
Youngsters from West Lothian's biggest theatre school set to thrill audiences again at Edinburgh's Fringe
A performing arts group for young people in West Lothian will once again entertain audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.
Young people from Stage Skool, who have bases in both Bathgate and Motherwell, will be performing their production of Disney's Newsies Jnr, a stage adaptation of the movie and Broadway musical.
It's the third year running that Stage Skool Live featuring the the drama school's young students, who are aged from eight to 16 years old, has performed at the Fringe.
Stage Skool Live is the performing arts group's intensive summer theatre initiative. It offers budding stars the opportunity to work with professional directors, choreographers, and musical coaches to put on a full-scale production at one of the world's most exciting cultural events
Previous productions have also been Disney stories, with Frozen Jr in 2023, and last year it was Finding Nemo Jr.
This year's cast, made up of talented young performers includes two exceptional school pupils from West Lothian in lead roles.
Armadale Academy pupil Caleb Sneddon and Findlay Brown, a pupil at Linlithgow Academy bring energy, heart, and Broadway flair to the high-energy musical based on the true story of the 1899 New York newsboys' strike.
Before the Fringe talented young performers from Stage Skool are performing a teenage version of SIX, a West End musical about Henry VIII's wives, at South Dalziel Historic Building in Motherwell
Stage Skool owner Lindsay MacGregor, said: 'We have two bases in West Lothian and in Motherwell and we come together over the summer and collaborate. This year we have two productions.
'For the Fringe production we merge and have the kids from West Lothian and Lanarkshire working together. They will be performing from Monday to Saturday.
'Frozen totally sold out the first year and we moved to a bigger venue last year. It's amazing for our kids, who all come from different backgrounds. We recently had some of them over in Paris in July.
'Some of them have came back and went straight into rehearsals, they literally give up their whole summer holidays and dedicate it to performing arts.
'Stage Skool Live isn't just about putting on a show — it's about giving young people the tools, confidence, and stage to tell stories that matter. It's about growth, teamwork, and the thrill of live performance.
The 60-minute-long performances of Disney's Newsies will take place at The Space, Grand Theatre in Edinburgh from August 4 to 9 at 9.50am each day.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scotsman
7 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Why Edinburgh Festival Fringe should always be global in its ambitions
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood are two stalwarts of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Their live entertainment company, Underbelly, began with a single venue in the Cowgate in 2000 and has now grown into an international giant. So what they have to say about the Fringe deserves a hearing. According to them, rising costs are turning it into a 'more Scottish festival' with 70 per cent of Underbelly tickets sold to people with a Scottish postcode. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The big reason, they say, is the cost of accommodation. 'In order to maintain the brilliance and the diversity of the festival, both in terms of programme and the audience, these things need to be taken really, really seriously,' Wood says. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe would not be the same without shows like Macbeth on stilts, performed by Universal Arts and the Polish Cultural Institute (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images The problem of a smaller platform It is important to say that becoming 'more Scottish' could have some benefits (as The Scotsman, we could hardly say anything less). For example, a larger domestic audience might diminish some of the hostility that has grown up towards the Fringe in some quarters. And giving more space to Scottish talent could add weight to the growing success of our homegrown entertainment industry. However, if the Fringe became a mainly Scottish event, with only a token number of performers from other countries, it would be significantly diminished and unlikely to remain the world's largest arts event for long. And that smaller platform might actually damage the prospects of Scottish acts. It would also be less funny, entertaining, moving and thought-provoking than it currently is. We would miss the hugely valuable and different perspectives brought by people from other countries, cultures and backgrounds. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Darwinian competition One of the reasons why the Fringe has been so successful over the years is that it is a global hive of ideas, all in competition with each other for audiences. This creates an almost Darwinian process in which only the fittest will survive for long. Laura Corcoran, one half of musical comedy double act Frisky and Mannish, has compared attending the Fringe to undergoing 'very intense training'. 'Once you get your brain into a place of critical thinking, the wealth of knowledge and research that is here, I would say, is equivalent to an MA [degree] and costs about the same,' she said.


