Spike, Cookie and Molly, three mice who live in the clock tower in Durham Castle, are getting ready for Christmas when they learn that a little girl’s Christmas is going to be ruined. Upset by this, they set off on a quest to help her, aided by a mysterious toy which has been left at Durham railway station.
A twist on the classic Nutcracker story and the Hickory Dickory Dock nursery rhyme, The Nutcracker Re-Miced, a Gala Theatre production, is a new play for ages 3+. Written by Laura Turner with original music by David J Barton, directed by Jake Smith and performed by Benjamin Storey, Rebecca Tebbett and Jessica Brady as the three mice, it will be at Bishop Auckland Town Hall from 30 November to 5 December (1:30 on 30 November and 10:30 & 1:30 all other days) and the Gala Theatre from 7 December to 24 December (various times).
Tickets at both venues are £8, or £7.50 for groups of ten or more, and family tickets are £30.
Tickets can be booked through the venues’ web sites: Bishop Auckland Town Hall and The Gala Theatre.
“We are really excited to be showing this original Christmas production at not one, but two venues in the county,” said Cllr Elizabeth Scott, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for economy and partnerships.
“Set in Durham and featuring some of the city’s well-known locations, this show is very much a County Durham production created by local talent and demonstrates why the county is bidding for UK City of Culture 2025.”
Laura Turner is a playwright and screenwriter from the East Midlands who has written more than 40 original plays and adaptations of classic novels, commissioned by theatres including the Almeida Young Company, East Riding Theatre and Hull Truck. In March 2020, she established her own theatre company, Fury Theatre, to focus on "female stories told with fire." She is Associate Playwright at Chapterhouse Theatre Company, Novo Productions and the Petersfield Shakespeare Festival.
Jake Smith trained and worked with the National Theatre and has held positions as Artistic Director of the Petersfield Shakespeare Festival, Resident Director at the Almeida Theatre, Resident Director at Chichester Festival Theatre and as Creative Learning Facilitator at Hull Truck Theatre.
He directed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, currently on tour, and his most recent work in the NE includes The Hound of the Baskervilles (Northern Stage and touring), Isolation (Alphabetti and The Customs House) and West End Girls (Live Theatre).