More springtime shows at Northern Stage

Published: 12 November 2016
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Cathy (Cardboard Citizens) Credit: Pamela Raith Photography
The Wedding (Gecko)
The Machine Stops (Pilot Theatre)
Out of This World (Mark Murphy)

In addition to the in-house spring 2017 productions already announced for Newcastle’s Northern Stage, there will be a wide range of visiting productions.

Returning to his native North East before directing the world première of Ravi Shankar’s only opera, Sukanya, Suba Das directs a new production of the Olivier Award-winning comedy that became a BAFTA winning film, East is East (18 April to 13 May) in a Northern Stage / Nottingham Playhouse co-production.

Visiting companies include Gecko, whose latest show will open at Northern Stage before touring, Cardboard Citizens, Pilot Theatre, Mind the Gap and NE-based ZENDEH. BalletBoyz and Mark Murphy will bring their latest shows to the theatre and for children there will be four productions featuring, among others, Twits and Dinosaurs.

  • 16 – 17 January
    Cardboard Citizens presents Ali Taylor’s Cathy, inspired by Ken Loach’s pioneering drama, Cathy Come Home, a reflection on the social impact of spiralling rents and forced relocation.
  • 27 – 28 January
    Transit is the new play by NE-based ZENDEH. For the first time in ten years Darya and her father, Roger, meet in the transit lounge of Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. She is living through trauma; he is blinded by privilege. As they reach out to one another, an event a world away impacts their reconciliation.
  • 21 – 25 March
    Curve and the Rose Theatre Kingston present Roald Dahl's The Twits, adapted by David Wood, all about the most spiteful and revolting couple you could ever hope to meet. Suitable for age 6+.
  • 30 March – 1 April
    Gecko presents The Wedding. We are all married, bound by a contract. But what are the terms of this relationship and can we talk about divorce? In a blur of wedding dresses and contractual obligations, Gecko guides us through the struggle between love and anger, creation and destruction, community and isolation. Recommended age: 14+
  • 30 March
    Pilot Theatre presents E M Forster’s The Machine Stops. In a dystopian world where humans have retreated far underground, Kuno alone questions their now total dependency on technology to live and communicate with each other, but in his struggle to break out can he reach the Earth’s surface before the Machine stops? Recommended age: 11+
  • 6 – 8 April
    BalletBoyz present their new show, Life, performed by an all-male company of ten and featuring Rabbit by Pontus Lidberg and Fiction by Javier de Frutos.
  • 20 – 22 April (various times)
    The Elves and the Shoemaker: one day at the bottom of his garden Geoff, a retired shoemaker, is visited by two magical friends who help him to recall the old days in the shoe shop, reliving the hard times, the good times and the magic! Recommended age: 4+
  • 27 – 29 April
    Offside It is 1881. It is 1921. It is 2017. Four women from across the centuries live, breathe, and play football. Whilst each of them face very different obstacles in pursuing their dream profession, the possibility that the beautiful game will change their futures—and the world—is tantalisingly close. Recommended age: 14+
  • 4 – 6 May
    Learning-disability theatre company Mind the Gap presents Contained, nine interwoven true stories about family and friendships, love and loss, the everyday and the extraordinary. Recommended age: 11+
  • 18 – 19 May
    The Very Hungry Caterpillar is an adaptation of four of Eric Carle’s stories, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, Mister Seahorse, The Very Lonely Firefly and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Recommended age: 3+
  • 22 – 23 May (Various times)
    Frozen Light with the New Wolsey Theatre present Home, immerses audiences with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD) in a multi-sensory story of discovery. The world is not how they remember it. Where they now and where are is their home? Scarlet and Olive must learn how to survive and create a future together in an environment that is full of surprises. Recommended age: 13+
  • 26 – 27 May
    Out of This World is Mark Murphy’s genre-defying action packed theatre from writer and director Mark Murphy. Set within a world of projected film and animation, it combines aerial choreography, original text and explosive special effects in a show that is both intense psychological thriller and heart-rending medical drama. Recommended age: 14+
  • 1 – 3 June
    Dinosaur World is an interactive new show for all the family. Venture across unchartered territories to discover a pre-historic world of astonishing (and remarkably life-like) dinosaurs. Meet a host of impressive creatures: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Giraffatitan and Segnosaurus. Recommended age 3+

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