The Follies began in 1996 when Andrew Threipland, the new owner of Fingask, decided it would be fun to reinstate his ancestor’s tradition of entertainment. Each show has the same format: four professional singers, two actors and a piano but a different title, theme and content which are conceived annually at Fingask Castle. We pride ourselves that the shows are slick, funny and thought provoking: Cole Porter, Plato, Milton and Mozart. In 2011 Stuart Barr celebrated a decade, as artistic director of the Follies.
Andrew Threipland has also been responsible for one splendid addition to the social life of Fingask and the Surrounding area, an addition of which his ancestors would surely have approved. The Fingask Follies is an annual revue. It involves four professional singers and two actors, and is performed in late May and June both at Fingask itself and at big houses and small theatres throughout Scotland and England. ‘It’s a return to the tradition of drawing-room
Tim Longville – Country Life Magazine
entertainment’, says Helen Threipland, its producer. ‘It’s not just Verdi to a piano, but an entirely original revue, which includes some old songs and poetry, but also some new and specially commissioned pieces.’ Each year, there is a new theme. The one for 2006, for example, was ‘Crumpet – or We Are What We Eat,’ whose theme was ‘food, with an occasional swipe in the direction of sexual desire!’ Country life dull? A joke, surely”.
Here is a full list of our shows to date:
Ossian – 1996, Moonstruck – 1997, Love All – Tennis, Eros and Agape – 1998, My Fair Lady? – from Oestrus to Ascot – 1999, The Framing of the Shrew – 2000, $Spondulicks$ Galore! – 2001, Briefs Galore! – 2002, The Fouler Sex? – 2003, Genes Galore – 2004, Facts and Fallacies – 2005, Crumpet Galore We are what we eat – 2006, Having a Good Time It’s now or never – 2007, Heavenly Bodies Fact or fantasy – 2008, Animal Farm – 2009, Eau Yes! Water Matters – 2010, Some Like it Hot, Hot, Hot – 2011, Going Places – 2012, Growing Things – 2013, Money,Money,Money - 2014, An Apple a Day - 2015, Capability Brown - 2016, Second Helpings - 2017, Battles Great & Small - 2018, Islands - 2019, Colours - 2020
Click here to see an article in the Scottish Field