In a season which also includes comedy, music, spoken word and presentations of documentary interest, the theatre programme at Durham’s Gala Theatre this September is:
The Stars Look Down
(5 September) Northumberland Theatre Company’s production of the classic NE novel by A J Cronin, adapted for the stage by Alex Fergusson.
Dear Zoo
(11 September at 2:00 and 4:30) Based on Rod Campbell’s best-selling lift-the-flap book (which has sold more than 8m copies worldwide), with puppets, music and lots of audience interaction.
This is not a wedding
(11 & 12 September) Gracefool Collective invites Durham audiences to the non-wedding of the year in which four defiant brides attempt to please everyone and no one, boldly wading through the minefield of tradition, conformity and expectation.
Stick Man
(20–22 September at various times) Freckle Productions’ adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s children's book. What starts off as a morning jog becomes quite the misadventure for Stick Man: a dog wants to play fetch with him, a swan builds a nest with him and he even ends up on a fire. How will Stick Man ever get back to the family tree?
Lord of the Flies
(30 September to 5 October) The Gala’s in-house production of William Golding’s novel, adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams and directed by Unfolding Theatre’s Annie Rigby. A plane crashes on an uninhabited island and the only survivors, a group of schoolchildren, wait to be rescued. With no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; they can do anything they want. As they attempt to forge their own society, leaders are elected and splinter groups form. As order collapses, terror begins its reign and the children degenerate into savagery.