Celebrating 50 years of Korimul Gang Show

Korimul Gang Show is celebrating 50 years of treading the boards with a special season paying tribute to its greatest hits.

Featuring variety theatre at its best, Korimul Gang Show is produced by Scouts and Girl Guides from the Illawarra region. With song and dance routines, comedy sketches and a variety of performance pieces from across the past five decades, this season’s show is sure to have something for everyone.

For Mark Warren, Gang Show has been a fixture on his calendar since 1979 – the fourth show. Over that time he has held a variety of roles, including as two different stints as Artistic Director between 2004 to 2010, and 2018 to 2024. This year, he is the Technical Director and unofficial Assistant Musical Director, orchestrating the music for the season.

“I got involved in Gang Show after watching the first three shows Korimul performed. What kept me coming back at first was the friends that I made and as I moved into the Director roles, it was the joy on the faces of the kids who never knew what they were capable of being on stage and performing for an audience,” he said.

“One of my most favourite memories is of one of the kids in a sketch I was directing who had dyslexia and felt they were not the right person for the part. I said, ‘you are perfect for that part and just do your best’. She came to me afterwards and thanked me for believing in her. It was so amazing to see the growth in her over the rehearsal period and that is why I do this show.”

Korimul Gang Show first opened the curtain in 1975 with a cast of 60 under the direction of East Corrimul Group Leader Brian Gillett. From performing at the Corrimal Uniting Church Hall to taking the stage at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC) from 1988, the show has adapted and changed with the times and new technology.

Robert Sackett first joined Korimul Gang Show in 1976 and has been involved in “either 23 or 24 shows”, both in the cast and the band. He is currently the Musical Director, as well as a member of the management team.

He said he joined for “the fun, the performing, and trying something new in Scouts”.

“I kept coming back as there is no other experience as Gang Show and having so much fun with my peers,” he said.

“I took a three to four show break due to HSC, work and wedding, but coming back was natural, as participation in the Gang Show is a favourite of mine. I look forward to presenting items from the last 50 years in a showcase of our Gang Show’s history.

“Putting on a Gang Show in a regional area certainly has its challenges financially. Rehearsal spaces are hard to find in an affordable way. Thank goodness for some generous sponsorship from past members this year, which has made it a little less stressful for the show.”

Whilst variety theatre is not what immediately comes to mind when most people think about Scouting, it truly embodies the Movement’s core values – making friends, challenging yourself by getting out of your comfort zone, being inclusive of all people (you do not need to be a born performer to take part), and most importantly having fun!

For 10-year-old Cub Scout Liara, this is her first year in Gang Show, which she joined because she loves to perform.

“Doing the show is an amazing way to dance and sing, if you already love doing that or if you are new to it,” she said.

“I’ve loved the full dress rehearsals. My absolute favourite part is in M’Alice when Alice (me) and the rabbit (one of my friends) take hands to dance on stage. It’s just a really cool part of the dance.”

With the longevity of the variety show, it is unsurprising that it has become a multigenerational activity. Liara’s parents had previously been part of Gang Show, while Rover Scouts Faith, 20, and Isaac, 24, Clark come from a long line of Gang Showers.

“All four of our grandparents have participated in at least one show as cast members, as have both of our parents, with all of them continuing to help out backstage or with costuming for several years when they were no longer able to perform on stage,” Faith said.

“Our parents actually met as cast members, and started dating during the show week of their second show together. Our grandfather also designed the current Korimul Gang Show uniform shirts.”

This will be Isaac’s eighth show, after joining in 2012 as an 11-year-old. He said watching Gang Show had cultivated an interest in theatre, leading to him taking drama classes at the IPAC a couple of years before he was old enough to join the show.

“It’s just so much fun – I love performing on stage and making people laugh, and belting out songs at the top of my lungs or mastering complex choreography is always enjoyable,” he said.

“As this is the 50th anniversary of Korimul Gang Show, we’ve picked our favourite items from the archives to appear in the show. It’s fantastic to be able to perform some of the items we remember watching as kids, most of them with the same costumes and props from when the items were first performed.”

Live theatre does not always run smoothly. Each performer has different memories of quirky or unexpected events that took place either during a show or a rehearsal. Both Robert and Faith recall a water predicament a few years ago as having a major impact on the show.

“When we bumped into the theatre for dress rehearsals, the water was turned off due to road work, meaning we had to leave the theatre to use the bathroom,” Faith said.

“Then, right as we were about to do the Act 1 closing item, the fire alarm went off! So outside we went. To add to the fun of it, about 10 of us – including me – were wearing tap shoes. It was thankfully a false alarm caused by the road works, so we were able to continue with Act 2.

“We had just finished a full cast dance item, and as me and a couple of others left the stage, another alarm started to go off along with the sound of a lot of running water. It turns out the theatre’s Deluge Curtain had activated, raining a heavy stream of dirty water down from the ceiling and flooding the stage.

“We evacuated again, this time taking all the band’s instruments and some of the more expensive props with us. As a result, we could not use the theatre for the show the next evening and didn’t know if we would even have a show until around lunchtime the next day. The IPAC, thankfully, was able to help us relocate to their second smaller theatre in the span of a few hours and opening night (and the rest of the run) was a success, despite having had no rehearsals in that theatre, no front-of-stage curtain, and no fly system for our scenery.”

Performing in Gang Show is something that gets under the skin and never leaves you. For Kane Downie, it was his introduction to performing arts in 1982, which he joined as he was best mates with David Gillett – director Brian’s son. While he has not had the time to dedicate to Scouts as an adult, he has been looking for a way to give back as he wanted to when he was young.

Kane, who is the principal agent at “One Agency Kane Downie”, now sponsors the show to help it keep doing its work and this year will also return to the stage to bring a couple of his old acts back to life.

“I developed a bit of a reputation as one of the clowns – they could call on me to do anything silly,” he said.

“Fast forward to the 50th anniversary, and after having to give up Gang Show in my early 20s because I had a family and different commitments, I’m now 54 and have returned to celebrate this show by doing a couple of numbers.

“It’s still a surprise for people to hear that performing arts in the Scouting Movement actually exists. The people that do and have heard of Gang Show also get a surprise to know that was my formative years. Seeing the kids at rehearsal and knowing the feeling they’re getting out of performing something, I readily connect with that feeling. I know how important that can be throughout the rest of your life to have confidence and ability. That’s why I sponsor it.”

Korimul Gang Show is on at the IPAC Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7pm, with a matinee at 2pm on Saturday.

Buy tickets here