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North East Theatre in 2007 (2)Dateline: 30th December, 2007For as long as I can remember (and I worked there in the 70s, as well as being a fairly regular audience member there in the 50s and 60s), the Sunderland Empire with its 2,000 seats has always been primarily a lyric theatre and straight plays have never done particularly well there. Recognising this, Live Nation (which programmes the theatre, although it is owned by Sunderland City Council) goes for big musicals - the refurbishment of a couple of years ago means it is the only theatre between Leeds and Edinburgh which can accommodate the biggest touring shows - as well as opera and ballet. Having previously delighted Sunderland audiences with Miss Saigon and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, this year the biggies were The Producers and 42nd Street and both, particularly the former, proved very popular with audiences. High Society, too, visited, with Wayne Sleep as the big draw. In ballet the Brmingham Royal Ballet pulled the crowds, as always, and Ellen Kent's Opera International made its usual visits with Carmen proving particularly popular. There was a major change in programming at the Customs House in South Shields this year. In past years both its own and visiting productions have been primarily middle of the road or local in nature, with some exceptions, but during 2007 it became obvious that the venue was attempting to widen its audience with visits by productions of Sarah Kane's Blasted, Torben Betts' The Unconquered, Ionesco's The Lesson and the National Theatre of Scotland production of Aalst. As with most of the smaller venues, the programme is very mixed with music forming the bulk of the shows, along with comedy, but this year the theatre has made a conscious effort to increase its programming for children with magic and puppet festivals proving very popular. The theatre also had a major refurbishment of the main house, a new box office and a glassed-in bridge link between its two buildings. South Shields is to the south east of Newcastle and to the south west is The Store at Dipton, a village not far from Stanley in County Durham. Here is based Theatre Cap-a-Pie which this year moved into some exciting work with children, including a project with primary schools based upon (of all plays!) Waiting for Godot. Durham's Gala continued with its programme of two original productions per annum alongside those from visiting companies. This year the highlight was undoubtedly Northern Broadsides' The Tempest with its three Ariels. There are a number of amateur and youth groups based at the theatre and they, too, had their moments in the sun. It is a similar situation at the Arc in Stockton, where close ties between Riverside College, Tees Valley Dance and the theatre added to the already large community dimension of the venue's programming via its own community groups. Professional theatre visits were limited this year, with productions from Box Clever, Vivid and Arden theatre companies leading the way. The latter gave its last performance as a company, a most impressive Journey's End, in the latter part of the year. It began life as a youth theatre group completely run by its own members with no adult involvement and has grown enormously in stature and achieved professional status with recognition from Arts Council. Despite proposals from Stockton Borough Council to close it, fiercely resisted by local people, the Billingham Forum, a mid-scale receiving house, continues to go stron, whilst programming at the not-too-far-away Hartlepool Town Hall continues to focus mainly on music and community groups. Darlington Civic Theatre is similar in many ways (although on a smaller scale, being approximately half the size) to Newcastle's Theatre Royal, taking a lot of productions of middle of the road plays with casts drawn from well-known television performers from touring companies like Ian Dickens, although musicals also form a significant part of its programming. Its sister organisation, the Darlington Arts Centre, programmes a considerable amount of music, work for children and small-scale touring plays. Peter Lathan
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