News from the North East

Published: 29 January 2012
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Peter StraughanNE Oscar nomination

Gateshead-born writer Peter Straughan has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The film has also been nominated for a BAFTA for Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay, and for the 2012 London Film Critics Circle Awards - Film of the Year, British Film of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year and the 2012 London Evening Standard Film Awards - Best Film.

In 1997 Straughan won the Northen Arts Writer's Award and his play A Rhyme for Orange won the 1997 North East People's Play Award at the People's Theatre.

He went on to become writer -in-residence at Live Theatre which premiered his play Bones and , in 2002, co-produced his play Noir with the Northern Stage Ensemble at the Newcastle Playhouse (now Northern Stage).

Other screenwriting credits include How To Lose Friends and Alienate People starring Simon Pegg and Gillian Anderson; and The Men Who Stare At Goats starring George Clooney.

His plays for radio include The Ghost of Federico Garcia Lorca Which Can Also Be Used as a Table, winner of the Alfred Bradley Award and staged as part of Northern Stage's Lorca Festival in 1998 (first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2001). In 2000, BBC Radio 4 broadcast When We Were Queens, adapted from his own stage play. He also adapted Andrew Motion's book Wainewright the Poisoner for radio, starring Nigel Hawthorne.

Open Clasp logoOpen Clasp seeks producer

As one of the Arts Council's new National Portfolio Organisations, women's theatre company Open Clasp is seeking an experienced producer to consolidate and build upon its achievements. The company is looking for a female producer as an important part of the role is working closely with participants, who are predominantly vulnerable women, and building relationships with these groups.

The successful candidate will have experience of working within a theatre and/or community arts organisation, along with marketing and PR experience. This post also requires a proven track record of fundraising and income generation.

The producer will work 21 hours a week and the wages will be £27,052-£28,636 pro rata. Click Go to http://www.openclasp.org.uk/uploads/Producer%20Application%20Pack.doc to download an application pack. The deadline is 9th February.

Simon CallowWhat's on this week

  • Scottish Ballet brings The Sleeping Beauty to the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, from Wednesday to Saturday.
  • Blood Brothers returns to Sunderland Empire from Tuesday until 11th February
  • At the Customs House, South Shields, on Wednesday Simon Callow presents an evening of readings from his new book Charles Dickens and the Great Theatres of the World, followed on Friday by Benidorm - Live and on Sunday by Strangeface Theatre Company with Pinocchio
  • Shylock publicity imageOn Tuesday Mad Alice Theatre Company presents Hansel and Gretel at the Queen's Hall, Hexham
  • Back to Broadway.... The Musical is at Whitley Bay Playhouse on Saturday
  • Third Angel and mala voadora present What I Heard About the World at the Arc, Stockton, on Thursday
  • The Diaries of Adam and Eve is at Darlington Arts Centre on Thursday, followed on Saturday by The Way Back Home, for children of 3+
  • Over the Rainbow The Eva Cassidy Story is at Darlington Civic on Friday and Saturday
  • Guy Masterson and Theatre Tours International present Shylock at the Georgian Theatre, Richmond, on Saturday
  • You're Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy plays at Harrogate Theatre on Thursday and is sold out

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