A Live Look Back At 2024
Looking back over a year’s programme is more than a list of titles or even memories of shows. It’s a record of the relationships, conversations and leaps of faith that lead to each project coming to life. As I look back at them I feel such gratitude to all those people who simply said ‘yes, let’s go for it.’ In a time of such uncertainty for our industry we need adventurers, optimists and the word ‘yes’ more than ever.
SPRING
One of the first to say yes this year was our good friend Jimmy Nail. He had written an epic new play with songs with his close colleague Ian Le Frenais, titled Seconds Away. He wanted to try it out it in front of an audience with a group of brilliant local actors and musicians to see if it would land. It did, and sold out in…um…seconds. The players were incredible and it was an added bonus having former Hamilton star Trevor Dion Nicholas genuinely raise our Quayside roof off.
Next on the yes list were some truly extraordinary women. The rightly adored Julie Hesmondhalgh came to us as one of only two trusted venues (The Bolton Octagon was the other) to share her new incredibly personal work about the loss of her father, These I Love. She was then followed by one of our industry’s true ground-breakers Jenny Sealey of Graeae who offered audiences a wholly different take on autobiography with her stunning play Self-Raising. I then had the (knee-knocking) pleasure of welcoming living legend Sheila Hancock to our stage to meet our audiences and chat about her mind blowing career. ‘Yes’ was what the 91-one year old Sheila had said when our colleague Alison asked her if she’d be up for hopping on a train to Newcastle to meet our audiences and see some of our Live Tales work supported by her late husband’s foundation.
Keeping up the theme of amazing women, we were thrilled later in the year to welcome legendary Maxine Peake to our stage to talk horror in the light of our upcoming Saint Maud as well as the much loved Charlie Hardwick to mark the 40th anniversary of The Miners Strike with an Amber Films screening of The Scar. The strike was also marked by the great Red Ladder’s all female production of We’re Not Going Back.
This March we launched the first ever (we believe) North East Playwrighting Award supported by the Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust. Over 200 plays by writers based in or from the North East were sent in, read and responded to. The winner was Dogs on the Metro by Emilie Robson (which we will stage next year) and A Moving Still by Connor Dorrian who won the under 25 award. We were also so impressed by Laurie Ward’s Real, Mad World about trans relationships that we offered it a Research Award in partnership with Northumbria University.
Was it possible to completely renovate our studio space and turn it into a mixed reality installation for English Touring Theatre’s award winning production of Museum of Austerity? The answer was yes indeed. Although the work involved reminded me of that scene in Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo where they hoist an actual ship over a mountain. Watching the ETT staff and our tech team of wizards make that happen was a thing of true wonder. Such monumental efforts require a pat on the back. And our team received that with via a five star Stage review by the ever discerning Tracey Sinclair. (Review here).
Do young voices matter? Hell yes. And our CYP team ensured that by bringing to life the exquisite Fed Up; a mosaic of stories directed by Paul James about food poverty in the North East researched created and performed by Youth Theatre members. It ran at Live Theatre and then toured to Newcastle Cathedral, Newcastle United Foundation and a Youth Theatre festival in Germany before being shortlisted for a North East Culture Award. It was all driven by young people and our top CYP team who in addition this year have delivered Youth Theatre sessions for 200 young people and Live Tales creative writing sessions to 2668 school pupils working alongside our outstanding team of volunteers, mentors, illustrators and editors.
SUMMER
If the future of North East theatre can be glimpsed in our two associate artists then that future is bright indeed. The magnificent gobscure (AKA sean burn) presented a performance and installation of their delicate new work titled yu have already survived (a ‘privilege’ said Lyn Gardner and she was right) and the great local actor and writer Kemi-Bo Jacobs brought her award-winning solo piece All White Everything But Me directed by our own Becky Morris. This play had already won a North East Culture Award and premiered previously at the mighty Alphabetti; a theatre with an annoying tendency to think of things first. We also welcomed Curious Arts back to Live Theatre, maintaining our longstanding commitment to LGBTQi+ narratives.
A salute is due to our producing team who launched our new artist showcase Live Writes which brought together eight writers, eight directors and 21 actors to present new work that was performed on our stage and critiqued live by a panel of (loving) professionals. We also ran a 10 week playwriting course, met 200 new actors through open auditions, gave 30 local theatre companies R and D space and sent two female playwrights over 35 on a writing residency in the South of France! We have also launched our Hot Desks in which 300 local writers and artists have come to use our spaces free of charge (this runs all year so get in touch if you need that place to write or dream).
