Macrobert Arts Centre: Stirling venue begins 50th anniversary celebrations

The Stirling arts venue should have started its 50th anniversary special programme of events last September.

However, they have now been launched and the venue is looking forward to welcoming audiences back for comedy, theatre, music and visual arts, as well as engaging the community in a range of cultural initiatives.

At the centre of the celebrations is the exhibition A Passion for Art: Matilda Hall, Collector and Curator which is now underway and runs until May 28.

Matilda Hall has been a collector and supporter of Scottish art for over 50 years. As PA to the University of Stirling’s first Principal Tom Cottrell, she helped to collect for the university and later was integral to the founding of charity Art in Healthcare.

This exhibition, which is free and open to all, features works from collections influenced by her, focusing upon the Art in Healthcare Collection, the University of Stirling Collection and Matilda’s personal collection. Highlights include works by Joan Eardley, Eduardo Paolozzi and Janka Malkowska.

Macrobert’s 50th anniversary celebrations will be brought to a spectacular close at the end of September with A Mother’s Song - in concert. A cast of West End performers and some of Scotland’s best folk musicians will present a night of songs from new musical A Mother’s Song. Themes of identity, motherhood and choice collide in this bold and life-affirming story which follows three remarkable women at different times in history, and traces the incredible journey of Scottish folk music across the Atlantic.

In between these two events there will be lots to keep people entertained.

Theatre highlights include Gillian Duffy’s hit comedy The Ghosting of Rabbie Burns, the incredibly moving The Gardener, Tony Award-winning musical masterpiece A Night in the Ukraine, futuristic sensory extravaganza 2065, Friends! The Musical Parody, Two’s Company by Gillian Duffy and A Number by Caryl Churchill.

Gordon Buchanan, one of the most prominent wildlife presenters and filmmakers working today, is also celebrating an anniversary this year. He will be back in Macrobert on his Anniversary Tour to talk about 30 Years in the Wild.

Rubber Chicken will be back at Macrobert in February for another Guinness World Record attempt for Fastest Theatrical Production. With just ten hours from finding out the show title to curtain up, this promises to be an amazing and unique night at the theatre.

Comedians raising laughs at Macrobert this spring include Gayle Telfer Stevens (River City) and Louise McCarthy (The Scotts) as The Dolls in Rerr Terr Variety Show, and Patrick Monahan in Started from the Bottom, Now I’m here. Ed Byrne will be touring to Macrobert with his show If I’m Honest, one of the breakout stars of Scottish comedy Gary Faulds will be performing his brand new solo show, Jack Docherty will be delighting audiences with his love letter to Edinburgh, the Fringe and summer rain, Nothing But, and the legendary Larry Dean will be making his way to Stirling on his Fudnut Tour.

Families can come to Macrobert this Spring to enjoy You Choose, based on the brilliant book by Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt, Olivier Award nominated Oi Frog & Friends!, and the cast of FUNBOX (formerly of The Singing Kettle) in FUNBOX: Jungle Party. Families can also follow Alice down the rabbit hole and discover the magical world of the orchestra in Children’s Classic Concerts – Wonderland. Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar is brought to the UK stage for the first time in a breath-taking new show, and will be bringing magic, illusion and the unexpected to Macrobert this April.

In live music, Horse returns to Macrobert to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her first album - The Same Sky. Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham, who have established themselves as the epitome of excellence in the world of traditional music, will also be delighting audiences at Macrobert this Spring.

Event cinema from The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and National Theatre Live includes Tosca, Romeo and Juliet, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Swan Lake Leopoldstadt, The Book of Dust and Henry V.

Julie Ellen, Artistic Director of Macrobert Arts Centre said: “It is a real pleasure to be presenting such an exciting programme for Spring 2022 and for our 50th Anniversary celebrations. In the past two years we have presented a range of our work, in many different forms, doing our very best to bring our audiences as much of the arts and entertainment they love as we could. We are truly grateful to all of those who took part, tuned in or turned up to those events, also to my colleagues who kept Macrobert Arts Centre going when we were closed, and made the venue safe for everyone when we could re-open. The artists and companies who light up our screens and stages with their vibrant creativity have had an extremely difficult time so we are delighted that many of them will join us for the first part of 2022.”

Matilda Hall, said: “It’s very important to me that works of art in this University continue to be looked after, cherished and used. The new Macrobert Arts Centre looks extremely handsome and I find the whole of the space is now most exciting to show works of art I’ve been connected with, coming either from my home or belonging to Paintings in Hospitals, a charity which I set up in 1992 now called Art in Healthcare. I want to make certain not only that the University cherishes its collection, but that art in healthcare is noticed and appreciated and more hospitals put works of art into their corridors.”

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