Newcastle’s Live Theatre has announced details of the next two plays in its 40th anniversary year, Paddy Campbell’s Wet House and a revival of Lee Hall’s Cooking with Elvis which the theatre premiered in 1998.
Wet House is Paddy Campbell’s first full length play, a dark comedy based on his first-hand experience working in a wet house (a hostel for homeless people that caters for alcoholics) to create this. Tinged with sadness and tragedy the play questions how do you keep your head when everyone else is off theirs?
When Andy, an idealistic young graduate, gets a job in a wet house he is plunged into a twilight world where the rules about what is right and what is normal have become a little blurred. And that’s just among the other staff.
Campbell, who has been nurtured through Live Theatre’s new writing development programme, has been mentored by former Live Theatre writer-in-residence Lee Hall.
The cast will be Joe Caffrey, who will play hostel resident Dinger; Riley Jones, playing Andy; Chris Connel from the original Pitmen Painters cast; Jackie Lye, who made her professional stage debut in C.P. Taylor’s And A Nightingale Sang at Live Theatre over 30 years ago; David Nellist (You Really Couldn’t Make It Up) and Eva Quinn, who will be appearing in her first full length Live Theatre production.
Directed by Live’s artistic director Max Roberts, the production runs from 18th September to 5th October.
Caffrey and Jones also appear in Cooking with Elvis, which is also directed by Roberts, with Caffrey reprising the part he played in the original production, the paralysed Elvis impersonator. Casting for the other two parts, the mother and daughter Jill, is yet to be announced.
Cooking with Elvis runs from 17th October to 23rd November.
“Cooking with Elvis is one of Live Theatre’s greatest hits,” said Roberts, “so in our 40th birthday year it seemed appropriate to revive it here in Newcastle for the first time since its premiere in 1998. That it has been produced extensively nationally and internationally since our premiere is a testimony to its universal appeal, emotional intensity and wild anarchic humour.
“I am also excited about working with Paddy to bring Wet House, a story about people who become gripped by alcohol, to the stage. The play addresses head on and honestly a really important issue that affects our lives and culture but in an incredibly accessible way. Including tragedy and sadness Wet House is also quite beautiful and hilarious. Being able to use comedy to address important and significant issues is a wonderful gift. Lee Hall has that skill in spades but Paddy also has that ability and that’s why I am looking forward to directing his play.”