The Beginning
Tryst Theatre began back in 1978. "Tryst" - an old Scots word for
a secret meeting place - are former UK and Scottish drama champions
and are one of Britain's most successful amateur clubs, having won
a host of honours in the thirty years since their inception. They
are based in Larbert in Scotland's Central Region, about thirty
miles west of the capital Edinburgh.
Recent History
Black was the theme for 2007's One Act Festival with a film noir
detective story and a military black op. Pugilist Specialist
followed US Marines in Iraq on a secret mission to assassinate the
"Bearded Lady" in a play which contained fierce haircuts.
After reaching the Scottish Finals, a strictly off-the-radar mission
to the Welwyn Drama Festival had our troops successfully retrieve
the Director's award for Lt. Clark.
Meanwhile at the East Kilbride festival, the cast of private eye
thriller Sebastian earned praise from the adjudicator:
enquiry agent and trainee alcoholic Brian Tripney was nominated
for Best Actor, with bestockinged femme fatale Joanne Davidson and
ditzy blonde Jennifer Fleming both nominated for Best Actress. This
production also saw Tryst take the Staging award for the fifth year
running.
Hilarious Scots comedy Cambusdonald Royal was
Tryst's autumn production in November 2007. Set in the Abbey of
Cambusdonald in 1465, the monks' routine is disrupted when fifty-eight
nuns seek refuge in the monastery after their convent is accidentally
destroyed by two less-than-holy sisters who have been distilling
a secret liqueur.
The 2008 One Act Festival found two contrasting entries from Tryst.
The Donoghue Sisters told the dark tale of three
sisters who share a terrifying secret from their childhood, while
Duck Variations gave the grumpy elder statesmen
of Tryst the opportunity sit by a lake for 45 minutes and talk about
ducks. Director Jim Allan took first place at East Kilbride with
Alan Clark honoured as Best Actor. A trip to the Scottish Finals
saw the team win third place and become the inaugral recipients
of the Donald T. Farmer Trophy for best theatrical moment. A final
flight to Welwyn saw Jim Allan nominated for best actor and the
ducks seize another triumphant third place before finally meeting
the plum sauce.
The club's 30th Anniversary performance was Whisky Galore
featuring no less than five members of the original 1978 cast. There
may have been an acute shortage of whisky on Great Todday and Little
Todday, but fortunately there was uisge beatha aplenty
at the after show party and at the Tryst @ 30 dinner.
A star-studded trip down memory lane, with guests travelling from
as far as Larbert, Polmont and Hallglen to join the festivities.
Our thanks again to Brian Marjoribanks and Ian Scott for joining
us for what was a most enjoyable evening.
In 2009 the club produced two entries for the One Act Festival:
The Bespoke Overcoat, a Jewish ghost story and
After Liverpool, a sexual comedy - which eventually
took second place at the Scottish Final and collected the Donald
T. Farmer Trophy for the chilling domestic violence scene. A bearded
touring production of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me
collected second place at East Kilbride, an award for highest team
acting marks at Felixstowe and another second place at Welwyn. Brian
Paterson also collected Best Actor trophies at Felixstowe and Welwyn
and a flat-packed trophy cabinet at IKEA. Two hilarious episodes
of hit TV show Fawlty Towers, presented in November,
played to packed houses and rounded off a good year for the club.
One Season's King reached the Scottish Finals
in 2010 and was followed by a highly successful tour of Art.
Starting in Falkirk, the tour swept the boards at the Felixstowe
Drama Festival taking four awards: first place, highest marks in
team acting, highest marks in production and a special adjudicator's
award for Craig Murray's marvellous monologue. The club made it
a double when they took another first place at the Welwyn Drama
Festival along with an award for the director of the winning play
and the audience appreciation trophy. The 2010 leg of the tour ended
in Alloa where the play was staged in aid of the Alman's Raise the
Roof fund. The club ended the year with a full-length production
of Cuttin' A Rug at Bowhouse in November.
In 2011 Brian Paterson's directorial debut with Tryst, Truth,
Beauty and Contact Lenses, was just olive-pipped to first
place by Art with the second round of the one-act
festival in Livingston seeing director Alan Clark lift both the
Outlook Tower and the John Duncan Quaich for production. Avec juste
un peu d'embellissement the club headed to Inverness to raise the
Wheatley Tassie at the Scottish Finals. On the same night the results
from the East Kilbride Rep One Act Festival were announced - another
first for Art with a Best Actor award for Alan
Clark and the staging trophy to boot. Third place at EK went to
Truth, Beauty and Contact Lenses.
Following a quick trip for Art to the Killin Komedy
Festival it was off to Welwyn with erotically-charged cat and mouse
game Some Kind Of Love Story. The journey saw Tryst
bring home more silverware - third place, with a Rhona Law taking
the plaudits for Best Actress. Back home it was time to plan for
another highly important expedition - not to Antarctica, but to
the British Finals. The Art team, and supporters
made it to Swindon variously by minibus, train, car, aeroplane,
Tube and white van and it was well worth it, for Tryst Theatre were
crowned British Drama Champions 2011 (a mere 32 years after Equus).
Tryst's Travels
In 1991, Tryst represented Britain at an International Amateur Theatre
Association festival in Halden, Norway, with the Marx Brothers spoof
A Night In The Ukraine.
Only a few years later the club was invited to Israel by EADI (the
English Amateur Drama in Israel group) to participate in their 1997
Easter Festival with September In The Rain.
Closer to home, Tryst have travelled to Dundalk in Ireland and to
the Isle Of Man, as well as to several other venues in England, Wales
and, of course, Scotland.
Other Information
The club has an approximate membership of twenty, comprised of both
actors and technicians. In a normal year the club will stage a full-length
play in November and also participate in the Scottish Community Drama
Association's One-Act Play Festival beginning in February. Throughout
the year Tryst also takes part in a number of other drama festivals
around the country.
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