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Articles
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Articles |
2006: the Year in the North EastDateline: 27th December, 2006Perhaps the most unusual thing about theatre in the North East in 2006 is the fact that, at some point, four theatres were closed. There were planned closures for refurbishment at Newcastle's three theatres: the Theatre Royal, Northern Stage and Live. Both the former have since reopened but Live remains closed. For all three the refurbishment is extensive, with Northern Stage having grown from two to three auditoria and extensive backstage changes at the Theatre Royal - plus a new safety curtain. Work continues at the Royal on the new Market Street development, including the development of new rehearsal and community facilities, although it is open. The £4.5m redevelopment at Live continues, to provide a whole range of new facilities, including a refurbished audiorium with new seating and better views of the stage, a new foyer, and a new double height rehearsal and performance suite. The unexpected closure was at the Customs House in South Shields when a structural inspection revealed a problem with the lighting grid over the stage. The theatre was forced to close for three weeks for the whole grid to be replaced. An appeal for public support from director Ray Spencer resulted in donations of £8,000. "In terms of the actual cost, £8,000 is only a small fraction of what we needed," said Spencer, "but as a demonstration of the support we have from the people of South Tyneside, it's priceless." Controversy hit the Theatre Royal when it staged Jerry Springer the Opera and was picketed by Christian groups, although the picketing was very good humoured and there were no reports of any clashes. The major theatrical event was, of course, the reopening of Northern Stage after a £9m refurbishment under a new chief executive and artistic director, Erica Whyman. Its first production was suitably epic - a stage adaptation of Dennis Potter's TV epic Son of Man. The Sunderland Empire continued to bring major musicals to the region with, among others this year, My Fair Lady, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the revival of Cats and Scrooge the Musical. Visits from Ellen Kent and Opera International and the Birmingham Royal Ballet also brought in packed houses. The highlight of the Theatre Royal's year, as always, was the RSC annual visit with productions of Much Ado and King John hosted by Northern Stage and The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet in the Grey Street theatre. As always Opera North brought two very different seasons to the theatre. There were musicals (from Anything Goes, for example, to The Rocky Horror Show), dance (from Edward Scissorhands through Rambert to Deborah Colker's Knot), opera (the already mentioned Jerry Springer and Northern Opera, as well as Carl Rosa's Pirates of Penzance), and, of course, drama, from Northern Broadsides' Wars of the Roses through the National Theatre's Two Thousand Years to the farce See How They Run. In its annual report the Royal announced an operating surplus of £116,849. Live's big production of the year was their revival of C P Taylor's A Nightingale Sang with a superb cast, a number of whom appeared in their first production of the play some thirty years ago. It was a good year, too, for Newcastle-based dance company ballet LORENT which, first, took contemporary dance into nightclubs with La Nuit Intime and then produced their first full-length piece aimed at families, Angelmoth, and their director/choreographer Liv Lorent was commissioned to create a pice called Propeller for the George Pipe Dancers which was performed at Sadler's Wells in September. Along the Tyne in South Shields the Customs House continued its policy of producing new plays by local writers: five new plays included the February Drama Festival which featured no less than three in three weeks. Cloud Nine Theatre Company, from north of the Tyne in Whitley Bay, also had a first, a co-production with York Theatre Royal of a double bill of plays by Joanne Piesse and Kitty Fitzgerald, Double Act. A bit further north in Alnwick, NTC (Northumberland Theatre Company) continued to tour throughout the region and beyond, mainly to non-theatre venues, as did County Durham's Theatre Cap-a-Pie, which also undertook the bold and very successful prject of working on Waiting for Godot with primary schools! Durham's Gala Theatre, under Simon Stallworthy, started to produce its own productions for the first time, with two during the year. During the year the theatre also reported a reduction in its deficit and an increase in audience numbers. In the south of the region, the Darlington Civic Theatre, the major receiving house on Teesside, contniued to bring musicals, dance and drama to Darlington whilst its sister, the Darlington Arts Centre brought in shows of less wide appeal. Stockton's Arc concentrated on being an arts centre for the town, although it bring in some exciting productions, such as work by Sakoba Dance and a first class Twelfth Night by the Arden Theatre Company. We have to admit, however, to our shame, that the BTG does not manage to cover Teesside to the extent that we should, lacking a reviewer in the area. There is an opening here for anyone interested and experienced!
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