Creative Workshop at Leith Theatre: Write & Perform with OILCAN (25+)

Step inside Leith Theatre – one of Edinburgh's most iconic creative spaces – and dive into a morning of music, words and performance.

This hands-on workshop offers a unique chance to explore storytelling through music with exciting opportunities to get professionally published.

You’ll explore how songs and stories come together to build a musical. Every participate contributes to the ARCHIVE CHEST, a national collection of writing that will help shape OILCAN The Musical.

This workshop is part of OILCAN’s tour across Scotland, from Glasgow to the Isle of Lewis, and now it’s landing right here in Leith.

Don’t miss your chance to add your voice to Scotland’s newest community-written musical!

This event is for 25+ year old participants. For tickets to our event for 16-25 year olds, head to our Eventbrite home page.

This event is being supported by The City of Edinburgh Council & Fair Saturday Edinburgh Community Engagement Fund.

If you can't make it to this event anymore or if you have any questions - get in touch with our team at production.oilcan@gmail.com

About the Musical

OILCAN - the musical is a bold and innovative musical blending contemporary rap with traditional Scottish airs. Power, identity, and community leadership are all explored. Developed through collaborative workshops, the musical amplifies unheard voices, telling the stories of communities facing political and social challenges. At its core, OILCAN – The Musical is a platform for creative expression, where participants contribute ideas, lyrics, and scripts that may shape the final production.

About Leith Theatre

Leith Theatre is one of Edinburgh’s most loved heritage venues where culture and creativity collide. Built in 1932 as a gift to the people of Leith, the theatre quickly became a vibrant community hub for music, theatre, community events and celebration. Over the decades, it’s battled bomb damage, closures and comebacks and has been kept alive by the passion of the Leith community. The Leith Theatre Trust took over in 2016 following a lengthy community campaign to save the building from private development – they are now working to ensure that the important cultural asset is available and protected for future generations.

It is a building with a strong music legacy, having played host to the likes of AC/DC, Kraftwerk and Thin Lizzy during the 70s; and opera, theatre and ballet through the 60-80s as part of the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), before suffering a significant period of closure of nearly 30 years until 2016. Between 2018-2021, further collaboration with EIF and the Hidden Door festival brought 1500 capacity audiences back through the doors on a temporary pop-up basis, and great music has returned to the stage, including The Snuts, Young Fathers, Neneh Cherry, Mogwai and many more; reigniting the need for such a mid-sized music venue in Edinburgh.