About Dragged tae the Steamie

The Scottish Tour 2023

The

Steamie

Set on Hogmanay 1953, four Glasgow women of various ages and personalities gather in the local washhouse (or 'steamie') to do their last laundry of the year. They share memories and jokes, talk about their menfolk, and hopes for the future. It is sad, nostalgic, and very, very funny.

Tour

Dragged tae the Steamie is a project to re-stage the classic Scottish comedy “The Steamie”, by Tony Roper.

Engaging Audiences

Our intention is to bring this superb play to new audiences and give it a fresh new spin for those already familiar The Steamie. 

Across Scotland

Dragged tae the Steamie will tour to communities across Scotland, including East Kilbride, Oban, Dunoon, Kilmarnock, Glasgow, Johnstone, Innerleithen, Brechin, Aberdeen, Dundee, Greenock, Stirling, Rutherglen, Arbroath, Govan, Melrose, Grangemouth, and Dunfermline from June 27^th until July 22nd.

Making Memorable theatre

So many of us have grown up with the television version every Hogmanay and the four iconic female characters have inspired many a young drag performer. Following the increase in popularity of Drag shows, it seemed a natural step to gender flip the roles. By doing so we hope to bring a memorable adaptation of The Steamie to a new audience who are familiar with drag performance but may not have experienced traditional theatre. Conversely, we hope to promote the art form of drag to an unfamiliar theatre audience.

In Drag

Dragged tae the Steamie is the official authorised drag adaptation of The Steamie by Tony Roper with songs by Dave Anderson. Four professional male actors with experience in drag will portray the four iconic female characters, and a professional female-identifying actor will play the stereotypical male role in the piece. The play will be presented using the original text and challenges the prevailing perception of drag.

Essential viewing

During a sell-out run at the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall in 2022, many of our audience members described it as “essential viewing”, “hilarious”, and “inspiring”. Our hope is that this production will encourage audience members to seek out more live theatre across Scotland, especially Scottish texts.

Supporting Charity

As part of this tour, we are fundraising and awareness raising for two Scottish charities. One third of the Net profits from the 2023 tour of Dragged Tae the Steamie will be donated to these two charities. They are:

1. The Glasgow Children’s Hospital, a very emotive cause for the Dragged tae the Steamie company as one of the cast members, James T Smith’s nine-year-old niece is currently recovering from severe injuries after a recent accident. Please see https://www.glasgowchildrenshospitalcharity.org for more information about the charity.
2. Britannia Panopticon Music Hall, which is the oldest surviving original music hall in the world where Stan Laurel made his stage debut in 1906. It is an ongoing conservation project and the venue that first hosted Dragged tae the Steamie, it is recognised as a safe venue for the LGBTQ+ community, and it is a charity close to the heart of the Dragged tae the Steamie company, Tony Roper and Dave Anderson (who are both patrons of the Friends of Britannia Panopticon Music Hall SCIO). Please see https://britanniapanopticon.org for more information about the music hall, the charity, and its work.

Our Future Objectives

The rest of the of the net profits from Dragged tae the Steamie, The Scottish Tour will go towards :

• Creating more productions that introduce a new audience to Scottish Theatre.
• Encouraging a new appreciation for Scottish Drag performance.
• Creating and providing paid opportunities to Scottish based creatives from all backgrounds especially those from areas of social deprivation, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community through this project.
• Celebrating the culture and history of Scotland, in particular the working class and social economic history.

 Dragged Tae Productions Ltd is a registered Limited Company. Scottish company registration number 770234