In November, North Tyneside based Cloud Nine Theatre Company, founded and led by BTG reviewer Peter Mortimer, celebrates its twentieth birthday.
“We like to think we are unique in that we only do new commissioned work and only from northern writers,” said Mortimer. “In those two decades, we have walked and performed a play the length of the Roman Wall, performed theatre on the Tyne Ferry, in prestigious venues such as Sage, in tiny back bars of pubs, on a station platform, in people’s living rooms and at festivals in this country and abroad.”
The company’s first production, in 1998, was a comic fantasy play called The Trip, a community production at the village Community Centre.
“Since 2011, we have created a series of small-scale plays which have premièred at The Low Lights, the oldest pub in North Shields,” Mortimer added. “We are now taking these productions into other venues such as Yoga Station, Whitley Bay Football Club, the Surf Cafe in Tynemouth and Whitley Bay's Comrades Club.
“Much of our recent work has been produced at The Exchange, North Shields, which is now our spiritual home.”
There will be a special anniversary event at The Exchange on Saturday 17 November which includes a reprise of two short plays, Making Plans for Jessica by Kitty Fitzgerald, a poignant comedy set in a care home, and The Battling Ettricks by Mary Pickin, a shot sharp slapstick affair about an 18th century warring couple. There is also a buffet from Sky Apple Café, live music from Bugman, a comic potted history from Peter Mortimer, a raffle and many surprises.
Tickets, all-inclusive, are £20 and can be bought direct from The Exchange in Howard Street, NE30 1SE, by phone on 0191 258 4111 and online from Ticket Source. The Cloud Nine ticket hotline is 07979 7273222. Seating is limited to one hundred.