The Saltmarket Six

Theatre Alliance are known for bringing historic Scottish stories to life through dance and music. In 1928, Glasgows East End was marked by loyalty, rivalry, and unwritten rules. Alleys became battlegrounds and violence was a language of its own. The Saltmarket Six examines the fragile relationship between two local teenage gangs the Young Calton and the Young Southside Stickers. Both groups grew up in the same streets and faced the same struggles, yet they were pushed into conflict by invisible lines drawn long before their own stories began. When one gang member was killed, shockwaves were felt throughout Bridgeton, escalating tensions and turning the neighbourhood into a place of suspicion and fear.

Theatre Alliances new production explores how pride, neglect and territory shaped the identities of these young men and women, creating bonds that could protect them or put them at risk. But it is not only the streets that tell this story. The Saltmarket Six also examines the roles of the police and the press, whose scrutiny and sensationalism shaped public perception. Through headlines and official reports, myth became fact, fear became spectacle, and young lives were defined by stories told about them.

This gripping new work, based on a true story, uncovers the human cost of a divided city and the young people caught in the crossfire. The Saltmarket Six asks: What happens when a community is left to define justice for itself?