From 9 to 13 February, Live Theatre celebrates the best new theatre from the North East and beyond with Live Lab Elevator: four new productions, workshops and discussions, and the Live Lab 2016 Launch Party.
On Wednesday 10 and Friday 12 February, a double bill of plays will be presented in Live's Main Theatre. It includes the return of Live Lab’s 2015 sell-out show Red is the New Blue, created by Live Lab Associate Artists Rowan McCabe, Matt Miller and Matilda Neill, and Heartbeats and Algorithms, a one-woman show by Jenny Lee about the inescapable role technology plays in our lives.
On Thursday 11 February, a work-in-progress double bill features fanSHEN’s new show Lists for the End of the World and Amy Golding’s latest show preggers.
Remade for each location, Lists for the End of the World explores what lives look like when they are broken down into lists. This production uses material contributed by people who live locally. fanSHEN were the winners of the Live Lab and The Empty Space Bursary in 2015.
Written and performed by Amy Golding and directed by Laura Lindow and Rachel Glover, preggers is about what it means to become a mother now and what it meant for women of previous generations.
On 9 February is a free Playwriting in the North panel discussion, hosted by Live Theatre’s Literary Manager Gez Casey, in the Main Theatre at 7:30PM. Participants will join a panel of industry professionals from across the North as they discuss the opportunities for writers in the North and the best way for playwrights to get their work recognised.
From 1PM on 13 February, two of the UK’s leading theatre directors, Rachel O’Riorden (Artistic Director of the Sherman Theatre) and Joe Murphy (Artistic Director of nabokov), present a Director’s Masterclass for budding theatre directors. In this session, participants will explore how a director works with text, forms ideas and translates those concepts onto the stage. They will be joined later by Live Theatre’s Artistic Director Max Roberts in a question and answer session about their work processes.
Finally, the Live Lab 2016 Launch Party will be on Saturday 13 February at 7:30PM. The event will include bite-sized performances, the announcement of the next Live Lab Associate Artists and details about the Live Lab 2016 Bursary.