Scottish theater company stages musical in under 10 hours for world record

A Scottish theater company recaptured a Guinness World Record by staging a full musical less than 10 hours after receiving the script.

Rubber Chicken Theatre in Dunblane previously held the Guinness record for fastest theatrical production when it staged a play in under 12 hours in 2019, but the record was broken just a few months later when Spain’s Grupo de teatro Albatros ensemble staged a show in 11 hours and 9 seconds.

Guinness World Records’ rules required the timer to start when the theater company opened the box of mystery scripts, which Rubber Chicken Theatre discovered were for the sci-fi musical Return to the Forbidden Planet.

“We had just 10 hours to pull together the entire show, from learning lines, songs and choreography, to organizing costumes, lighting, sound, set and props,” Creative Director Pamela Mackie told the Daily Record newspaper.

Guinness adjudicator Jack Brockbank was on hand during the process and confirmed the theater company captured the record by staging the musical 9 hours, 59 minutes and 3 seconds after opening the box of scripts on Sunday.

“We’re delighted to have taken it back,” Mackie said of the record. “Bigger, brighter, bolder, and faster than ever.”