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North East Theatre in 2004 (Part II)Peter Lathan looks back over the past yearDateline: 12th January, 2005The Newcastle Playhouse was closed for much of the year for major rebuilding work which will create a new auditorium and a studio space, part of the drive by director Alan Lyddiard to make Northern Stage a European centre of excellence in theatre. Its major project of the year, a co-production with the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Teatro Rome, Barcelona, was Homage to Catalonia - a critical disaster. Much more successful was a touring show, Blush, a total theatre production by Wim Vanderkeybus and Ultima Vez. The Sunderland Empire has also been refurbished. It closed in April and reopened in December (with Starlight Express) after a £4.2m refit. Most of the changes are backstage (although the auditorium has been redecorated), with the very steep rake removed and a huge fly-tower. It is now the only theatre between Leeds and Edinburgh capable of taking the biggest tours. Miss Saigon is the first of the real "biggies", opening on 18th January. The Empire is not really a theatre for drama. Musicals, dance and opera do very well but audiences for drama tend to be very small - and can look very lost scattered around its 2,000 seats! However the musicals and opera which filled the first part of the season did well, although I have to admit that I found some shows disappointing (particularly the production of Porgy and Bess which could have been so much better!). Newcastle's Theatre Royal has provided the most varied fare during the year, although everything (except for a revival of the Customs House production Dirty Dusting) was touring product, seen elsewhere in the country and in the West End. The highlights for me were Opera North's Così Fan Tutte, the superb touring production of Journey's End, the Lyric Hammersmith's Oliver Twist and the Wales Theatre Company's Under Milk Wood. Not far behind were Carl Rosa Opera's HMS Pinafore, Matthew Bourne's Play Without Words and Dance Theatre of Harlem. But it really was an exceptional year for the theatre, a year which broke all attendance records. Of course, it is impossible to talk about the Theatre Royal without referring to the RSC Newcastle season, based at the theatre but also taking in, this year, the People's Theatre and Live. Macbeth was a huge disappointment, with the usually excellent Greg Hicks far from his best, but King Lear, with Corin Redgrave, was excellent. But for sheer acting skill, it would be hard to beat Redgrave's Tynan, a superb one-man show, the ninety minutes of which passed like so many seconds. The Spanish Golden Age season (at the People's) was a relevation and it is hard to choose between The Dog in the Manger and Pedro, the Great Pretender for the laurels. We'll leave it as a draw! ElsewhereBut the major theatres didn't have it all their own way. Hartlepool's Town Hall Theatre, mainly used for amateur shows, brought us the interesting, Fringe-like The Man Who Cracked, whilst Bishop Auckland's Town Hall hosted New Perspective's The Butterfly Lion, a wonderful children's play, based on the book by Michael Morpurgo. Illyria played two outdoor venues - South Tynesides' Souter Lighthouse with The Tempest and Gibside Chapel with Alice in Wonderland - whilst Wallsend's Buddle Arts Centre hosted Lunatique Fantastique's incredible puppet show, The Wrapping Paper Caper. This brief survey can only cover a small part of the NE theatre scene, and a number of venues and companies have not even been mentioned, not because they aen't good but simply because either I didn't manage to see them or there just isn't space to mention them. With a refurbished Empire, a rebuilt Playhouse, a more confident Gala and new facilities at Live, the prospects for 2005 are great.
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