Preview: Double Bill at Newcastle People's Theatre

Follow North East Theatre Guide on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NETheatreGuideand on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NETheatreGuide

DOUBLE BILL

Five Kinds of Silence by Shelagh Stephenson

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee

Newcastle People’s Theatre

Tuesday 27^th to Saturday 31^st October 2015  

Two good reasons to go to the theatre next week

The Peoples Theatre’s first Studio Theatre production this Autumn is a double bill of hard-hitting dramas exploring the downside of modern life.

“We don’t want to talk about that”

Photo: Paula Smart

Northumberland-born Shelagh Stephenson’s play Five Kinds of Silence tells the story of a family’s attempt to escape from life beneath the shadow of the vicious Billy, who physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses his wife and two daughters.

Can there ever be a new life without Billy haunting their nightmares?

Described as “unflinchingly honest and deeply insightful”, this dark drama pulls no punches, but retains a sense of hope in the human spirit.

“Fact is better left to fiction”

Photo: Paula Smart

According to director Maggie Watson, Edward Albee got his source material for The Zoo Story from his days as a mail man walking the streets of New York city.

The resulting one-act piece made the playwright’s name in 1959, packing themes of isolation, social disparity and dehumanisation into a single, emotionally intense hour.

The action unfolds in front of the audience in “real time” as strangers Peter and Jerry meet on a bench in Central Park. 

Both plays are unflinching in their often disturbing view of a distorted world. Stephenson and Albee broach their subjects with brilliance, truthfulness, and glimmers of ironic humour amidst relentless dramatic suspense.

Audiences are advised that these plays contain very strong language and content that is suitable for an adult audience only.

Tickets:

The double bill appears on Tuesday 27^th to Saturday 31^st October 2015 at 7.30pm at The People’s Theatre (Studio Upstairs), Stephenson Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 5QF

Cost: £13.50 (Concessions £11)

Box Office: 0191 265 5020 or online at www.peoplestheatre.co.uk