Curtain rises on new production link-up for Dundee Rep

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and Dundee Rep will come together for a production later this year.

Spring Awakening will be the first time Scotland’s national conservatoire has put on a musical theatre production in collaboration with a professional company.

The award-winning musical follows a group of teenagers as they grow up – grappling with love, sex, rebellion and death.

The collaboration will allow the RCS student actors to work with professionals from Dundee Rep.

It further cements a relationship which has seen new graduates from the RCS take their first steps on the

“It’s a story that’s still completely relevant today, dealing with universal themes like love, morality and sexuality

professional stage at Dundee Rep, as a handful of students are taking part in the Rep’s year-long Graduate Actor Scheme.

Andrew Panton, artistic director of Musical Theatre at the RCS and artistic director of Dundee Rep, said: “Spring Awakening is the first collaboration in my role as artistic director of Dundee Rep, in my first season of shows, and I’m thrilled that it is with the RCS.

“They have many shared values – both are creative, cultural hubs that believe in nurturing the next generation of performance and production talent.

“Spring Awakening will be a wonderfully rich learning experience for the RCS professionals-intraining, who will work side by side with actors from the Rep Ensemble and the theatre’s creative and production teams.

“Audiences can expect a musical which redefined the form in many ways. Even though the original play was written in 1891, it’s a story that’s still completely relevant today, dealing with universal themes like love, morality and sexuality.”

Based on the 1891 German play by Frank Wedekind, the show opens at the Royal Conservatoire’s New Athenaeum Theatre in Glasgow on March 10 until March 16, before transferring to Dundee Rep from March 22 to 24.