Newcastle’s Live Theatre has announced its season from June to December 2016, a season which includes work from new and established writers, the launch of Live Garden, the new outdoor garden and performance space, performances from visiting companies and a varied programme of live music.
Already announced is David Almond’s stage version of his story The Savage (30 June to 23 July), his first commission with Live Theatre, marking the launch of Live Tales, the new creative writing centre for children and young people.
From 5 to 22 October, Live and Paines Plough co-produce Broken Biscuits written by Tom Wells (Jumpers for Goalposts), a coming-of-age story following three friends as they transform their lives through music one summer holiday. The production will then go on a national tour.
After the success of her 2010 play A Northern Odyssey, Shelagh Stephenson returns to Live with the second of her trilogy of plays for Live exploring Tyneside’s political and cultural heritage, Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing. The play, directed by Max Roberts, follows leading radical thinker, feminist and anti-slavery campaigner Harriet Martineau as she spends time in Tynemouth in 1844.
Max Roberts, Live's Artistic Director, said, “I am delighted to welcome Shelagh Stephenson back to Live Theatre and thrilled that she has created another play set in and around Tynemouth where she grew up. Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing is a superbly witty and engaging story underpinned with a sharply focused feminist tract. As with A Northern Odyssey, the production will include music and dance inspired by the traditions of Northumberland.”
The play runs from 10 November to 3 December.
The final in-house production is The Terminal Velocity of Snowflakes (8 to 17 December), Live Lab Associate Artist Nina Berry’s first full-length play at Live Theatre, which takes a look at what it means to grow up and fall in love.
Nina Berry was one of the BTG’s three most promising newcomers (the only individual; the others were a venue and a company) in our summary of North East theatre year 2015.
Live Garden, the new outdoor garden and performance space created as part of the recently completed Live Works development, hosts its first performance with Mobile, an intimate 40-minute show for nine people at a time. Presented by The Paper Birds and co-commissioned by Live Theatre and The Marlowe Theatre, Mobile premières at Live from 8 to 26 June before going on a national tour.
Live Garden Launch on 9 and 10 July marks the official opening of Live Garden with a showcase of work from Live Theatre’s past and present. The free outdoor event includes a new short piece by current writer-in-residence Paddy Campbell, Alan Plater’s monologue Wor Tony and The Great White Shark, alongside a new exciting theatrical performance devised and performed by young people from Live’s Youth Theatre working with balletLORENT and composer Scott Twynholm.
There will be further events throughout the year including a Mini Mela presented by GemArts on 17 July and the national Fun Palaces initiative on 1 October.
Chief Executive Jim Beirne says of Live Garden, “it’s a great opportunity for us to meet new audiences and to show them the work and activities associated with Live Theatre. Live Garden is also a beautiful public space that we hope will become a recreational addition to the area and a place for people to relax and escape the bustle of the Quayside.”
Among Live Theatre’s visiting theatre programme this autumn, The 56 examines the solidarity, strength and community in the face of tragedy, marking the 31st anniversary of the Bradford City football ground fire; And Then Come The Nightjars, presented by Theatre503 and Bristol Old Vic, is a story of male friendship against the odds and a tribute to rural English life, set as Foot and Mouth Disease sweeps across the countryside; Spine is a Fringe First and Herald Angel award-winning Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show from Soho Theatre which charts the friendship between a wise-cracking teenager and elderly East End widow; The Lamppost Petition is about Grandparents and what it means to get older, and is one of the winners of the Bridging the Gap Bursary; Jess and Joe Forever, a coming-of-age play from Zoe Cooper (Nativities, Petrification); and Key Change by Open Clasp devised with women in HMP Low Newton Prison returns to Live Theatre after a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and receiving a prestigious New York Times Critics Pick.
Finally, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Live Theatre’s sell-out co-production with National Theatre of Scotland, has embarked on a new international tour this summer including the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, the International Festival of Ideas, New Haven and the National Theatre, London.