Our big show of the early summer was The Bounds by Northumberland writer Stewart Pringle, which marked Live’s very first partnership with the Royal Court Theatre. Stewart Pringle has the scope of imagination that most of us only dream of. His play was about pretty much everything from the origins of football to the politics of witchcraft via the astrological warning signs of apocalypse. Seeing our great local actors Ryan Nolan, Soroosh Lavasani and Lauren Waine (ex Live Youth Theatre…) tear it up North East medieval style in central London (with Ben Whishaw performing in the next room) was a highlight of the year for me.
AUTUMN
For the start of Autumn we were overjoyed when the Arts Council said ‘yes’ to the indefatigable theatre company Emmerson and Ward’s application to tour their hit production Love It If We Beat Them about the arrival of new Labour and the era of Kevin Keegan. The show had been developed through our talent development programme and the original production launched our 50th anniversary season, becoming our bestselling play since the pandemic. Its sharp direction by Bex Bowsher and impassioned writing by Rob Ward took on a whole new resonance in a changed landscape with Labour now in power. Perhaps things can only get better….
Speaking of people achieving remarkable things, Jamie Eastlake remains an unstoppable force. His Gerry and Sewell began life at his small but mighty Laurel’s in Whitley Bay before transferring to Live Theatre last year where it made our ecstatic audiences feel like they had fallen into the pit of an AC/DC concert. That same show then transferred to Newcastle’s Theatre Royal this autumn where it played to packed houses and disproved all views that small scale theatre cannot blow the roof off a number one commercial stage. This is all Jamie’s achievement, not ours, and yet the fact that Theatre Royal’s Marianne Locatori said ‘yes’ and put her faith in his show’s growth tells you everything about the adventure and generosity that will help theatre thrive in our city.
In October the skies darkened and we filled our stage with fire for Saint Maud; the world premiere of one of the most talked about horror films of the last decade. This all happened because the original film maker Rose Glass said a simple ‘yes’ when I asked if I could take her baby and theatricalise it with the words of Jessica Andrews, the design of Alison Ashton, the movements of Roberta Jean and the music of Gazelle Twin. This production pushed at the possibilities of our stage and was carried by three exceptional female actors Dani Arlington, Neshla Caplan and ex Live Youth Theatre member Brogan Gilbert in the title role, the latter being touted by The Guardian as a star in the making. (Review here).
November was filled by esteemed guests. Awkward Productions brought us their global hit Gwyneth Goes Skiing. Local legend Kathryn Tickell celebrated her On Kielderside album to packed houses. And we welcomed food afficionados Jay Rayner and Si King to fill our stage, on respective nights, with tales from their extraordinary lives and culinary adventures.
We are very happy to be in partnership with Northumbria University on a range of exciting projects. A major one this year has been delivering a module on Performance and Creative Economies to their third year students. Delivering practical hands on sessions each week to these students has been a great privilege and a welcome reminder that the world will be moving into smart, passionate, caring hands with this new generation.
WINTER
December was packed with tinsel-strewn new writing, as Danielle Slade co-created a new modern classic Blitzen on The Tyne with local school children, about the adventures of the most poorly represented reindeer in the pack, played with explosive expertise by Karen Traynor and Micky Cochrane and directed with aplomb by Becky Morris. For adults we welcome Ali Pritchard’s (that Alphabetti innovator now a free agent) previously hit play Present starring the powerhouse that is Malcom Shields (last seen on our stage in One Off) with exquisite live music by Ceitdh Mac. Both shows are currently being adored by audiences of wildly different ages.
Our sights are now turned to 2025 which will open with Ishy Din’s new family drama Champion, set during Muhammad Ali’s historic visit to South Shields in 1977 and the profound affect this had on its communities. We are so excited by this play and promise to do our best to avoid overusing words like ‘punchy’ ‘and ‘knock out’ in our promotion of it over the coming months.
Finally we want to say a huge thank you to each of you for saying ‘yes’ to seeing one of our shows. We know that times are tight, that budgets are stretched and that Netflix is calling. As one of the last buildings dedicated to new work every show of ours asks audiences to take a punt. And when you do so it means a huge amount to us. By seeing a show at Live you are doing more than choosing a great night out. You are enabling this art form to survive and investing in the North East talent of the future. Every ticket counts, every glass of wine helps. Thank you!
Unknown to any of us when we began this list was that we would end the year in such a state of shock and deep sadness. Earlier this summer we lost a hugely valued member of our housekeeping team, Jean Kent, who had been with Live for 15 years. And now we are coming to terms with the fact that our outstanding Technical Manager Dave Flynn has passed away. Every show listed above (and for 20 years prior) has Dave’s hand behind it, his quiet brilliance always pushing up the standards of what Live Theatre could be. We send our love to everyone who knew these two exceptional individuals. They will always be with us.
Huge gratitude also to our staff, trustees, stakeholders, freelancers, friends, partners and volunteers for enabling us to do so much in such a challenging landscape.
Wishing you all a peaceful and creative 2025.
Jack McNamara Artistic Director
