For most of August, Sunderland Empire will be dark but there are three shows of interest due in before then.
From 5 to 9 July, the theatre plays host to Jackie the Musical, a tribute to the '70s iconic teenage girls’ magazine Jackie, which tells the story of a fifty-something divorcée who revisits her stash of well-thumbed magazines for the same reason she first read them nearly forty years ago: advice on how best to navigate the opposite sex.
With choreography by Arlene Phillips, the show stars Janet Dibley (The Two of Us) as Jackie, Nicholas Bailey (EastEnders) as Max and Graham Bickley (Bread) as John.
At a time when there were no mobile 'phones, no apps, no texting, no e-mails and no Twitter, angst-ridden teenage girls waited with bated breath by the letterbox for their weekly issue of Jackie... unless their big sister got there first!
The show’s soundtrack features hits from the likes of Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and Marc Bolan played live on stage.
On 10 July, the Empire presents one of the region’s major commemoration events of the WWI centenary marking the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
In 1916, the North East was in the front line, thanks to its shipyards and munitions factories. Asunder tells the story of what happened to a typical British town during the First World War, with virtually all of its men abroad fighting and all of its women and children left behind.
Through the stories of people from Tyneside and Wearside, Asunder uncovers what life was like on the home front—with bombs falling on Britain for the first time, conscientious objectors sentenced to death and women working as doctors, tram conductors and footballers, some of them even wearing trousers. The world was changing...
The story is told through a film created from archive and new footage, narrated by Kate Adie and Alun Armstrong, with a dramatic new soundtrack performed live by the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Mercury Music Prize nominated Field Music and electronic music duo Warm Digits.
There will be pre-show activity 2:30PM and 7:30PM and the film (approximately one hour long) will be shown at 4PM and 9PM.
Asunder is co-commissioned by Sunderland Cultural Partnership and 14-18 Now: WWI Centenary Art Commissions, supported by The National Lottery through Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Sir James Knott Trust and Sunderland Business Improvement District.
Finally, between 12 and 16 July Horrible Histories returns to the Empire. Groovy Greeks is at 10:30AM on 12, 1:30PM on 13 and 14, 7PM on 15 and 2:30PM on 16, while Incredible Invaders is at 1:30PM on 12, 10:30AM on 13 and 15, 7PM on 14 and 16.