06/05/2019

Preview: Voltemand And Corelius Are Joyfully Returned at Newcastle People’s Theatre

The People’s Play Award, our new writing competition to find exciting Northern plays and playwrights, is back!

Voltemand And Corelius Are Joyfully Returned
by Paul Vates
Newcastle People’s Theatre
Tuesday 7 – Saturday 11 May 2019


Laura Brown - The Sleeper

Chosen from nearly 100 entries, this year’s winner is Voltemand And Cornelius Are Joyfully Returned by Leeds-born actor and writer Paul Vates.

The two central characters are minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet – or are they? And where are they? They don’t have a clue. What they do have is each other. But is that enough?

This fast and funny black comedy explores the nature of reality, the chaos of war, and the impact of conflict on people’s perception of themselves.
 
Paul Vates
Pete McAndrew - Doctor
Writer Paul Vates says:  “Voltemand and Cornelius have been in my head since A-Level Theatre Studies, when we looked at Hamlet, Stoppard and Beckett. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have a better look-in than Voltemand and Cornelius and I always felt sorry for them. They rattled around in my head for years because I never quite knew 'where' they were, until I had a chat with a Professor friend (and WW1 expert) who suggested they were in no-man's land. That was in 2013. The first draft wrote itself. The draft I entered for the People’s Play competition was version 6.”

Robbie Close - Cornelius
This is the first play that Chris Heckels has directed for the new Studio Theatre. This intimate four-hander is a far cry from the Peoples’ huge, multi-media production of Heaton! that Chris directed on their Main Stage in July, but one of the joys of the People’s is the variety it offers their members as well as our audiences!

Stephen Sharkey - Voltemand
The new Studio Theatre is part of the Peoples’ £1.6 redevelopment and opened earlier this year with a sold-out production of Jez Butterworth’s The River.

Previous People’s Play Award winners include Peter Straughan (BAFTA winner, Best Adapted Screenplay for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Alison Carr (Iris, Live Theatre; Fat Alice, Traverse Theatre), stage and television writer Carina Rodney and Mike Yeaman whose Lucky Numbers has since been performed in New Zealand, Finland and Estonia!

Photo: Jules Dash

Tickets:     £14 (Concessions £11.50)
Box Office\; 0191 265 5020 or online at www.peoplestheatre.co.uk

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