Hartlepool’s Town Hall Theatre has set itself the aim of bringing down the barrier of the term ‘theatre’ to the audience in the town.
The theatre is now part of REACH, a strategic touring project funded by Arts Council England which is designed to increase the amount and quality of contemporary theatre touring into the north east region. It is underpinned by a programme of support for venues around marketing, audience development and programming.
The project is a partnership between ARC Stockton and Dep Arts Ltd, Leeds-based theatre and dance producer, and will have presented nine shows in each of the venues (including ARC) by the end of 2016. Six of these shows will be touring shows, and three brand new commissions, developed in the north east as part of the project, to grow audiences for contemporary theatre.
The programme includes Unlimited Theatre’s MONEY the Gameshow, The Paper Birds’ Thirsty, Third Angel’s Cape Wrath and The Life and Loves of a Nobody as well as new work commissioned by REACH from Tangled Feet (Kicking and Screaming), Chris Thorpe and Hannah Jane Walker, and Theatre Alibi.
The theatre is also part of the NECTC (North East Children’s Theatre Consortium) which aims to bring the highest quality work to the region. After a particularly successful visit by Zest (theatre for teenagers) last autumn, Hartlepool is hoping to host a week-long residency with the show Gatecrash later this year. Details will be confirmed in September.
In April it hosted a Drama Residency associated with NEAD (North East Artist Development Network) in which Northern Creations spent a week at the venue working on their new-writing piece, Coal Girls, which it is hoped will begin its tour at Hartlepool.
The venue also focuses on family shows; Tutti Frutti, Horse and Bamboo and Travelled Companions have already visited this year and Blunderbus arrives in July with story time favourite, Hugless Douglas. Coming seasons will include Pocket Merchant, The Bear and the Butterfly and A Christmas Carol. Family tickets are £12 for up to 5 people, making the theatre very accessible.
To attract as many people as possible, the season brochures have been redesigned and simplified, and are now delivered to every household in the Borough.