This year, Dundee Rep Theatre has teamed up with Wave 102 for their A Christmas Carol Primary School competition.  This annual competition has schools from across Dundee send in their recorded Christmas Carols and songs.  This year the winning class will win a fantastic trophy, the chance to sing their song on stage at the Rep plus they willl come and see the show for free.

Wave 102 have now shortlisted the entries to the final five, you can vote for your favourite by visiting their website.

Thank you very much to Josh, aged 5 from Montrose who sent us some fantastic drawings after he came to see the Dundee Rep Ensemble production, A Christmas Carol.  His Grandad's letter explains how much he enjoyed the show.  To read the letter and look at the drawings, click here.

Journalist Edi Stark delved into the world of Dundee Rep Ensemble during technical rehearsals of The Elephant Man to find out more about the Ensemble and the creative team around them.  If you missed the programme, click here to listen again.

Thank you to everyone who entered The Courier ticket giveaway competition for A Christmas Carol, we are pleased to announce that the following entries have all received tickets to see the show, congratulations!

Ms M Barr, Dundee
Mr D Bednarek, Rattray
Mr W Carson, Glenrothes
Mrs M Clark, St Andrews
Mrs M Crothers, Dundee
Mrs CA Douglas, Forfar
Mrs K Duff, Alyth
Mrs L Duncan, Blairgowrie
Ms D Govan, By Montrose
Mr CM Grant, Angus
Ms E Hackney, Dundee
Miss J Hunter, Edinburgh
Mrs F Hutchison, Dundee
Mr M Joyce, Dundee
Mrs J Lebeter, Newport-On-Tay
Ms M Leonard, Dundee
Mrs L Low, Dundee
Mrs A Malloch, Coupar Angus
Mrs M Mann, Dundee
Ms P Martin, Dundee
Miss A Maxwell, Perth
Mrs I McIntosh, Kirriemuir
Ms J McKendry, Arbroath
Mrs K Millar, Perth
Mrs E Miller, Ladybank
Ms D Murdoch, Anstruther
Mr G Nicol, Craichie
Mrs I Proctor, Dundee
Mrs J Reid, Carnoustie
Mrs V Robertson, Perth
Mr P Ross, Errol
Mrs L Scott, Tealing
Ms M Scott, St Andrews
Mrs J Simpson, St Andrews
Mr AG Smith, Angus
Mrs J Smith, Dundee
Mrs A Stewart, Forfar
Mr G Stratton, Perth
Mrs J Sword, Glenrothes
Mr B Holt, Dundee
Ms E Axell, Angus
Mrs S Sweeney, Angus
Mr Michael Smith, Dundee
Ms Louise Reid, Forfar
Mr L Cairney, Arbroath
Mr R Brunner, Perth
Mrs E Stone, Dundee
Mr G Bridgland, Dundee
Miss C Owen, Angus
Ms N Carr, Perth
Mr J Wood, Carnoustie
Mr B Hay, Perth
Mrs D Eton, Dundee
Ms T McMurray, Newport-on-Tay
Mrs M Stead, St Andrews
Miss K Chandler, Dundee
Mr A Quinn, Angus
Mr J Whitehouse, Glenrothes
Ms G Mann, Perth
Mr N Alexander, St Andrews
Miss P McCloud, Perth
Mr H Wallace, Broughty Ferry
Mrs J McIntosh, Dundee

The Theatre Committee of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain has announced its fifth annual awards for the encouragement of new writing and Dundee Rep’s Associate Director Sarah Brigham is a winner.

Guild members nominate anyone in any capacity who had given them an exceptional experience in new writing during the previous year. After working with Sarah Brigham and Dundee Rep Youth Theatre earlier this year on their production Twice upon a Time, playwright Neil Duffield recommended her for this prestigious award.

Neil Duffield said ‘Sarah commissioned me to write a play, Twice upon a Time’, that could be performed by a large cast of 14-18 year olds. The unique feature was that Act 2 should have a completely different cast to Act 1. Sarah was terrific to work with, helpful, supportive, and full of ideas setting up a series of meetings between myself and the young people as part of the process which turned out to be enormously useful. I couldn't recommend her highly enough.’

Sarah Brigham said ‘It was a pleasure to work with Neil Duffield on this production, his generosity in the rehearsal room and sheer energy for the process was amazing.  He is a talented and esteemed playwright and we were very lucky to have him on board at the Rep for this process.  The end production was also a huge success and I'm delighted that the hard work in creating this very brilliant play has been recognised’

Dundee’s only independent record store Groucho’s has teamed up with Dundee Rep Theatre becoming an official ticket outlet for music and comedy events at the Rep. 

Alistair Brodie of Groucho's said: 'We are always keen to promote anything local and it is great to be involved with the Dundee Rep.  Groucho's has long been pasrt of the music scene in Dundee and we see it as part of our job to promote it.'

Tickets for all Dundee Rep music and comedy performances can now be purchased at Grouchos as well as at the theatre.

Hollywood superstar Keanu Reeves flew into Dundee on Friday 4 Sept  to meet the cast of Dundee Rep’s current production, The Cherry Orchard.  Reeves was in town to see the show and discuss the play with award-winning Dundee Rep Ensemble as research for a new film titled Henry’s Crime.

He spent 3 hours talking about the play and the rehearsal process with visiting Russian director Vladimir Bouchler and members of the Rep’s acting company.  Henry’s Crime features rehearsals for Chekhov’s classic drama and in the film Reeves takes on the central role of Lopahkin, played in the Ensemble’s version by experienced actor John Kazek.  

Keanu is set to produce and act in the new romantic comedy.  He will take the lead role of a big hearted Buffalo tollbooth attendant who is wrongly accused of robbing a bank. Directed by Malcolm Venville shooting is scheduled to start this November in New York.

Dundee Rep’s Artistic Director/Chief Executive James Brining said:

'We were surprised but delighted when Keanu and Malcolm got in touch about coming to see the show and talk about the process of putting it together.  I hope it’s useful for them and informs their own process of putting the movie together.'

The winners of Dundee Rep and Wave 102's A Christmas Carol competition were announced last Friday after the public voted for their favourite Primary School Christmas tune.  Lochee Primary School were the succesful winners and their hard work culminated in a performance of their song on Dundee Rep's stage just before A Christmas Carol last night.  John from Wave 102 introduced the winners and presented them with their trophy.  Well done to Lochee Primary School and all of the others who took part!