North East Theatre Guide: Preview: The Filleting Machine On Tour

Play Returns To Its Roots

The Filleting Machine

Thursday 25th May 2017– North Shields The Cedarwood Trust

Thursday 1st June 2017 – North Shields Low Lights Tavern

Wednesday 7th June 2017 – North Shields The Exchange

Friday 9th June 2017 – Wallsend Memorial Hall

Saturday 10th June 2017 – Wallsend Memorial Hall

Friday 16th June 2017 – South Shields Customs House

Saturday 24th June 2017 – Byker & Heaton Union Club

Friday 4^th -Saturday 5th August 2017 – North Shields Old Low Light Heritage Centre

A newly formed theatre company is bringing a classic North East play back to the housing estate near where it was written.

Blowin’ a Hooley will be touring Tom Hadaway’s classic play The Filleting Machine to pubs, working man’s clubs, community centres, heritage venues and theatres across Tyneside in the summer 2017, but first it’s coming home to the Meadow Well.

Set on The Ridges Estate (now Meadow Well Estate) in the 1980s, the play centres around the Rutter family; Ma wants her children to aim for more than she had and Da believes his way of life as a fish filleter is good enough. When Davy’s new job threatens his father’s livelihood, the family’s financial survival is uncertain and with it, Da’s conviction that he is right.

Hadaway was born in North Shields, his play depicts the people he met and worked with on the fish quay. Written a generation ago, The Filleting Machine is as relevant today as it was then as it asks the questions: does further education guarantee you a job? Is any job guaranteed? How do you help your children have a better life than you did, and is that what they want anyway?

Performed with kind permission from the Hadaway estate, Pauline Hadaway said of the project; “Myself and my brother John feel sure that Tom would be delighted to see The Filleting Machine revived by a company committed to working locally with young local actors. Having responsibility for our father’s literary archive, we are very glad to see his work being acknowledged and kept alive. We are very much looking forward to seeing the finished performance.”

Blowin’ a Hooley are dedicated to helping support young North East talent and cast Erin Mullen and William Wyn Davies, two up and coming actors from the region.

Director Catherine Scott said, “We’re excited to be able to bring Tom Hadaway’s play to audiences in North and South Tyneside. Despite the fact it was written thirty years ago, the issues it explores are still relevant today. We were honored when the Hadaway family gave their permission for us to perform the play, for us, it’s the perfect way to show what we’re about as a theatre company and we’re really looking forward to seeing the audience’s reaction.”

The show opens at the Cedarwood Trust, The Avenues, Avon Ave, North Shields NE29 7QT on Thursday 25^th May at 6pm. Tickets £2 from venue.

This production is kindly supported by The Sunday for Sammy Trust, a North East based charity that funds performing artistes from the region at the outset of their careers. Sunday for Sammy was originally staged as a memorial to the late Tyneside actor Sammy Johnson, a regular cast member in many Tom Hadaway plays. The Sunday for Sammy Trust raises money via sales of tickets for it’s spectacular biennial concerts and DVD’s of previous shows. Tickets for the next Sunday for Sammy on 18th February 2018 are available now from the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena.

The Cast:

Blowin’ a Hooley are Micky McGregor, Harriet Ghost and Catherine Scott. The Filleting Machine is their first production as Blowin’ a Hooley, Micky McGregor’s acting credits include Wolf Blood and I, Daniel Blake, as well as various theatre pieces.

Harriet Ghost performed in theatre productions The 15 Streets, Lucky Numbers and the film I, Daniel Blake.

Catherine Scott is a writer, director and stand up comedian. Blowin a Hooley was set up in 2016 by them to tell authentic North East voices and reach audiences who do not usually attend theatre or engage in the arts.

The Creative

Tom Hadaway was born in 1923 in North Shields, he began writing plays later in life, drawing on his surroundings and experiences of the area and the fish quay. He later wrote TV scripts, including God Bless Thee Jackie Maddison, nominated for BAFTA Best short drama, 1974, and was a key writer for Live Theatre where actors Robson Green and Tim Healy performed in his plays. In 2002 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Sunderland University.

Tour Dates:

Thursday 25th May 2017, 6pm – The Cedarwood Trust

Thursday 1st June 2017, 8pm – Low Lights Tavern

Wednesday 7th June 2017, 2.30pm & 7.30pm – The Exchange

Friday 9th June 2017, 7.30pm – Wallsend Memorial Hall

Saturday 10th June 2017, 7.30pm – Wallsend Memorial Hall

Friday 16th June 2017, 7pm – South Shields Customs House

Saturday 24th June 2017, 7.30pm – Byker & Heaton Union Club

Friday 4th August 2017, 7.30pm – Old Low Light Heritage Centre

Saturday 5th Aug 2017, 2.30pm & 7.30pm – Old Low Light Heritage Centre

Tickets are available at each venue and online at:

www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/EKKMJK (The Exchange performances)