Newcastle's Live Theatre has announced its January to June 2015 season, which includes its own productions, visting theatre and the re-launch of Live Lab.
The first in-house production, which will run from 8th to 11th April, will be a new play by Wet House writer Paddy Campbell. Day of the Flymo, based (as was Wet House) on his own woek experience, tells the story of a 13 year old boy who is about to enter the care system and his family and looks at what happens when the state decides to take over from your mam.
It will be performed by members of Live's Youth Theatre alongside professional actors, some of whom have come through the YT ranks. It will be directed by Paul James, Associate Director of Education and Participation.
It is Campbell's second play for Live and he is currently developing two others: The Blessed, which is set in his homeland Northern Ireland and deals with a former Loyalist terrorist released from prison after the Good Friday Agreement, and Flag of Convenience, which focuses on what happens when the owners of a ship which flies under a flag of convenience decide to abandon ship and crew in a foreign port.
Campbell announced that he has just resigned from his children's home job and will be starting to write full-time. He also revealed that there has been some tentative TV interest in Wet House.
Following Day of the Flymo will be a new play by Torben Betts, his first to be produced by the venue. What Falls Apart, which runs from 22nd April to 16th May, is set during the 2015 General Election and will tell the story of Tom Savage, an ex-Labour minister under Tony Blair, who is parachuted into a safe North East constituency.
Director Max Roberts told how, after seeing Betts' latest play Invincible at the St James' Theatre in London, he contacted him to discuss the possibility of commissioning him and was surprised to find Betts lives in Berwick-upon-Tweed, not far from Newcastle at all.
"A play with a strong political message by a NE writer - perfect for us!" said Roberts.
The third in-house production will be Rendezvous, a celebration of the life and work of Julia Darling who died ten years ago and was writer-in-residence at Live from 2001 to 2003.
Rendezvous, which runs from 28th May to 6th June, the theatre has commissioned five short plays inspired by her work and featuring some of her collaborators and some new faces working with Live for the first time.
There will also be a one-off event, Rendezvous 2, presented in association with New Writing North and featuring her poetry, fiction and extracts from plays, along with live music, perofrmed in cabaret style in the Main House on Sunday, 31st May.
Live Lab, which offers a forum for "theatre practitioners to try out new material and receive immediate and insightful feeback," as Literary Manager Gez Casey said, will be relaunched in January with a series of events including 10 Minutes to... in which five playwrights will each produce a 10 minute play on a set theme, which will then be matched up with five directors who will produce script-in-hand performances in one weekend. (25th January)
There will be a Scratch Night (in association with The Empty Space) on 29th January and the formal launch event will be on 30th January.
Also in the programme will be Write Stuff, plays by secondary school students, on 5th March and Overload, work created and performed by members of the Live Youth Theatre, on 14th and 15th March.
There will also be performances by nine visiting companies, including the latest from Open Clasp Theatre Company which this year is collaborating with Frantic Assembly on Jumping Puddles which will run from 24th to 28th March.