Company built on giving people a chance takes on grief and isolation.
Matthew Richardson has never performed on stage before. In a few months, he’ll play Evan Hansen in Aberdeen’s upcoming production of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at the Tivoli. First, though, he’s stepping into a concert about mental health, social isolation and community, staged by the same company that cast him.
A TO Z Aberdeen only debuted in January, with a reworked version of ‘Soho Cinders’ at Aberdeen Arts Centre. Director Joel Simpson started the company because he found Aberdeen’s amateur drama scene hard to break into, with established groups often oversubscribed and rarely open to new members. Less than a year later, they’re already on their second show.
For Richardson, it’s a way in before the bigger role. “This was a good opportunity to meet new people and try something different,” he said. “It forced me out of my comfort zone and the concert is a form of exposure therapy before taking up the role of Evan at the Tivoli.”
Where the title comes from
The name echoes ‘The Connor Project’, the memorial campaign at the centre of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’, set up after a student dies by suicide. A TO Z’s concert borrows that shape for real life. Songs, dialogue and some poetry, built around youth mental health and what it means to feel disconnected from the people around you.
Fourteen new members joined through open auditions, a mix of people who’ve performed before and people, like Richardson, who haven’t. Alisdair Sneden directs the music and pulled from both musical theatre and pop for the setlist. “It’s been challenging rehearsing two shows at the same time,” he said, “but audiences can expect something different, emotional and fun.”
Working with the Nook
Because the concert deals directly with grief and mental health, the team has been working with The Nook, a city centre venue run by the mental health charity SAMH. It gives the cast and production team some grounding in how to handle that material on stage.
The show is on at the Craig Centre for Performing Arts at Robert Gordon’s College. A building attached to a school, staging a story partly about mental health struggles at school.
The details: Tickets are donation-based, so audiences pay what they can rather than a fixed price, with proceeds going towards ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at the Tivoli later in the year. ‘The Concert Project’ hits the stage on 23 October 2026. Tickets are on sale now on Eventbrite.
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