Berthed ship brings theatre curtain down

Published on Friday 17 October 2008 10:33

THE arrival of an oceangoing cruise liner in Leith has forced the crew of Theatre Workshop to pack up a massive set which it has been using for rehearsals of its latest production.

The set for Marat/Sade, which will appear at the Assembly Rooms in November, is the size of half a football pitch, and too big for the company's Stockbridge theatre, so rehearsals were moved to the cruise ship terminal at Leith Docks.

However, with the arrival of the 35,000 tonne cruise ship Balmoral at Ocean Terminal on Wednesday morning, the company had to suspend rehearsals for 24 hours and hire a fleet of the largest vans it could find to put the set into storage for the day. Rehearsals were due to resume after the ship's departure.

Production manager Pete Searle said: "Rehearsing, let alone touring, a production of this size presents significant logistical challenges.

"When we realised the scope of the production demanded a set bigger than Theatre Workshop in Stockbridge could cope with, Forth Ports kindly stepped in with their offer.

"It's the first time I've ever had to break rehearsals for a ship to dock, though."