Though in their first year, this is a team that can handle a production on this scale in their stride. Director Joel is joined by Erin Tierney as assistant director and Alisdair Sneden as musical director. All three have extensive experience and qualifications in treading the boards or producing shows in Aberdeen with a variety of companies. Katy Johnson and Meg Stanger, known for their award-winning efforts with Aberdeen Student Show, head up the administration and Molly Cowan is the social media and fundraising guru.
Joel said: “The majority of A TO Z’s founding members have had a challenging last year within their personal lives, so it has been a good test of our resilience to get to this point. It has been great to focus on something positive through difficult times.
“Directing a show that no-one has done in Aberdeen before is an exciting feeling, but since it hasn’t been staged often nationally either, it is a bit daunting too. Without any previous productions to borrow inspiration from, this really has been a labour of creativity for us.”
“We have reimagined some of the characters by mashing up some British icons, which has been incredibly fun! Even though the story and songs might be unfamiliar to audiences, they will definitely recognise the humour and elements which are the make-up of it.
“The show contains all of the ingredients of the Cinderella fairytale too, but they are remixed to fit the modern day. Pumpkin carriages are replaced with rickshaws, ‘Buttons’ is now ‘Velcro’, fairy godmothers are wealthy business tycoons – and losing a phone at a prestigious social event is the equivalent of leaving behind a glass slipper.
“Without changing the materials, we have reconfigured parts of the show, so this is a production of ‘Soho Cinders’ entirely different from the very few staged before.
“It will reflect the country’s affairs in 2026 – it might be a fairytale, but the issues underneath it are very real. Audiences are going to get up close and personal with our characters in more ways than one, so I really cannot wait to see it all come together”.
“Lots of companies are only booking shows that are well-known and a guaranteed sell. This means that lots of good shows have fallen to the wayside recently, but we’ve taken a risk with Soho Cinders. Whilst not everyone knows what it is now, we hope everyone will be talking about it in January.”
