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Autumn 2016 at Newcastle's Northern
Stage
This
autumn, Northern Stage offers an exciting, diverse and wide-ranging season of
work featuring home-grown productions alongside new work from some of the
country’s most exciting and innovative theatre companies and shows fresh from
the Edinburgh Fringe.
Opening
the season is The Season Ticket (23 Sept – 8 Oct) - an update on
the story that inspired hit British film Purely Belter (FilmFour).
Directed by Pilot Theatre’s Associate Director Katie Posner and adapted from
Jonathan Tulloch’s novel by Lee Mattinson, it’s a story of
friendship, family and football that follows two young working class Geordies
as they try to raise enough money to buy a season ticket for their beloved
Newcastle United.
Lorne
Campbell, Artistic Director, Northern Stage explains “We are delighted to be
collaborating with the multi-award winning Pilot Theatre on a new version of
Jonathan Tulloch’s brilliant story by the hugely talented Newcastle-based
writer Lee Mattinson. This tale of two lads
from the wrong side of the tracks is a funny, human and moving story about the
possibility, strength and imagination of young men too often written off by
society.”
Working
with Northern Stage for the first time, award-winning writer Lee Mattinson will adapt Jonathan Tulloch’s
novel for the stage. Lee’s previous work includes Me and Cilla for BBC Radio 3, Coronation
Street for ITV and for stage Snap (Young Vic), Gary Lineker is Gay (Paines
Plough), Chalet Lines (Bush Theatre/Live Theatre). Lee said: “Working
on The Season Ticket has been as much of a rollercoaster as a football
season and the first time I’ve adapted a novel for the stage. With a text so
rich in landscape and character, the struggle was deciding what to leave out,
whilst making it a piece of theatre in and of itself.
“The
novel crackles with such heartfelt dialogue and hopeful determination that
Gerry and Sewell’s world was already an incredibly tactile one, an environment
that it was a gift to disappear into. I’m a huge fan of its previous
incarnation, Purely Belter and, hopefully, the play is not only a re-telling of
this Geordie institution but also a fresh take on what it means to belong in
2016.”
Open
auditions for two young North East actors for the lead roles are being held in Newcastle in June, and the full
cast will be announced in July. The Season Ticket will go on a national
tour after opening at Northern Stage including York Theatre Royal, Theatre
Royal Winchester and Dundee Rep.
Fresh
from Northern Stage’s Edinburgh Fringe programme at Summerhall, Unfolding
Theatre present Putting the Band Together (28-30 Sept) - a
personal story about revisiting forgotten dreams and lost passions inspired by
deviser and terminal Pancreatic Cancer sufferer Mark Lloyd’s wish to “put
his old band back together”. This uplifting new performance features a
talented cast led by singer and guitarist of The Future-heads, Ross Millard
alongside a house band of local ex-players at every venue on the tour.
Multiple
Fringe First award-winning duo RashDash return from the Edinburgh festival with Two
Man Show (6-8 Oct), a playful performance on masculinity, gender and
language with original music by Manchester-based composer and musician, Becky
Wilkie.
Visiting
companies include new writing from David Greig in the first ever English
production of one of the world’s oldest plays, Aeschylus’ The Suppliant
Women (3-5 Nov). Written more than 2,500 years ago, the story of 50
women who leave everything behind when they board a boat in North Africa to seek
asylum in Greece bears particular relevance today in this new co-production by Actors
Touring Company with Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and will feature
a chorus of 50 local female performers and is directed by Ramin Gray.
The
Wardrobe Ensemble tells
the story of the class of '72 with a handsome funk guitarist and some
space-hoppers in 1972: The Future of Sex (18-19 Oct).
Northumberland
Touring Company in
association with The Bijli Project will present How to Make a Killing in Bollywood (3-4
Nov) - a brand new comedy about two best friends who decide to quit their jobs
in a fast food restaurant and head to Bollywood in search of fame and fortune.
For
families and young people Bare Toed Dance Company and Juice Festival present
Downside-Up (24-25 Oct) - an interactive aerial dance show during
half term. Oily Cart creates a multi-sensory, tactile feast for the
senses in Mirror, Mirror (27-28 Oct). Thrillingly spectacular
circus skills blend seamlessly with physical comedy, clowning, juggling, theatrical
storytelling and slapstick in The Hogwallops (28-29 Oct) from Lost
in Translation Circus.
The
Shakespeare Schools Festival (17-22 Oct) returns with a series of
unique per-formances by schoolchildren from all over the North East.
Christmas
at Northern Stage is going to be bigger than ever with a brand new production
of David Wood’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s James and The Giant Peach (19
Nov – 31 Dec) from the same team who created The Wonderful Wizard of Oz last
year. Artistic Director Lorne Campbell says, “This Christmas we’re making a
truly spectacular production of James and The Giant Peach. So giant, in
fact, that we will be opening out ‘the Epic Space’ to accommodate it. Putting
Stages One and Two together gives us one of the largest stages in the country
and we are aiming to fill it with Roald Dahl's epic tale of a young man and his
incredible journey with his weird and wonderful friends.
“And
for younger children we are going to be collaborating with pioneering North
East children’s theatre company Theatre Hullabaloo and Theatre lolo to present Luna (6-31 Dec) for 2-4 year
olds in Stage Three. Magical, intimate and beautiful it promises to be a truly
remarkable show for our youngest audiences and their families.”
For
dance fans, the phenomenal Ballet Black (11-12 Oct) comes to Newcastle for the first time with
a triple bill of new collaborations from three bold and inventive choreographers.
Christopher Hampson’s Storyville is the
bittersweet fable of Nola, a farm girl who falls prey to unscrupulous
characters and worldly desires in 1920s New Orleans, set to the haunting
music of Kurt Weill. The Begin, Begin
is a newly devised piece by Christopher Marney (fresh from McQueen)
and Cristaux, a duet by Arthur Pita, who previously
choreo-graphed a hit ballet version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
There
will be stand-up comedy from Andy Hamilton (15 October) with new show Change
Management – Andy started his career writing for satirical sketch show Not
the Nine O’clock News, co-created cult Channel 4 comedy Drop the Dead
Donkey and more recently BBC ONE’s Outnumbered and
is a regular guest on TV panel shows such as QI and Have I Got News
For You.
Lorne
Campbell: “With Noises Off running on our main stage, Julie in
rehearsal, preparations underway for our Edinburgh programme and exciting work
across all of our stages this Autumn I am very proud to say that Northern Stage
is busier than it has ever been. Alongside our reputation for creating truly
ambitious work we are trying to open our doors ever wider to ensure that we
make work with, for and by all of the creative passionate and diverse people of
the North East.”
Tickets:
For
full details or to book tickets see www.northernstage.co.uk
or call the box office on 0191 230 5151.
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