Delight as Le Haggis Scottish Cabaret Scoops Spirit of the Fringe Award
Dumfries and Galloway community theatre company celebrates accolade as curtain falls on month-long run in Edinburgh
Le Haggis, the high-octane, saucy Caledonian cabaret show, with a band described as a “Scottish Pogues”, has scooped a coveted Spirit of the Fringe Award.
The awards are made by comedian Mervyn Stutter who’s Pick of the Fringe show is a respected and much-loved festival institution now in its 24th year.
Mervyn’s teams of art industry experts scour the Fringe to find top-quality shows that they believe deserve to be celebrated.
Le Haggis was picked out for its sheer joyful energy and the way it combines local talent with superb established acts.
Mervyn said: “Le Haggis is a great show and the band is just fabulous, the whole experience is like having a night out on the town with Rabbie Burns and a Scottish version of the Pogues.
“Something we really value about Le Haggis is that it’s a community based event. It mixes excellent national and international acts with some highly talented emerging musicians and singers who have come up through community choirs.
“Long may it continue. Onwards and upwards with Le Haggis!”
Le Haggis is a pulsating combination of old and the new, traditional and edgy.
Many of the songs, which are performed by a band which includes some of the country’s top young trad and folk talent, are contemporary takes on Burns’ best loved works. There are also many other favourite Scottish tunes, plus superb original work.
The band members include Dumfries and Galloway musicians such as Grant Dinwoodie, from Dumfries, who is the lead singer. Then there are maths and physics teacher Tom Cuddihy and his wife Lynn who is a mental health nurse, plus Jo Blain, a classroom support worker from Lockerbie.
Drummer, Mike Uphill, a 30-year-old Dumfries bricklayer, said: “This award means a huge amount to everyone. The show and the Fringe have been brilliant. We are all really proud to have come here and put Dumfries on the map by performing in front of audiences from all over the world.”
Graham Main, artistic director of Electric Theatre Workshop, which is behind Le Haggis, said: “We’ve had a fantastic month-long run at the Fringe with sell-out shows, great reviews and to get this just as the curtain falls is fantastic!
“A Spirit of the Fringe Award is the icing on the cake for a small, community-based company like ours.
“It’s a tremendous way to put a spotlight on the huge amount of talent that there is in Dumfries and Galloway.
“And we hope that with this success behind us we’ll be able to introduce audiences all over the country to Le Haggis – with all its sauciness and irreverent Scottish humour.”
Born in Burns’ favourite town, Dumfries, the show has developed over the past two years as a fun, cheeky, and sometimes romantic and beautiful, celebration of life and Scottish culture.
Le Haggis has been among the highlights at the Assembly George Square Gardens, where it takes place in the alternative reality of a huge mirror-lined Spiegeltent Colombino.
The complete Le Haggis line-up is:
Grant Dinwoodie: Raised in Lockerbie and now living in Dumfries, Grant – is gifted with one of the best blues-rock voices in Scotland today and is this week performing at Wickerman. He’s well-known across the region as a singer and has also been seen on stage in a number of theatrical roles. In Le Haggis he channels the spirit of Rabbie Burns himself, and provides a narrative thread throughout the show.
The Empress Stah: Provocative, controversial and utterly sensational, Empress Stah is the future of cabaret. Le Haggis is proud to present this internationally acclaimed avant garde artiste who defies every norm. Originally from Australia and now working out of London she is simply breathtaking.
Edd Muir: Chinese Pole performer Edd is a young Adonis who combines modern burlesque with circus – giving a distinctive, sexy and witty vaudeville slant to an ancient art form. An old friend of Le Haggis audiences, you’ll never look at a fizzy drink the same way again after witness his Irn Bru routine.
Jamie and Beata: The massively muscular Jamie Swan, from Fife, and Beata Surmiak are celebrated stars of international circus. The Scot and the champion Polish acrobat first met in Macau and their sensational acts have been electrifying audiences worldwide ever since.
Justine Squire: She swings from aerial silks high above the ground. Performing for Edinburgh’s All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre, Justine is one of the most enigmatic and sensual young aerial dancers in the UK. Her performances are beautiful and full of romance and spectacular moments, sending hearts racing as her body twists and turns with the pulsing rhythms of our Celtic musicians.
Mohsen Amini: Glasgow-based Mohsen will be at the forefront of the achingly wonderful Celtic Rock soundtrack that throbs at the heart of Le Haggis. His concertina playing has seen him win a whole clutch of awards including from the BBC and at Celtic Connections.
Sally Simpson: This widely admired fiddle player will be packing Le Haggis with musical dynamite. She’s wowed the crowds from Cambridge to Orkney and in Scandinavia. A native of Edinburgh she is loving every moment of being part of the world’s biggest fringe festival.
Robbie Huxtable: A fabulous fiddler, keyboard and guitar player who is well known to the thousands who have flocked to Le Haggis in the past. Robbie graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2012 and has taught music in Dumfries and Galloway ever since. He has an extensive performance history as an actor, musician and musical director.
Marianne Fraser: With a lilting, sexy, supremely seductive voice Marianne, from Spean Bridge in the Highlands, has been a Le Haggis singing star – earning high praise from critics in This is Cabaret. Her live performances have been winning admirers across this country and in Europe and she is taking the Fringe by storm.
Tom Cuddihy: A maths and physics teacher in Dalbeattie by day, in the evenings Tom transforms into a bass-playing rock singer. Many will already know him from his band Novantae and at Le Haggis he’s thrilled the crowds with his playing and his solo performance of the Deacon Blue hit Dignity.
Lynn Cuddihy: Lynn, a mental health nurse from Dumfries, didn’t sing a note for more than a decade after losing confidence in an unfortunate karaoke-related incident. Fortunately for everyone she was coaxed back in front of the microphone and is an absolutely key part of the Le Haggis line-up.
Jo Blain: Hairdresser turned classroom support worker, Jo has hidden depths. She was plucked out after joining the Dumfries Community Choir where it was swiftly recognised that she has a fantastic singing voice. During Le Haggis she has managed to combine the day job with daily drives to Edinburgh to thrill the audiences at Le Haggis.
Mike Uphill: The wild and woolly drummer from Dumfries and Galloway who claims his nearest relative is Animal from the Muppets. Born in Dumfries, Mike turned pro at the age of 19 with a band called Superhero and has never looked back – having played all across Europe and in 39 states of the USA.
Jack Finlay: A 19-year-old fisherman’s son from Kirkcaldy, Jack is a multi-talented performer who is a Modern Apprentice with the Electric Theatre Workshop. Le Haggis has given him the chance to get up on stage and entertain in front of an international audience. What a way to start a career in showbiz!
The Electric Theatre Workshop, which produces Le Haggis, was successful at last year’s Fringe with its play Blood Orange.
The show has been seen at a variety of locations round Scotland and is a centrepiece of the annual Big Burns Supper festival in Dumfries where it has attracted sell-out audiences and excellent reviews.
• Le Haggis at the Fringe is a collaboration with All or Nothing.
