Live Witness
Places are limited so early booking is advised. This is a promenade performance that takes place inside and outside the building. Please wear comfortable shoes and warm clothes.
For unforeseen circumstances we have cancelled the Sunday evening performances of Live Witness. If you have booked for this performance a member of our Box Office team will be in contact to change your tickets or alternatively you can call (0191) 232 1232.
Directed by Annie Rigby and Amy Golding
Designed by Imogen Cloet
Music by Beccy Owen
There are sights audiences never see. Voices heard only in earpieces.
People that stay invisible, sharing stories and laughter in the darkness.
Join us for a theatrical tour that reveals the secrets of Live Theatre. Discover the laughter, memories and characters in unexpected places on a journey through Live Theatre's beautiful buildings, old and new. Prepare to be entertained and enchanted by a promenade performance that opens doors, draws back curtains, listens at windows and tells tales. This unique performance , specially commissioned for the company's 40th Birthday celebrations, will be directed by two of the region's brightest theatrical talents: Annie Rigby (Artistic Director, Unfolding Theatre) and Amy Golding (Artistic Director, Theatre Auracaria).
The Guardian have picked Live WItness as a theatre recomendation this week. Read Lyn Gardner's preview of the show.
Live Witness performances take place at 6.30pm & 9pm each night. Audiences will gain access to previously unseen areas of Live Theatre including admission to Live Theatre’s latest social enterprise project The Schoolhouse, a new creative office space based in the historical former school building recently refurbished by Live Theatre and situated behind the theatre in Trinity Court. For that extra special night out make sure you catch one of the 9pm performances of the show where you will see Live Theatre's Schoolhouse beautifully lit up at night.
The following performers are welcomed back to Live Theatre to perform in this extraordinary piece of site specific theatre: Gary Kitching (Big Society), Jane Holman (Lush Life, Write Stuff), Zoe Lambert (Personal Belongings, First Draft) and Abigail Moffatt (Building Works: New Writing Festival). Live Theatre’s Duty Manager Michael Davies will be joining the cast in his Live Theatre debut. Plus Beccy Owen, lead singer and lyricist for chamber-style pop band Sharks Took The Rest, has composed music and songs for the production. Listen to an extract of the Live Witness Birthday Anthem below:
Annie Rigby explains the process of creating Live Witness:
"What I've loved about working on Live Witness is that Live Theatre's history is full of stories just as wild, funny and moving as the stories we've seen performed on its stages. I can't wait to share some of these gems with our audience."
Amy Golding said:
“we’ve been collecting stories from anybody who’s ever been associated with Live. All of the staff who’ve worked here, been through the Youth Theatre, actors who have been here for years, audience members, all sorts of people. Live has a really committed and dedicated audience, so some of them were even around at the very beginning. Live Witness is going to be an extraordinary theatrical tour which is going to take the audience on a journey around the building, and present stories to them in different ways”.
SATURDAY 18 MAY, 10PM-12AM
THE LATE LATE SHOWS PARTY
Come and join a surprise 40th birthday party for Live Theatre. Drop in any time between 10pm and 12am to hear some of the theatre's favourite memories and biggest secrets gathered as characters from Live Witness perform extracts from the show. Free. Limited spaces.
The Guardian
What to see at the theatre this week
The backstage areas of theatres are mysterious and magical places to a public who never see them. Shows that allow us to peep behind the curtain are rare but often pay dividends. The Bush's final work in its old building took audiences on a merry dance through the corridors and dressing rooms, and now Live Theatre is opening up its secret places and telling some of its unheard stories in this promenade performance, created by Annie Rigby and Amy Golding from an idea by Stella Duffy. Rigby of Unfolding Theatre and Golding of Theatre Auracaria are rising stars in the region, and the show should offer a unique and fitting celebration of Live's 40th birthday.
Lyn Gardner
