern of humour, pathos and laugh-out-loud comic set-pieces."

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