Welcome to The Occasion
The Occasion exists to create live theatre that will entertain, challenge, surprise and – above all else – excite audiences.
Latest News
Another Nice Mess
Performances at Tramway, Glasgow on:
Thursday June 29th
Friday June 30th
Saturday July 1st
Full details coming soon.
A brand new show with The Southside Group taking inspiration from the visit of Laurel and Hardy to Glasgow in June 1947.
Working with the Glaswegian playwright, Stewart Ennis, combining melodrama, farce and silent comedy, Another Nice Mess explores how the 1947 visit impacted the members of a local Southside Laurel and Hardy fan club. Or, how it might have, had such a club existed!
The Occasion and The Southside Group are grateful for support from Creative Scotland, The Hugh Fraser Foundation, The People’s Postcode Lottery and The Boshier-Hinton Foundation in order to produce this work.
Recent projects
The Southside Group in The Snow Queen
On Thursday 1 December & Friday 2 December 2022, in Queen’s Park Govanhill Parish Church, The Southside Group brought Hans Christian Andersen’s iconic tale vibrantly to life.
Photographs by Stewart Ennis
A story of the struggle between good and evil, of magic and love, of change. Featuring ice-skating and robbers, a woman who understands a little of magic, a street-wise Raven, a talking reindeer… and some strange advice!
The Snow Queen was TSG’s first live, public performance.
This is a group, as in any ensemble, of diverse talents and abilities, and were The QR interested in handing out stars for effort, this would warrant a solid 5. However, this is a cast aiming at making objectively good theatre, bringing their hearts and minds to offer a unique perspective on the story. With more experience as a live cast, they can surely aim higher still. Directors Clerke and Catherine Gillard are to be congratulated for enabling such a terrific showing from The Southside Group.
The choice of material brought opportunities for nice set pieces, and I particularly loved the skating, the shadow work, the introduction and development of the Snow Queen and the big bang! … One Friday night, in panto time, I saw a terrific piece of theatre. Full. Stop.
The Southside Group was formed by The Occasion to increase opportunities for learning disabled adults to become actively involved in theatre. Since the group began in January 2020, shortly before the first Covid lockdown, TSG has produced several on-line works which can be seen here www.thesouthsidegoup.co.uk
If you’d like more information about this, or if you know someone who’d like to join The Southside Group, please drop us an email at info@theoccasiontheatre.com
If you were unable to make the show but would like to support us, please consider making a donation to our Box-Office fund by clicking on the Donate button. All contributions make a difference and go back into our work.
The Occasion gratefully acknowledges current funding from:
Creative Scotland; The Hugh Fraser Foundation; RTR Foundation; The People’s Postcode Lottery;
We are also extremely grateful for recent support from:
Magic Little Grants; Arnold Clark; WM Mann; The Commonweal Fund; Glasgow Credit Union; Glasgow Life; The Foyle Foundation; Bank of Scotland ‘Reach’ fund; Foundation Scotland; Bellahouston Bequest Fund; James T Howat; The Endrick Trust; The Skinners’ Company Lady Neville Trust.
