Acclaimed NE-based playwright Laura Lindow, director Mark Calvert, actor Paula Penman and musician Jeremy Bradfield have joined with Newcastle's Alphabetti Theatre to produce Pause, a new play about film, comfort and escapism.
“During lockdown, with time on our hands, Paula and I reached back into the comfort of all the films we’d watched a hundred times before as they let us escape,” Calvert explained.
“This led us to start to create a show about ‘escaping’ through our screens, and so Wallace and her independent video shop, Stellar Vision was born. Pause is an hour of vicariously living your life through Hollywood while in a small working-class town in Clackmannanshire.”
Pause provides audiences with a dose of movie nostalgia as it pays loving homage to the likes of Jaws, Shawshank Redemption and more. This coming-of-age tale follows Wallace, played by Paula Penman, as her independent video store is threatened in the late ‘90s by the arrival of Blockbusters. It's a love story about film and how we use it to make day-to-day blockbusting escapes.
“Alright, my life might not feature kissing in the snow, or racing to airports. But it might just include zombies or sharks or learning how to find friendship, even if it is just with yourself.”
The play runs 6–17 July (excluding Sundays and Mondays) at 7:30. The will also be a 1:00PM relaxed Saturday matinée.
Socially distanced tickets for live audiences will be available and audience numbers will vary depending on restrictions. Fittingly, given the subject matter, every performance will be live-streamed.
As always at Alphabetti, tickets will be Pay What You Feel (booking essential). Booking for both live and streamed performances can be made through the Alphabetti web site.