The Gunnedah Variety Show is coming to The Civic for one night only this Saturday and organisers are hoping for a sell out in support of the Gunnedah Conservatorium bursary and scholarship fund.

“The whole idea came about through Steven Hopwood’s involvement in the Horizons mentorship program. Steven was being mentored by theatre-creative Tim Hansen and as part of the program Steven wrote a short cabaret he wanted to perform in front of a hometown town audience. We built the idea up around that,” explained Gunnedah Conservatorium Director Rebecca Ryan.

“We had a workshop with Tim in November and then locals have been working on their own ideas to bring to the stage.”

Whitehaven Coal sponsored the concept assisting with workshop and performance costs.

The Gunnedah Variety Show will raise funds for the Conservatorium’s scholarship and bursary fund to support more young people in Gunnedah who want to sing or learn an instrument.

The Gunnedah Variety Hour includes several vocal performances, some instrumental performances and dances as well as a couple of comical skits.

“The workshop with Tim in November was with some of our high school students – not all are available for the show – so we’ve tapped into the skills of community, board members and teachers to put together 80mins of entertainment”, said Director Rebecca Ryan.

“You will definitely know some – if not all – of those taking to the stage. It’s great to see the other side of someone you might just know in their day-to-day lives.

“Gunnedah has quite a strong tradition of variety nights many will remember the popular St Patrick’s Day Concerts and the Anne Kidd Memorial Concerts,” said Ms Ryan

“The whole idea is to sit back and relax and enjoy local performers. We’ve taken the idea that you’ve walked into a tv studio audience of a show from some time in the past … maybe the 1980s – it’s a little Mike Walsh meets Kerry-Ann Kennerley with a little New Faces thrown in.”

The candy bar and a bar will be available at The Civic. The show starts at 7pm and will run for approximately 80mins.

Tickets are available now https://events.humanitix.com/variety-hour

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