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North East Theatre in 2004Peter Lathan looks back over the past yearDateline: 12th January, 2005You can divide the North East into two parts: the northern part comprises Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and the City of Durham (and the northern part of County Durham), whilst the southern part, although including parts of County Durham, consists mainly of Teesside. Theatrically speaking, the northern part is by far the most active, with two major and a number of smaller touring venues, three producing houses and a number of companies. The southern part has one mid- and a number of small-scale receiving houses and some producing companies. As the northern part, which includes the major cities of Sunderland and Newcastle, is the busier in theatre terms, this review has its main focus on that area, but we will occasionally glance at the south. And - to prevent any arguments! - we'll look at the venues alphabetically. The Arc at Stockton is more of an arts centre than a theatre: it features a considerable amount of dance and music, and runs a whole host of courses. In fact, its theatre productions are just a small part of its work. Three productions stand out from this year's offerings: Gordon Steel's Studs, Graham Farrow's flawed but powerful Talk About the Passion, and, a most welcome surprise, A Midsummer Night's Dream by the Arden Theatre Company, which I described in my review as "an exceptional youth theatre". Darlington's Civic Theatre - not much covered by the BTG because, like its sister the Darlington Arts Centre, it doesn't respond to requests for press information! - had a wide range of mid-scale touring shows. The Customs House in South Shields is partly a receiving house and partly producing. With just over 400 seats, it definitely fits into the smaller-scale touring bracket and this is reflected in the small number of touring shows it hosted during the year. Outstanding among the touring shows this year was Pimlico Opera's Così Fan Tutte, which combined a great deal of fun with some excellent singing, but it has to be said that Yellow Leaf's Double Dutch and Rumpus Theatre's The Judge's House both had a lot to offer, the latter, indeed, giving this reviewer some bad moments as he pondered what to write about it! Where the venue scores highest, however, is in its own productions. As one would expect, its panto always does well (this year Dick Whittington played to 99% houses), but its other productions also impress. The annual February Drams Festival, which features new local writing, can be a hit or miss affair, depending on the writers, and 2004 was not a vintage year. However other Customs House productions, notably the excellent musical Cuddy's Miles and Tom Kelly's Baby Love, more than made up for it. The revival of Kelly's I Left My Heart in Roker Park, the story of a Sunderland football fan, was also a palpable hit and Arthur McKenzie's Pickets and Pigs, essentially a docu-drama about the Miners' Strike, came close, but bore too many traces of the TV programme it originally was to reach the heights. The theatre also gave stage space to a number of experimental pieces during the year, as well as to work produced by its community and education arts wings. In November the theatre began its tenth anniversary year which will be celebrated by a series of special monthly events. The Gala in Durham, which has had a rough ride since its opening in 2002 (including a deficit of £750,000 and the liquidation of its management company before being taken over by Durham City Council), is now finding its feet, although it is very much at the mercy of the touring product available. Highlioghts of the year were English Touring Theatre's Twelfth Night, Almeida Opera's The Io Passion, English Touring Opera's The Marriage of Figaro and Compass Theatre's The Rivals, and, of course, the Reduced Shakespeare Company did well, as one would expect, with All the Great Books. I was also impressed by the post-Stoppardian Dial M for Murder from Middle Ground Theatre Company, probably the best production of theirs (they are Gala regulars) which I have seen. On the other hand, Hull Truck's Screaming Blue Murder was pretty dire and Anyone for Breakfast left a lot to be desired. The theatre also hosts local productions from both the community and the university, as well as its own youth theatre. Newcastle's Live Theatre has a built up a great reputation over the years, which was greatly enhanced in 2003 by its co-production of Keepers of the Flame with the RSC. The RSC did make use of Live again this year, but only as a venue for Zinnie Harris' excellent Midwinter. The other major touring production was the Midlands Actors Company's interesting but flawed Prospero's Island, a sort of pre-quel to The Tempest. Of the theatre's own productions, two stand out: Margaret Wilkinson's multi-layered Kaput!, a co-production between Live, Northern Stage and New Writing North, and Alan Plater's comedy Charlie's Trousers, a very different piece but equally cleverly written (as one would expect from a writer of Plater's stature). During the year the theatre was deeply involved in fund-raising and over a million was raised to convert the building next door to provide more rehearsal space.
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