Theatre Alba/ MPR was a Professional Theatre Company operating as a Scottish charity since 1981. Founding member Clunie Mackenzie is mounting a production for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2021, as a sole trader, trading under the name of Theatre Alba.

The Theatre Alba/ MPR company was legally dissolved in 2021, after the death of company founder and Artistic Director Charles Nowosielski. A memorial service for Charlie will be planned for a time when COVID regulations make it feasible.

Edinburgh Fringe 2021

The Award Winning musical play ” The Garden of Delight” will, as in previous years, take the form of a promenade performance at the beautiful Duddingston Kirk Manse Gardens from Aug 6 – 29 ( no performances on 10, 21, 22, 23, 26 Aug)

2020 The Board of Theatre Alba were deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Artistic Director Charles Nowosielski.

Charlie passed away after a short illness on 5 May. 2020

Theatre Alba was created in 1981 and from its first production, Tamlane, created a unique vision of Scotland with performances of contemporary plays in Scots language.


Charlie’s gift was in creating enthralling and emotional dramatic atmospheres that were deeply felt by audiences from the moment a play opened. His forty-year collaboration with composer and musician Richard Cherns ensured that performances had atmospheric music that enhanced the audience experience.


The last twenty years of productions of outdoor theatre at Duddingston Kirk Manse gardens showcased his talents in memorable theatre experiences that few who experienced them will forget.

Quoting Joyce McMillan from the obituary in the Scotsman:

Charlie’s contribution to Scottish theatre in the 1980s was huge and just constantly surprising and inventive. Brilliant, beautiful, European, sexy and Scots. He helped change our theatre culture for good, and his work should never be forgotten.

Joyce McMillan – Scotsman Wednesday, 3rd June 2020

Charlie retired as Artistic Director in 2018 due to ill health. The company is considering how it can continue. 

The Scotsman has published an excellent obituary which can be read here

Inspirations from the Past

The Cauldron 1990

Since 1981

For more than thirty years we have been bringing innovative and critically acclaimed drama to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and beyond.

Our inspiration has been and remains the work of outstanding playwrights, the Scots tongue and the tradition of storytelling (The Wallace, The Lass wi the Muckle Moo, The Warlds Wonder, The Carlin Moth, The Puddok an the Princess, The Shepherd Beguiled, A Musselburgh Reel, The Bruce, The Cauldron, and The Burning being among the productions).

Recent play list also includes works by Shakespeare – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest and also, G. B. Shaw’s  St Joan.

More recently, in collaboration with celebrated playwright, Jo Clifford, Chekhov  – The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard

Fringe performances take place against the picturesque backdrop of the loch and gardens of Duddingston Kirk Manse.

A Unique Theatrical Experience

With live music, often specially composed , featuring in almoast all our productions, the combination of the open-air location and haunting melodies makes what for many must be a unique theatrical experience.

Community Links

We are not just a professional company, however, and value our links with the community.

The Leisure Group allows anyone with an interest in “treading the boards” to participate in popular annual productions, ranging from Whisky Galore to Twelve Angry Men, A Midsummer Night’s Dream to When We Are Married, and The Three Sisters to Dracula.

Members of the group have also appeared alongside the professionals in Fringe productions, and have also had their own “run”.

In 2011

The Good Doctor – gained a four star **** review from Three Weeks.

 ‘The Good Doctor’ – a dramatisation of Chekhov’s short stories – is performed by a local amateur drama society and the whole thing has the excited feeling of a charming village fete. The cast are hilarious and utterly delightful, and the fact that these are not professional actors, but teachers and social workers, adds a wonderful sense of authenticity to Chekhov’s tales of comic provincial characters. Go for the gardens, for the beauty, and for the joy of this play.” Rating – 4/5.

We are listed in the Institute of Outdoor Theatre 

2013 Poster Easter Pla

 To The Cross  – Passion Play

Association with Duddingston Kirk has seen professional and amateur actors and members of the congregation all involved in an ecumenical and again outdoor passion play.

Over the years, we have also introduced many young people to the joy of the theatre, and intend to do so again in the future.

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