News: New Season at Live

NEW TALENT GRABS THE WHEEL FOR LIVE THEATRE’S SPRING AND SUMMER SEASON

Live Theatre, Newcastle has announced the premiering productions and visiting shows which will take to the Quayside theatre’s stage this Spring and Summer. The packed six months of shows is all about new and radical talent, from Ishy Din’s knockout play Champion to the North East Playwriting Award Winner Dogs On The Metro by Emilie Robson via the Unearthed Festival and some of the most exciting national companies on tour.

Round one is acclaimed North East writer Ishy Din’s hard hitting new play, Champion from Thursday 13 February to Saturday 8 March. Set around the great boxer’s now legendary 1977 visit to the North East, this searing family drama shows the impact that such a major event had on a mixed race family in South Shields. Questions of identity, community and what each of us is fighting for are stirred up in a hard-hitting story that sees the lives of two brothers turned upside down! Champion stars Jack Robertson, Christina Berriman Dawson and Daniel Zareie.

The second Live Theatre premiere production is Dogs On The Metro by North East Playwriting Award winner Emilie Robson. Playing from Thursday 1 to Saturday 17 May, this is a love letter to friendship, lost youth, naivety and our beloved local transport system. This electrifying new play with razor sharp writing, follows Jen and Dean over a series of days, months and years as they travel back and forth on the network, reflecting on their competing and conflicting versions of the same pivotal events that changed their lives forever!

New for 2025 is Unearthed Festival, a celebration of North East creativity and bold new theatre for a better world. Featuring fresh talent, daring collaborations, dynamic workshops and creative performances from our vibrant community of artists. Ignite your own creative spark from Wednesday 21 to Saturday 31 May.

The season line-up includes a dazzling array of visiting theatre companies. March has a bumper crop of shows including: Rupture inspired by true life experiences of prison from Open Clasp Theatre Company; the exhilarating and lyrical Bangers from SH Productions; Elysium Theatre Company’s gripping and powerful thriller The Moth by Paul Herzberg; babirye bukilwa’s visceral and moving …blackbird hour; Arc Stockton round off March with urgent disabled women-led theatre Unruly by Vici Wreford Sinnott.

In April, Tiata Fahodzi present Everywhere: Triple Bill, three new plays by British-African writers driven by a provocation about what we do in what spaces matter. Penguin presented by Hamzeh Al Hussien and Amy Golding returns to Live Theatre, as part of a UK tour. This hit production recounts Hamzeh’s extraordinary true story and is filled with humour and beauty.

BOOK OF CROW - Photo: Ronnie Goodyer

It’s a jam-packed June with Emmerson and Ward Productions’ funny and poignant show Buff and Max Emmerson Productions’ Rum, a darkly humorous new play wrestling with mental health in the building trade. Carole W Productions and Gala Durham co-production The Bench by former BBC reporter Jeff Brown is a heartwarming tale of love, loss and football. Book Of Crow presented by New Writing North and Live Theatre is a dramatic poetry reading with live music by The Shining Levels. Actress and comedian Josie Lawrence will create an unique and exciting play right in front of audiences in What Next? and Bet’n Lev Theatre take myths and legends and joyfully reimagine queer history in Remythed.

Expect stunning performances from the LGBTQ+ scene when the House of Live bring their cabaret A Night At The Movies and a celebration of trans-led theatre and discussions with Trans Performance Now.

Kicking off July is cosmic drag and cabaret inspired by Doctor Who, The Gallifrey Cabaret. Awkward Productions are back with award winning celebration of the people’s princess – Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story – combining drag, audience interaction, puppetry and lots of queer joy!

Geez A Break Productions tell a hilarious story of the realities of gang culture in 90s Glasgow in When We Were Young followed by a true story of a family caught up in the 90’s recession from Worklight Theatre, It’s The Economy, Stupid!.

Rounding of the Spring and Summer season is Ordinary Decent Criminal presented by Paines Plough, Live Theatre, Ellie Keel Productions in association with Synergy Theatre Project. The production stars renowned political comedian Mark Thomas as Frankie a recovering addict who enters the brave new world of a liberal prison experiment.

Jack McNamara said: “From the  debut performance of North East actor Daniel Zareie in Champion to Emilie Robson’s award winning premiere of Dogs on The Metro, this first six months at Live Theatre is all about stunning new talent from our region. This is cemented by our new Unearthed Festival which will be packed to the brim with new work and artist opportunities to be announced very soon.” 

“It’s a hard time for our sector and an ugly time for us all on a global level. It feels more important than ever to pack our programme with the glorious diverse voices that make our world the vibrant and kind place we want it to be.

We are as thrilled to bring back Hamzeh Al Hussien’s hit show Penguin as we are to host the Trans Performance Now Festival. These are voices and experiences that matter and Live’s stage will always be theirs to call home.” 

Tickets:

Many nights of thrilling and groundbreaking theatre await! To find out more and secure seats for these standout shows go to https://www.live.org.uk/whats-on