Theatre company asks for NE artists’ help

Published: 16 February 2018
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Rainbird

North Tyneside-based Cloud Nine Theatre Company is asking for support from North East artists to help fund Rainbird, a new play by Whitey Bay playwright Peter Mortimer about the tragic life of North Shields painter Victor Noble Rainbird.

Before World War I, Rainbird looked set to be a leading light in the art world. A winner of numerous prizes and awards and the only northern artist to be accepted by the Royal Academy in 1911, his future looked assured. But the experiences of the war, his exposure to gas and the onset of shellshock took their toll.

Back in his native North East, although he continued to paint at a prodigious rate, he slid into poverty and alcoholism, forced to sell his work for liquor in the Shields hostelries. His marriage fell apart, he developed cancer and for 80 years he was buried in a pauper’s grave in Preston Cemetery in North Shields until a recent appeal raised £6,500 for a proper headstone.

Mortimer’s play, which spans both the painter’s lifetime and the present day, puts into context the life of an artist about whom it was said, "he was a born artist with all the faults and qualities of those possessed of the artistic mind—a race apart, not understood by ordinary folk."

Rainbird will run from 23 to 28 April at The Exchange in North Shields. It has a cast of ten actors who between them play 23 characters as well as non-speaking extras.

To help finance the production, Cloud Nine is asking artists from the area to contribute a painting or other work of art to the Rainbird Art Auction at The Exchange, Howard St, North Shields NE30 1SE on Sunday evening, February 25 at 7:30PM. The auctioneer will be Mr Bertie Foster.

Any artists who are willing to help are asked to contact Peter Mortimer on 0191-253 1901 or 078051 68728, or by e-mail at [email protected].

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