The new season at Live

In addition to the already announced Live Lab Elevator Festival of new writing, which runs from 10 to 17 March, Newcastle’s Live Theatre has revealed its programme through to July.

From 19 April to 12 May, outgoing artistic director Max Roberts directs D C Jackson’s My Romantic History, which will be designed by Alison Ashton.

Originally performed at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe where it was awarded a Fringe First, it has now been adapted and updates for the North East.

Tom’s got a new job and zero love life. But after getting together on a Friday night drink with Amy from the office, they start a whirlwind romance more like a category 5 hurricane. As true love and calamity collide, can these two escape the memory of past relationship disaster? And can two lonely hearts finally make a match?

“Seems like she's my girlfriend… It's kind of like I went to the presentation to get Marks and Spencer's vouchers and somehow I ended up with a time-share in Crete.”

In May, three visiting productions arrive at the theatre:

• 16 - 17 May
  Half Breed
  Written and performed by Natasha Marshall
  Presented by Soho Theatre and Talawa Theatre Company

  “I am that mixed raced kid, like 50/50, on the fence, luke warm, in-between maybe. Trust me, around here I’m about as black as it goes…”

  Half Breed tells the story of 17-year-old Jazmine, the only non-white resident of a Somerset village beset by prejudice and small-mindedness.

• 22 – 26 May
  Fleabag
  By Phoebe Waller-Bridge
  DryWrite and Soho Theatre

  Fringe FIrst winner at the Edinburgh Fringe 2013

  Fleabag may seem over-sexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig themed café struggling to keep afloat, she suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.

• 30 – 31 May
  Gypsy Queen
  By Rob Ward
  Hope Theatre Company

  ‘Gorgeous’ George O’Connell, bare-knuckle fighter and traveller, who enters the world of professional boxing which puts him on a collision course with his roots, his identity and his greatest fear.

  In the opposite corner, gay boxer Dane ‘The Pain’ Samson, the young pretender and son of a boxing legend, is fighting his own battles that lead to a tragedy neither man could predict.

On 3 June, Live presents its latest 10 Minutes to… and this time writers are challenged to produce 10-minute plays on the theme of Break the Mould.

The main event of June is a revival of Open Clasp’s Rattle Snake, the BTG North East’s Best New Play for 2017, based on the real life stories of women who have faced and survived coercive controlling domestic abuse.

Rattle Snake, written by Catrina McHugh and directed by Charlotte Bennett, runs from 5 to 9 June.

Finally in the season:

• 7 July
  Mia: Daughters of Fortune
  Devised and Directed by Joyce Nga Yu Lee
  Mind the Gap

  Having kids is not an easy decision: Can I afford it? Have I got enough room? Will I screw it up? Now imagine making these decisions if you have a learning disability. Woah—wait a minute… learning-disabled parents? Erm, can they do that? Do they even have sex?