History - Part 2
A Community Project
During the 1980s James Burnett of Leys realised that his family home of Crathes Castle would shortly reach its 400th anniversary. He judged 1992 an appropriate date for public celebration, since it would coincide with a planned gathering of the Burnett family worldwide (and incidentally with his own fiftieth birthday). He approached Alastair Macdonald, a young theatre director whose most recent production had been a spectacular celebration of Aberdeen University's coming quincentenary. Alastair, an enthusiast for the style of community theatre pioneered by Joan Littlewood and Gerry Mulgrew, welcomed this suggestion, but insisted that the play should celebrate, not just the lives of successive Burnett lairds and baronets, but the history of the whole local community. James Burnett, initially a little surprised by this enlargement of his idea, nevertheless endorsed it, and so did Jeffrey Boughey, Representative of the National Trust at its Crathes property, which was to provide the magnificent venue. Alastair Macdonald had already begun to assemble his professional team, and the next stage was to ensure community support.
Through the summer of 1991 the volunteer committee of CRATHES 1992 wrestled with daunting problems of finance. It accepted the Director's provisional budget of '29,200, almost two-thirds of which represented professional fees, paid at rates approved by the Scottish Arts Council, who were to be approached for a grant of '10,000. But before applying the Committee would need to provide clear evidence of support from the community, notably from the Kincardine & District Council. Apart from occasional grants to young talent, this body had not previously exercised its statutory responsibility to make provision for the arts; nevertheless in September 1991 it authorized a grant of up to '5000, on the enthusiastic recommendation of Councillor Gordon Walkden. But there was vocal and sustained opposition from other Councillors, who opposed expenditure of public money on 'subsidy junkies' whom they felt did not reflect community needs. These difficulties dismayed some members of the original Crathes Committee, five of whom resigned in August 1991.
But under a new Convenor, Sheila Hargreaves, the committee continued its search for sponsorship. The National Trust provided office accommodation in the out-buildings of the castle, and an energetic young Canadian resident, Pamela Currie, was appointed as Administrator. But there was a serious set-back; on 11 November the Arts Council wrote that they could afford only a grant of '1500 (later supplemented by '500 to enable the choreographer Frank McConnell to join the creative team). It now became doubly essential to mobilize community support and to prove that the project would continue to benefit the people of Deeside after the final performance.
Alastair MacDonald, and the team of arts professionals he had recruited, were already working to do this. An early recruit to the committee was Graham Bett, drama teacher at Banchory Academy, who perceived a fine opportunity to enhance education in the arts. With Alastair he consulted pupils and parents, and recruited over 40 volunteers for a new youth theatre called Stage Crew. In December 1991 BP made a grant of '3000 for 1992, to establish this group's future as a long-term feature of community life. Workshops in the Academy, as well as ceilidhs in the community were also being led by Crathes 92's musical director, Jonny Hardie, leader of the Old Blind Dogs, a popular local group with a growing international reputation.
John Hargreaves, a retired historian from Aberdeen University, who had been commissioned to prepare a script, meanwhile assembled a small group of Banchory people interested in researching local history, and in writing dialogue in both Doric and English. Their intention was to identify episodes which might dramatically illustrate changing relationships between the Burnett family and neighbouring communities, starting with a representation in movement of the building of the castle. Although the group had access to the Burnett family muniments (some of them in print), evidence for the history of Banchory was more fragmentary; but members of the group were able to suggest episodes and stories relevant to the emerging theme of 'Tensions and Trust' between castle and community. Some of them went on to draft passages of dialogue, in English or Doric as might be appropriate. For people like Bertha Forbes, whose natural fluency in Doric had not always been appreciated during her professional life as a teacher, this work proved a liberating experience.
For the nineteenth century, the writers' group found more interesting and entertaining material than could be incorporated in the script, and some of this they incorporated in a light-hearted sketch set in the 1890s. On 14 March 1992 this was performed in the Burnett Arms in the form of a Victorian Soir'e, giving Alastair an opportunity to direct some potential cast-members of Tensions and Trust. Preceded by a short concert by the Banchory Strathspey & Reel Society, and followed by a lively ceilidh with the Old Blind Dogs, this short play provided the audience with an appetizing taster of what was to come. About the same time the writers group published a slim booklet of original and reprinted writing under the revived title of Banchory & Round About; this was designed by the projects Design Director, Stewart Cordiner, a lecturer at Gray's School of Art, whose colourful posters and publicity leaflets were already beginning to appear in the town.
Another enthusiastic recruit to the Committee was the Community Education Officer, Alasdair Johnston, who secured permission to devote some of his working hours to Crathes 1992. During the Easter vacation the academy provided space and facilities for workshops under Alastair MacDonald's overall direction, exploring ideas which were developed in the final production, including those of the choreographer Frank McConnell. At the same time members of Banchory Singers, and others, began to form a chorus under the direction of Rita Maclean. (A separate singing group would later join the production, when the choir of St Ternan's Episcopal Church appeared, implausibly, as escort to Bishop Fred Darwent, portraying the 17th century Bishop Gilbert Burnett). These workshops, and the small-scale performance which followed, widened public interest, and provided a launch-pad from which Alastair MacDonald could begin the work of casting and rehearsal.
