In July 2012, just after coming offstage at the interval of a performance of Utopia at the Soho Theatre, actor North East David Whitaker suffered a major stroke.
He was rushed to University College Hospital, and eventually transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, then to the Stroke Unit at Newcastle General. From there he was moved to a care home close to Hetton-le-Hole in Country Durham where he was born and brought up and where his mother still lives.
He has been left totally paralysed down the right hand side and unable to speak.
Now 64, he had been an actor since the 1970s and played the local folk clubs as a singer / guitarist before then. A founder member of Newcastle’s Live Theatre, he was one of the original 2007 cast of the hugely successful The Pitmen Painters, appearing in all its tours—including to the West End and Broadway—apart from the very last which happened after his stroke when his part was taken over by his lifelong friend (they were at primary school together), fellow County Durham actor Donald McBride.
His career also included work with the RSC, Northern Stage and many other companies, as well as on film and TV.
On Friday 26 May at Live Theatre, his family and friends are organising a fundraising concert to help pay for the intensive therapy sessions, not available on the NHS, which are essential to enable him to regain some quality of life.
Taking part in the concert are DENNIS, an eight piece roots folk-rock & brass band from Hetton, former member of Lindisfarne Ray Laidlaw, actor / musician Peter Peverley (who has also worked with the RSC) and hokum blues band Struggle Buggy. Tickets, available from Live online and by 'phone on 0191 232 1232, are £10.