Salad Days
This Production looks like the first proper musical that the newly formed company staged in 1966, as previously they had only put on a revue type show. It tells the story of Jane and Timothy Dawes who meet up in a park to plan their lives after their graduation. Deciding that Timothy must take the first job he’s offered, a passing tramp offers them £7 a week to look after his piano. Upon accepting, they discover that when the piano plays it delivers all within earshot an irresistible desire to dance! After attempts to ban the music by the Ministry of Pleasure and Pastimes, the piano vanishes, and Timothy enlists his Uncle Zed to take them in his flying saucer to retrieve it.
It is amazing to think this was staged in the church hall of St.Michaels Church, Slateford Road, Edinburgh. The stage had to be built in an alcove along the front of the windows, complete with working curtains, access to the stage was via a door on the right which was located just inside the main front door. From the photos the stage doesn’t look very deep and the wings must have been particularly small, I believe there was a narrow passage behind the set where you would have to go to get to stage right, it must have been very complicated, especially if you had a large cast on stage at any one time, yet, for the next 10 years this is where the Smycms staged their productions until 1973 when they moved to the Church Hill theatre with Fiddler On The Roof.
Salad Days was first produced in 1954 and was written and composed by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade. Among the songs it featured were, The Time Of My Life, The Saucer Song, I Sit In The Sun and the catchy We’re Looking For A Piano.
Some scenes from our Production. Photos courtesy of M.Mills.
the smycms 