Scotsman
16 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Why Edinburgh Festival Fringe should always be global in its ambitions
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood are two stalwarts of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Their live entertainment company, Underbelly, began with a single venue in the Cowgate in 2000 and has now grown into an international giant. So what they have to say about the Fringe deserves a hearing. According to them, rising costs are turning it into a 'more Scottish festival' with 70 per cent of Underbelly tickets sold to people with a Scottish postcode. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The big reason, they say, is the cost of accommodation. 'In order to maintain the brilliance and the diversity of the festival, both in terms of programme and the audience, these things need to be taken really, really seriously,' Wood says. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe would not be the same without shows like Macbeth on stilts, performed by Universal Arts and the Polish Cultural Institute (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images The problem of a smaller platform It is important to say that becoming 'more Scottish' could have some benefits (as The Scotsman, we could hardly say anything less). For example, a larger domestic audience might diminish some of the hostility that has grown up towards the Fringe in some quarters. And giving more space to Scottish talent could add weight to the growing success of our homegrown entertainment industry. However, if the Fringe became a mainly Scottish event, with only a token number of performers from other countries, it would be significantly diminished and unlikely to remain the world's largest arts event for long. And that smaller platform might actually damage the prospects of Scottish acts. It would also be less funny, entertaining, moving and thought-provoking than it currently is. We would miss the hugely valuable and different perspectives brought by people from other countries, cultures and backgrounds. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Darwinian competition One of the reasons why the Fringe has been so successful over the years is that it is a global hive of ideas, all in competition with each other for audiences. This creates an almost Darwinian process in which only the fittest will survive for long. Laura Corcoran, one half of musical comedy double act Frisky and Mannish, has compared attending the Fringe to undergoing 'very intense training'. 'Once you get your brain into a place of critical thinking, the wealth of knowledge and research that is here, I would say, is equivalent to an MA [degree] and costs about the same,' she said.

The National
2 hours ago
- The National
I'm camping during the Edinburgh Fringe so I can afford to perform
Rents of £7000 for one bedroom in a shared flat for a month have made Özenci shell out for a tent so she can bring her one-woman show, Inner Child(ish), to the city. Özenci first appeared at the Fringe in 2014, creating a stir by performing her show in her car. 'I could only squeeze in four or five people at a time, but it got good feedback, and Mark Watson came to interview me for BBC2's Edinburgh Nights,' she said. She no longer owns a car so has had to lug her tent to Edinburgh via public transport. And while she has camped before, Özenci, who has autism, has admitted that living in a tent for a month would be a challenge. Here she documents the first few days – including the problem of trying to exit Waverley Station and meeting friendly locals. DAY ONE I arrive at Edinburgh Waverley overlayered because it's hot in London. I strategically have packed in such a way that I can carry everything with me. So I thought. I saw the steps exiting the station – it was a nightmare. I am only 5ft 4, with under-worked woman muscles. Someone offered to carry the luggage for me but I was moving already and wanted to get out of there. I should have said yes. Something was getting caught on the wheels of the suitcase while I was wheeling it. I thought the suitcase was broken until I inspected the situation. It was my green screen for my show Narin Oz: Inner Child(ish). It now has a giant hole in it, which I have incorporated into the show. Took the bus eventually after finding out how payment works here through a very helpful local. I arrived and started setting up my tent. It took a while because I forgot how to do it. Thirty minutes later, I managed to put it up, then realised I needed to put the pegs in and I had forgotten my hammer. I asked someone to borrow their mullet, then realised what I had said. He didn't give me a new haircut, but he lent me his hammer, and it took me ages to hammer in the pegs. I hurt my thumb in the process – tent life. When everything was up I had a wash then had a nap. I didn't mind the tent too much. Then I had to go into town. Nighttime in the tent was fine, surprisingly. It's very insulated and I was warm. The only problem was that I woke up with a backache. DAY TWO I worked out that if I sleep in a foetal position, I don't get a back ache and I was very excited about that – I felt like I discovered something brand new that should be patented. This is what happens when you don't sleep well – your brain becomes foggy and you come up with stupid ideas. I don't spend time at the site because I have things to do in town before my show and most of the time, I am living on the Too Good To Go app and supermarkets for food. I have to make sure my phone is on charge at all times so I have a portable battery to have it on charge. Narin Oz: Inner Child(ish) is on until August 24 (not the 12th) at the Just the Tonic Mash House