Four new productions are to open at the Customs House in South Shields in the next four weeks.
First up is The Big Time, a new play by Wayne Miller (a former reviewer for the BTG). Running from 29th to 31st August and presented by Made 4 Stage Productions, it tells how, when the perfect crime goes wrong, two wannabe criminal masterminds Jerry and Jacks have to come up with a cunning plan which spirals into a night of pure comic disaster.
Running the following week is I Love Kent Walton, a new play by Tom Kelly, produced by the Customs House. It tells the real-life story of South Shields wrestler Gary ‘The Hardline Pro’ Davison who found himself on the same bill as Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, The Boston Strangler and Kendo Nagasaki.
Watching televised wrestling on a Saturday afternoon was a British institution for millions from 1955 until it was taken off the air in 1988. Compered by the legendary Kent Walton, it combined real athleticism with over the top pantomime. Gary Davison was hooked.
I Love Kent Walton runs from 4th to 7th September.
A week later, from 11th to 14th September, Ion Productions returns to the Customs House with a revival of Neil Armstrong and Brian Walsh’s comedy The Dark Side of the Half Moon.
Trevor is the Landlord of a traditional British pub who is trying to make it a bit more modern to attract new customers but is being battled all the way by his small band of misfit regular.
Add into the mix the convenient disappearance of Trevor’s adulterous wife Maria and you have a tale of friendship, comedy and suspense, with twists and turns before a final shocking (but hilarious) and explosive ending.
Finally, from 25th to 27th September, Shakespeare returns to the South Shields venue.
By the Pricking of My Thumbs, presented by KG Productions in association with the Customs House, takes a close look at Shakespeare’s darker side in an evening of horror, featuring his most evil characters. Eyes will be gouged out, throats cut, kings murdered and grieving widows wooed. Cauldrons will bubble, fairies fight, ghosts will haunt and heads be severed.
Performed in the round in Daltons, By the Pricking of My Thumbs is devised and directed by the BTG’s North East editor Peter Lathan. Co-author of The Dark Side of the Half Moon, Neil Armstrong, is one of a cast of ten which features some of the region’s leading actors.