Thanks to the Cultural Spring, Unfolding Theatre’s Best in the World, a play about personal achievement set in the world of competitive darts, is to visit five venues in South Tyneside this month.
The play is written by Carina Rodney and directed by Annie Rigby, Unfolding Theatre’s artistic director.
“I’ve always loved darts,” she said, “and the idea for the show first came to me when I was at the World Darts Championship watching Phil Taylor win and thought ‘what’s it really like to be the best in the world’ at something?
“I wanted to explore what it’s like for these people to be elevated to become ‘best in the world’ so we talked to people like Brendan Foster, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Jonathan Edwards.
“Darts champions are very often ordinary people, normally a bit older than other world champions, and whereas what some athletes do might seem impossible for us to achieve, everyone can identify stepping up to the oche and attempting to throw a perfect dart.
“So it seemed an interesting idea to use the darts world for the show.”
Performed by Alex Elliott, Best in the World was first staged in 2012 and, after winning excellent reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe, has toured since.
“We’ve updated it for this South Tyneside tour and weaved in stories from Chris Allen, from the Customs House, who was our darts coach when we first launched the show,” Rigby added.
Best in the World will be performed at Hebburn Sports Club (Monday 12 March), The Customs House, South Shields (Tuesday 13 March), Whitburn and Marsden Social Club (Wednesday 14 March), the Red Hackle Pub (Thursday 15 March) and South Shields Football Club (Friday 16 March).
Tickets for the show, which will last no longer than two hours including food and refreshments, can be bought at each venue or through the Cultural Spring web site.