New-look Assembly Rooms gathers Scotland’s finest

IT HAS been a breeding ground for some of the biggest names in stand-up comedy for 30 years.

But now the likes of veteran politician Tony Benn, Scotland’s national poet Liz Lochhead, actor David Hayman and folk singer Jimmie MacGregor will be among those treading the Festival boards at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, when it reopens after a two-year hiatus this summer.

Comedy from former WWF wrestler Mick Foley, a one-man play featuring gameshow host Les Dennis, actor Pip Utton playing both Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler in separate shows, and magician Jerry Sadowitz also feature in the line-up masterminded by Stand Comedy Club founder Tommy Sheppard. Revealing the full line-up for the venue, which will be known as “Assembly Rooms Fringe”, Mr Sheppard promised it would be far different from previous years with just 40 per cent of this year’s programme devoted to comedy.

He predicted the improvements carried out during a lengthy revamp would create “the best venue in the festival” and promised to end lengthy queues outside the building.

Mr Sheppard was controversially given the contract to take over the running of festival shows in the building from veteran impresario William Burdett-Coutts by the city council, which owns the building.

Mr Burdett-Coutts had been an outspoken critic of a multi-million-pound refurbishment of the A-listed landmark after the council insisted it wanted to turn part of the building into a year-round restaurant and let out space to retailers.

Mr Sheppard has vowed to cap ticket prices for shows at the George Street venue, which has had almost £10 million spent on it by the city council – the biggest makeover since it opened it in 1787.

Mr Sheppard, who set up the Stand in 1995, said: “I am most proud of the music and theatre programmes we will be putting on, rather than the comedy.

“Everything has been hand-picked and will be a co-production for us, so we’re underwriting the cost of all the shows.

“The Assembly Rooms had been a bit dominated by stand-up in the last few years and it will be a lot different now. People will get a completely different experience in what we believe will be one of the top-ten venues anywhere in Britain and the most atmospheric and best kitted-out venue at the Festival.”

Mr Benn will be giving talks after film screenings of a documentary about his lengthy political career. Lochhead will be appearing along with a daily guest in a brand new show Making Nothing Happen.

Bafta award-winning actor David Hayman will be reviving his acclaimed one-man play Six and a Tanner, in which a middle-aged Glasgow man rages at the coffin of his dead father in a funeral parlour, while the National Theatre of Scotland’s musical version of The Wicker Man will also be showcased.

MacGregor will be regaling Festival-goers with a show about his 50-year career. Among the other musical acts booked in are Love and Money frontman James Grant, folk stars Karen Matheson, Braebach and Michael McGoldrick, as well as a Woody Guthrie tribute night.

From elite retreat to the home of stand-up

WHEN the Assembly Rooms opened its doors for the first time to host the Caledonian Hunt Ball in 1787, it was very much seen as a new gathering place for Edinburgh’s aristocracy.

It was the setting for the first Edinburgh Music Festival in 1815, and a year later Sir Walter Scott oversaw a banquet for the Black Watch. There were chaotic scenes outside the venue in 1822 when a lavish ball was held during the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh.

From 1947 to 1980, with the launch of the Edinburgh International Festival, the building became a home to a club where journalists and performers could gather.

The Queen was famously pictured dancing an “eightsome reel” at the Assembly Rooms in 1966 at the Royal Company of Archers Ball (pictured left). In 1981, a young William Burdett-Coutts tried to hire a room for a Fringe act and was offered the whole building.

Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Rik Mayall, Emma Thompson and Lenny Henry were among the talents that emerged there in the early years of the venue. The company built up by Mr Burdett-Coutts grew to be responsible for about 20 per cent of all ticket sales at the Fringe, eventually expanding into the home of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on The Mound.

It will reopen to the public with a gala ceilidh dance in July.