Meanwhile the Committee took other initiatives to raise interest (and, though in some cases, less successfully, funds). A mood of real enthusiasm began to inspire the work of the committee, and of a growing army of volunteers. Alastair and others held workshops on the theme of 'Play through the Ages' in country primary schools. Local and national celebrities contributed recipes to an attractive cook-book, Oat Cuisine. Crathes T-shirts, sweat-shirts, even Crathes Ale, appeared on the market. A raffle was organized, which eventually raised over a thousand pounds. Local businesses which had felt unable to offer cash sponsorship were generous in donating prizes; and Margaret Cromar, oldest of the team of volunteers, surpassed them all in selling tickets.
By the middle of June the main roles in the play had been cast, and Iain Campbell, an experienced Stage Director, arrived in Banchory in his double-decker bus, Magnus, and set up headquarters at Woodend. The farm steading here had been out of agricultural use for some time, and the Leys Estate had installed basic hygienic facilities, so that the family could use the building for informal social gatherings. Leys Estate - Woodend was at the time held in trust for their eldest son Alexander who has since become the proprietor - had already offered Crathes 92 the use of this property for rehearsals and set-building. Having overcome initial doubts about community theatre, Jamie Burnett had come to embrace the project with increasing enthusiasm, welcoming the informal style of committee proceedings, accepting their use of the informal 'Jamie', and taking routine duties on his shoulders. With active encouragement from Alastair MacDonald, he was beginning to see that Woodend Barn might become a fine permanent centre for community arts.
Meanwhile it was serving as an invaluable base for the production team. Rehearsals, previously held in Banchory Academy, could be freely scheduled in the spacious cattle-court and the adjacent byre, although the light was dim, cold winds swept the building, and there was earth underfoot. Space was also available for the growing army of back-stage volunteers, who could now build and paint scenery, assemble props, develop an extensive wardrobe of costumes. The actual performances were to take place in a large clear-span marquee, with seats for four hundred, to be erected on the grounds in front of the castle. But this of course would only appear a few days before the actual performances (28 July ' 1 August), so Iain Campbell had to prepare his detailed plans for staging, lighting, sound at Woodend.
Committee members were also making plans for activities outside the marquee. Two long banners were designed and stitched, to hang from the castle wall as back-drop to the whole arena. Plans were made to entertain early arrivals by Banchory Pipe Band, the junior Strathspey & Reel performers, and the children who had been working on 'Play-Days' in their schools. Alastair had now decided to begin the play by re-enacting the funeral of General Sir James Burnett, 13th baronet and a hero of the First World War; the whole cast were to follow the horse-drawn carriage which had been used in 1953, watched by the audience as they waited to enter the theatre. (Alastair's faith in the July weather was to prove miraculously justified at each performance!) The historical section of the play would then be presented as a tribute to the grieving widow from the Banchory community of 1953; and special attention was thus drawn to sequences following a reading of Sir James' account of the bloody battles of 1917. With the co-operation of the local British Legion, ninety-six names from the Banchory war memorial were solemnly read out (over the four evenings), interspersed with a moving dance by young Rosemary Davidson, and a reading of Charles Murray's poem, 'When will the war be by?'
In July all the problems, set-backs and disagreement fell into perspective as the play was performed to capacity audiences. Adrenalin levels were high, and the audiences responded. In one way or another more than two hundred local people had contributed to the evening, or to various activities that had already taken place: fifty as actors, sixty as musicians or singers, over sixty-five as workers back-stage or off-stage. There was general agreement that Alastair MacDonald and his team had achieved an artistic success.
Remarkably, the whole enterprise had also been financially solvent. The accounts were finally balanced at the sum of '32,558, as compared with the original estimate of '29,200. Some early expectations had however proved too optimistic, on both expenditure and revenue sides. Original estimates, production costs, publicity, and for the expense of administering the whole extended project, fell short by almost '7000 in all. Most seriously, the disappointingly small Arts Council grant meant that income from statutory bodies, originally estimated at '21,000, was only '9525, more than half of this being the District Council grant. Disaster was averted thanks chiefly to the success of the committee in identifying some generous business sponsors. In addition to BP's grant to Stage Crew, the Aberdeen company Abtex provided '4000; Bancon Developments (the Burnett family construction company) gave '2700 in cash; Total Oil and the Jaffreys of Banchory Lodge Hotel each donated '1000. The Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre made a large contribution in kind by lending and transporting four hundred seats for the marquee. These successes generated an award of '4000 from ABSA, the Association for Business Sponsorship of the Arts, bringing the cash total to about '13,000. Sales of tickets and of the attractive programme also brought in almost '2000 more than budgeted, and some of the professional enablers willingly accepted reductions in their contracted fees. Crathes 92 ended this critical year with a small credit balance.
It was now necessary to consider how these successes could be carried forward.
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