Top North East talent announced for Lisette Auton's Christmas show at Live Theatre

Top North East talent announced for Lisette Auton’s Christmas show at Live Theatre

Live Theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne is excited to announce the magical cast for Wintry Tales: Snow Covered Maps and Mountainous Mayhem a brand new alternative winter show for children which runs from Saturday 9 to Saturday 23 December 2023. North East favourites Maya Torres and Hannah Walker will bring heartwarming stories to theatrical life.

Scripted by celebrated children’s author and proud Northerner Lisette Auton, the stories have been created in collaboration with local schoolchildren from five schools from the North East.

Caedmon Community Primary School, Northern Counties and Percy Hedley School, Southwick Community Primary School, and Westgate Hill Primary Academy have each produced their own original and fantastical fable that will be brought to life by the fresh-faced cast.

Maya Torres, who in 2023 made it onto the BAFTA stage for her part in How To Be A Person (E4, Channel 4) which won ‘Short Form Programme’, will be joined by Hannah Walker who also recently staked National acclaim doing an in-depth interview in The Guardian about her own show Gamble  - which begins its national tour in 2024.

Maya Torres is a young performer and creative from the North East. Her stage credits include: Pints, Endo The Line and Hold Me Tight (Live Theatre), The Fear, Raven and Can You Keep A Secret (Please don’t) (Alphabetti Theatre), We (Open Clasp), The Sorcerers Apprentice (Northern Stage), and most recently, A is for Amy (Changing Relations). On Screen she can be seen in Blue Jean (BBC Films, BFI) released in cinemas in 2023 as well as in the new McDonald’s ‘Selfie’ campaign. 

Hannah Walker is a performer and theatre maker who creates autobiographical shows to open up conversations about social issues. Her show An Evening with Savvy B looked at her relationship with alcohol and was shaped by workshops and pop-up performances in pubs and social clubs in the North East. Walker is an Associate Artist with The Six Twenty and is a reader with InterAct Stroke Support. 

Lisette Auton is an author and playwright, a film and theatre maker, a performer, spoken word artist and award-winning poet. Disabled, neurodivergent and northern, some say she’s a word artist, she says she does stuff with words. Kindness, belonging, and creative access are at the heart of all her work. Novels include: The Secret of Haven Point and The Stickleback Catchers with Lights Up forthcoming in 2024.

After the triumph of Live Theatre’s first Christmas show for families in 2022, the Quayside venue is delighted to present a new production. Wintry Tales: Snow Covered Maps and Mountainous Mayhem merges the pen of beloved children’s writer Auton, with the uncontrollable imaginations of schoolchildren. This is proper new writing for kids, as fresh as newly fallen snow and as wild as an avalanche ride (a really safe one!).

Lisette Auton said: “I have loved getting to work with loads of ridiculously talented and imaginative school children, and then taking the extraordinary ideas we have come up with together and twirling them into Wintry Tales. The cast and creative team are incredible and we're having great fun making a hercu-flea (who is the size of a cornflake and super strong), the freezer aisle at the Big Tesco, and a Wizard Detective who loves hot chocolate, come to life. Expect talking owls, a shape shifting Pug, and two explorers who need your help to find their way home...” 

This glorious new show, generously supported by The Gillian Dickinson Trust, makes a perfect alternative to panto and is a Christmas treat for children and their families. Tickets for Wintry Tales are priced at £12 for adults and £8 for children and concessions.

To make the festive experience even more delightful, new for 2023 is a chance to see Santa at Live Theatre. This is a Santa experience Live Theatre style, with storytelling from Santa himself in a festively adorned Undercroft. To find out more and book go to live.org.uk or call Box Office on (0191) 232 1232.