Made in Dagenham proved a great hit with our audiences and many folk reckoned it to be one of our best performances yet.  With a mix of old stagers and fresh-faced newcomers, we captured the essence of this show - social issues, history, darkness, light, humour, emotion, joy and most importantly, the struggle women had to gain equality.

However, it's now time to look forward and I'm pleased to announce that our next show will be Sunshine on Leith, another modern show based on the incredible music of The Proclaimers.  Speaking as the only member of CAOS to have been born and bred in Leith, it gives me real pleasure to be bringing this show to Callander.  Set in the early 2000s at the time of the war in Afghanistan, the show tells the tale of three couples - two young lads who have returned to Leith having left the army, as well as their respective girlfriends, and the parents of one of these lads and his sister - and their ups and downs.  This is an uplifting show, full of great songs, many of which you'll know well.   As usual we will be performing in McLaren High School and the show will run from 18th to 21st March, 2026.  Tickets will go on sale in Autumn this year, and you can find out more about how to purchase them by clicking here or the 'Order Ticket' buttons at the top of this page.

Production Team

For last year's show, we had to find ourselves a new Director and a new Musical Director.  We had a bit of a hiccup at the start, but in the end our Production Team consisted of Nicola Balfour as Director, Marc Fallon as Musical Director, and Carolyn Dunion as Vocal Coach, not to mention our long-serving Stage Manager, Gene Maxwell.  Remarkably, Nicola and Carolyn had only been CAOS members for a couple of years, and neither of them had undertaken these roles previously, but both proved to be naturals.  I'm pleased to say that all three, along with Choreographer, Susan Fraser, will be here to bring 'Sunshine on Leith' to life in 2026.

New Members

Over the 40 plus years that CAOS has been going, our membership has changed hugely and that's a never-ending process.   People come and people go and consequently we are always on the lookout for new members.  We've been lucky in recent years to welcome a quite number of new faces, many of whom appeared for the first time in 'Made in Dagenham', or 'Carousel' in the previous year, and all agreed what a great experience it had been.  So, if you're reading this, Why Not You?  We are keen to encourage new and younger members to join us - those considering it, but put off by the word "Operatic" in our name, thinking that we just do old fashioned, fuddy-duddy stuff, DON'T BE. We've never, ever done a proper opera and although we've done some operettas, e.g. Gilbert & Sullivan stuff, most of our shows have been West End and Broadway musicals and now we're continuing our foray into more modern material.

If you enjoy singing and like the idea of performing in front of an audience, and would like the opportunity of being involved with a long established and successful team of like-minded enthusiasts, then please come along to our rehearsals. No particular skills are required. You don’t have to be able to read music and, although some singing ability would definitely be useful, it's not necessary. No previous experience of either acting or performing is an entry requirement, those skills can be developed through experience.  What we do know is that when you come along you'll be in the company of many others who didn't know what to expect when they decided to "give it a go".