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Dateline: 10th June, 2007
Northern Stage Announces New Season The highlight of Northern Stage's autumn season will be the first ever revival of Our Friends in the North, the play that inspired the hit television series. Written by north-east writer Peter Flannery, it has only ever been performed once before - by the RSC, 25 years ago in 1982. A chronicle of the 1960s and 70s in the North East of England, London and what was to become Zimbabwe, Our Friends in the North charts a devastating defeat of left wing aspirations. As the thirst for power fights it out with idealism, corruption takes root and a trail of victims is left in its wake. Spanning two decades and fourteen characters, the play sees this changing world through the aspirations and temptations of Tosca, Mary, Geordie and Nicky, four young people from Newcastle whose lives take very different paths. Directed by chief executive Erica Whyman, the production is hugely pertinent this year as another era of left-wing power enters an "orderly transition", and New Labour endeavours to clean its slate. Erica Whyman, director, says,"Our Friends in the North means so much to so many people in the North East. Peter Flannery wrote it in response to Shakespeare's magnificent history plays so it has an incredible power and sweep. So much has changed in the last quarter of a century in the North East; there's been a massive increase in wealth and aspiration, but we are still facing devastating poverty and rocketing house prices, and corruption at all levels of government is back in the news, so Peter's play seems painfully relevant today. It feels very right that the first ever revival should be done by Northern Stage; we're bringing Our Friends back home." Our Friends in the North runs from 29th September to 20th October before going on a national tour until Spring 2008.
Also in the season, and also in Stage 1, the largest of the theatre's three auditoria, is Told By an Idiot's production of Casanova. Hayley Carmichael plays the lead role in a new take on the story of the infamous lover in a poignant, passionate and humorous journey with the famous seducer to reveal the true nature of love and desire in all its many guises. In Stage 2 there will be the Edinburgh hit and winner of the Total Theatre Award 2006, Floating from theatre company Hoipolloi. Set in 1982, the island of Anglesey is hit by an earthquake and torn from mainland Wales. Hugh Hughes finds himself adrift in the Atlantic Ocean asking whether we're really defined by where we come from. Julie McNamara's Pig Tales follows the story of a girl raised as boy set against the backdrop of a world bruatlised by the Catholic Church and the psychiatric system. Whilst Hexham-based Théâtre Sans Frontières return with their hit Around the World in 80 Minutes for children over seven in September. The Suggestibles follow two sold-out runs at Northern Stage with a third, bringing their Improvised Musical back to Stage 2 in early November. And if rumours are to be believed, watch out for their improvised show over the set for the Christmas production in Stage 1. The country's most off-the-wall theatre company, The People Show, bring a their 118th show to Northern Stage - The Birthday Tour. In this promenade piece as audiences are likely to move from Stage 2 to Stage 3, and perhaps even outside on to a double-decker bus… And to round off 2007, there'll be Northern Stage's Christmas shows. On Stage 1, Erica Whyman will direct and Neil Murray will design the most famous Christmas ghost story ever told: a new adaptation of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Ebeneezer Scrooge is the meanest man in England, but on Christmas Eve he is about to learn the most terrifying lesson of his life. Far from the sanitised musical versions, Northern Stage will put the scariness back into the famous ghost story, frightening and delighting youngsters over seven. For those aged six and under, there's a new adaptation of the English fairytale Tattercoats, from the team who created last year's sell-out Thumbelina. Tattercoats wears a coat made from the scraps of fabric from her grandfather's workshop.and embarks on a dramatic adventure where she meets a handsome prince and a magical geese-herder.
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