Six exciting
short plays by young writers from Gateshead & Sunderland
Turning Pages
Newcastle Live Theatre
Saturday 5th December 2015
The Live Theatre Write
Stuff project has produced six little gems that show how creative young
people can be. Professional actors perform in an eclectic mix of stories. This
is the generation that plays games consoles, use their mobiles as torches and
watch the likes of the Hostel and Saw movies.
An inventive set and great lighting design provide a
number of tricks of the theatre trade to bring these stories alive. The real
power though, is in the scripts themselves, as each play ultimately looks into
relationships.
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Photo: Chris Auld.
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Memories Of The Sea by Amy
Connor from Sunderland’s Red House Academy sets out the stall well for the evening. Adam Donaldson plays a lad who
is looking for work. He has applied for many jobs but he is struggling to get
his foot on the first rung of the ladder. He meets up with his Nan in one of his favourite spots, a bench with a
sea view. Nan shares the
contents of her box of memories whilst he is disturbed by the idea that Nan was once also a young passionate person in
love. There is a genuinely natural reaction by the grandson to the concept of
the grandparent dating. The script makes mature use of a third offstage
character- the lad’s Mam. Judi Earl shows the tenderness of a loving family
relationship whilst staying in alpha position in the relation. Memories Of The Sea was a delightful start
to proceedings and, like many of the evenings stories, it has the potential to
be expanded into a full length play.
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Photo: Chris Auld.
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Scary House by Reece
Weightman from Gateshead’s Furrowfield School was a change in direction and pace. A lad, played by Chris Foley, breaks
into a house for a dare. He uses a mobile phone for light. The audience can
only see what he sees as he decides to vandalise the place. This production
really benefited from the clever lighting design. But what is that in the
corner? Is it a clown? We know from Wet
House (Review: http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/review-wet-house-at-newcastle-live.html)
that Chris Connel does scary very well and tonight he did not disappoint as the
somewhat unhinged clown. Reece’s play has a sense of dark comedy about it and
the audience were frequently in stitches about the situation as it unfolded.
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Photo: Chris Auld.
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Could It Be A Tuna? By Red House Academy’s Nathan Beckett showed the how a young playwright can sensitively
handle a tough situation. A 4 year old
lad has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The NHS has run out of funding and
so his parents have just 2 options: raise the funds to get him to America for treatment or watch him die before he turns 6. Christina Berriman
Dawson plays the egocentric mum who is loving the attention that is being drawn
to her family by the media campaign. Tom Booth is the poor 4 year old who
idolises his parents. He gets his phrases wrong – as a 4 year old does. The
tumour is referred to as a “tuna” and the USA becomes “United of America”. Nathan’s dialogue accepts the perception
of a young child about his future. One
could feel empathy for the poor friendless lad who relies totally on his
parents. The young parent too, at times, is also childish in her attitude. This
was another show in which the audience clearly enjoyed the lighter moments in an
interesting study of the human condition.
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Photo: Chris Auld.
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Furrowfield School’s Leonnie Lartey wrote Soulless and Goalless in which 18 year
old Pamela Kingsley has moved into a new house. Natalie Golightly plays the self obsessed
teenager who feels that she will have a career as a singer. Once again, much to
the audience’s surprise, a great trick of the lighting reveals Natalie Jamieson
as the ghost of the house. The make up on the mischievous 7 year is stunning.
The characters show a real mismatch in the expectations and attitude of
Victorian children with their modern counterparts. The dark humour comes from
the careful handling of the characters. Leonnie’s play finished the first half
on a high. The ending shows a real creative flair that would have not been out
of place in Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected.
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Photo: Chris Auld.
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The second set opened with Doctor Death from Furrowfield School’s Lee Harrison. Matt Jamie plays the game loving first aider on the
building site of a new hospital. He is busy playing on his X-box when his boss
comes in. The boss is on the search for a couple of employees that seem to have
disappeared recently. Michael Lockhart’s character is then led into a game by
Matt’s menacing character. Lee’s play has a number of surprises which unfold as
the game proceeds. Certainly it has put this reviewer off mint tea.
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Photo: Chris Auld.
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Finishing the show was Never Never Land by Lauren Dickson. The
Red House Academy student makes
references to J.M.Barrie’s Peter Pan as she explores the
desire to stay youthful. Set in 2071, Chris Foley is a 14 year old who is too
grown up to listen to bed-time stories. But Donald McBride’s Grandad character
is keen to give him a warning from the past as he recalls how everyone was
willing to make sacrifices to stay young back in 2020. Both actors have a field
day as they explore the ridiculous pursuit of the perfect body image. Lauren’s cautionary tale is timely and
heart-felt.
Credit must go to everyone who has had a hand
in putting these shows on the stage. The team of professionals at Live Theatre,
as well as the families and schools of the young creators of the plays must be
justifiably proud.
Designer Alison Ashton, lighting designer
Drummond Orr, costume designer Lou Duffy and sound designer Dave Flynn have
each added their polish to a great evening. The show has the most creative use
of a bed in the set design as it took part in numerous ways.
Each play has the potential for development
into a longer piece. They show a much broader outlook, by the young writers, on
the world than older observers may give them credit for. Their voice is
authentically young whilst their observations and wit are sharply focussed. The
Live Theatre continues, successfully, to develop the writers of the future. The
world of culture is a better place for it.
The plays written by students from Furrowfield School in
Gateshead are Doctor Death by Lee Harrison, Soulless and Goalless by Leonnie Lartey and Scary House by Reece Weightman. The plays
written by students from Red House Academy in Sunderland are Could
It Be A Tuna? by
Nathan Beckett, Memories Of
The Sea by Amy Connor, and Never Never Land by Lauren Dickson.
This review was written by Stephen Oliver for the
North East Theatre Guide from Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com). Follow Jo on twitter
@jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo
Coming up at Live Theatre:
Next
season Live Theatre has a selection of productions suitable for families and
young people. You can see the next set of plays by young writers, as they are
performed for the first time as script-in-hand performances in the Studio
Theatre at 7.30pm on Friday 4 March as pupils from The
Northumberland Church of England Academy take part in Write Stuff.
In The Media Circus at 7.30pm on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 March,
members of Live's Youth Theatre present imagainative short plays about the
good, the bad and the ugly side of media presence in young people's lives. Find out more.
For more information and to buy tickets costing £8 and £6 concessions call
Live Theatre’s box office on (0191)
232 1232 or see www.live.org.uk.
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