Pierrot Lunaire 1966Ledlanet Nights
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According to the programme, "it will be the first time that this important modern work has been given in English in Scotland and it will be produced as a staged performance as on the first occasion and for the first time in Scotland."
The production was reviewed in Opera magazine (1967 p79), the reviewer, Conrad Wilson, saying "The adaptation...was the sort of honourable mistake that is bound to occur from time to time in an experimental theatre of this sort. Vocalized in incomprehensible English by Pamela Smith, who wore a dressing gown and bare feet, and mimed by Alex McAvoy among spotlit moonbeams, the performance merely made the work seem pretentious, dated, and corny."
Alex McAvoy was a well-regarded actor of the time, appearing frequently on TV in The Vital Spark sharing the limelight with Roddy McMillan and Walter Carr. He later appeared at the 1971 Edinburgh Festival in The Comedy of Errors directed by Frank Dunlop.
The performance was given as the second part of a double bill. The evening kicked off with the juvenile Mozart's charming little singspiel Bastien and Bastienne, featuring Ian Wallace.
In addition the 1966 Autumn season of Ledlanet Nights included Britten's Turn of the Screw, arguably their best remembered production. An Evening with Ian Wallace and John Watt's evening of Scottish Folk Songs also formed part of the season. Bettina Jonic, John Calder's second wife, performed a programme of the Songs of Bertold Brecht with the Edinburgh Ensemble conducted by James Porter.
