THE ESSENCE OF BEING CLEAN
June 1980
 

Cumbernauld News – 25 June 1980 “First production from Youth Theatre” 
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Tonight (Thursday) the Theatre welcomes everyone to their Folk Night. The entertainment starts at 8 p.m. – if you haven’t been along yet then do go -  the atmosphere is warm and lively and admission is free.

“The Essence of Being Clean” is the subject matter of the Cumbernauld Youth Theatre’s first production. Seventeen local youngsters aged between 15 and 19 and the theatre director John Baraldo have been busy for three weeks rehearsing the play and writing original music. The play, by Nigel Baldwin; takes a controversial look at youth culture and the need to “belong”. The fact that the “clean” movement resembles the so-called “Moonies” is not a coincidence and neither is the fact that racial discrimination and neo-fascist politics become central to the play’s concern.

The play takes a serious look at the way we are bombarded by the mass media and sold a variety of images. Mod, punk, rocker, rude boy – whichever clan you choose to belong to – someone is there ready to sell the relevant paraphernalia. This topical play has proved to be an exciting project for everyone involved – the end result should give you something to think about. You can see the play on Friday and Saturday 27/28, at 7.45.

IGNORANCE

“Carrie” – X – will be on at the theatre on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Clever new-wave director Brian de Palma uses Sissy Spacek in this terrifying tale of possession. Shy bespeckled Carrie has been raised in a stat of total sexual ignorance. Mocked by her schoolmates, persecuted by her fanatically religious mother she is finally unhinged by an act of callous cruelty at the annual school prom, and call on her hitherto latent telekinetic powers to achieve a terrible revenge.

On Wednesday and Thursday can find out “Everything you Wanted to Know about Sex but were Afraid to Ask” – X. The book of the title, a question and answer manual dealing with all aspects of sexuality such as impotence, homosexuality, frigidity, prostitution and various perversions interested Woody Allen. With the book as inspiration he wrote a screen play and cast the film with man gifted performers. The picture is directed in a surrealistic, flamboyant style which combines the all-American belly laugh with his own sexual proclivities.

HOLIDAY

The theatre will be closed for holidays from Friday, July 4 until Monday, August 18. Oscars, the theatre restaurant and bar will be open for snacks and lunches from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. until Saturday, July 19 and will re-open on Monday, August 11. Watch the News for details of next season’s events.

Cumbernauld Theatre has now been opened for eight months and during this time has attracted 32,000 people to their performances and workshops. Next season’s programme will be comprehensive and ticket prices kept as low as possible. The theatre would like to thank everyone who has helped to make this first year a successful one.

Tonight when the spotlights go up in Cumbernauld Theatre it will mark a new venture for a young theatrical group.

For Cumbernauld Youth Theatre are presenting “The Essence of Being Clean” by Nigel Baldwin, a play radically different from anything that they have attempted before.

Director John Baraldi says: “It’s very different from the ‘Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Oklahoma’ productions which seem to be the main diet for young theatrical groups in Scotland. I wanted to do something more relevant to today’s youth, some-thing that they could identify with easily.”

The play deals with the idealism of youth and its insecurities. It shows how venerable young people are and how susceptible they are to fanatical cults like the Moonies, only the cult in this case is an obsession with cleanliness.

A group of young people are taken away into the country and subsequently brain-washed by a para-military band of adults.

Ewan Ferguson age15, a member of the cast says: ”This is really an exciting play to work on. It has made us all realise how easily we can be manipulated by unscrupulous adults. I hope the message gets home to young people in the audience.”

“The Essence of Being Clean” is the culmination of a three week intensive summer school drawing on young people, mainly from Cumbernauld, between the ages of 14 and 18 years. It will run tonight and tomorrow night.

Cumbernauld News – June 1980 “The essence of Being Clean – UNUSUAL TO SAY THE LEAST – but nevertheless exciting”

Cumbernauld’s embryo Youth Theatre presented the first of what is hoped will be a long line of exciting and unusual production at Cumbernauld Theatre last Friday and Saturday.

A group of the new Town’s 14 to 19 years-olds had worked solidly for three weeks with theatre director John Baraldi (who was involved with the Glasgow Youth Theatre before coming to Cumbernauld) on “The essence of Being Clean”, a play written especially for teenagers.

Theatre-goers who had come expecting the kind of production usually associated with youngsters in this ages group were in for a shock. Instead of a realistic set and traditional costumes, there was scaffolding, with the action talking place on platforms set at various levels, and white boiler suits.

BUDGET CONSCIOUS

It was a very budget-conscious production, incidentally, with almost every prop “begged or borrowed”. The boiler suits came from Initial Towel Services, the trolley from the St. Andrew’s Ambulance Brigade, medical equipment form Lanarkshire Health Board. 

“The Essence of Being Clean” was a play which dealt, not with the happenings of a by-gone age of the trivialities of life but with a disturbing and growing trend which is talking place here and now and which has affected and will continue to affect millions of teenagers (and their families) throughout the world.

COMMITMENT

That is the trend of cults – like for instance, the infamous “Moonies” – whose leaders demand utter and total commitment…

Article incomplete.

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