Live Theatre announces bumper season of landmark productions for the North East

Live Theatre’s season of brand-new produced work features female centered world premieres, a ‘game changing’ landmark production and a first play about the Sycamore Gap felling.

Digging into the region’s radical history, the season launches with Shelagh Stephenson’s absurdist comedy Astell and Woolf, placing Newcastle’s first (and largely forgotten) feminist Mary Astell in a waiting room in the afterlife  with her more famous counterpart Virginia Woolf. The production is directed  by North East-based Scottish Karen Traynor (Tiny Fragments of Light) and will  run at Live Theatre from Thursday 14 May to Saturday 6 June.

Summer sees the return of the Unearthed Festival of new talent, this year with a feminist slant, celebrating female, non-binary and trans performance alongside scratches, socials and masterclasses with major industry figures.

 Autumn opens with Alison Carr’s All At Sea, a razor-sharp black comedy inspired by the infamous ‘canoe couple’ in which a husband faked his own  death at sea for insurance purposes. Co-produced with Stephen Joseph  Theatre and directed by Maria Crocker, the production will run at Live  from Thursday 24 September to Saturday 10 October and transfer to SJT  from Friday 16 October.

October marks a landmark partnership between Live Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal and Eastlake Productions with the world premiere of Peter Flannery’s Our Friends in the North 1979-84, marking 30 years since the iconic series first broadcast. This brand-new play, focusing on the Thatcher  years of the original series, will be written by Jack McNamara based on  Flannery’s screenplays. It will mark the first time that Live Theatre has  produced a play directly for Newcastle Theatre Royal’s stage, marking a major  new partnership to bring new work to a large scale audience.

Playwrights are honoured throughout the year with a 30^th anniversary performance of Marie Jones’ Stones in His Pockets, a 70^th birthday  celebration of Richard Bean and a first regional reading of Lenny Henry’s  August in England in partnership with the North East of England African and  Caribbean Association.

In November a mini season of work explores groundbreaking diverse American voices, with a centerpiece sharing of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog to mark its 25^th anniversary and John by Annie  Baker.

2026 also marks ten years of Live Theatre’s groundbreaking Live Tales Creative Writing programme for schoolchildren.

The season closes in Spring 2027 with Rory Mullarkey’s highly anticipated new play about the Sycamore Gap felling, The Most Famous Tree In The World, which explores the emotional complexity caused by one of the most  high profile environmental crimes of recent years.

Karen Traynor, Director of Astell & Woolf said: “I’m thrilled to be working with  Shelagh and Live Theatre on this witty, thought-provoking play and can’t wait  for you to meet the tireless zest of this utterly tenacious pair.”

Maria Crocker, director of All At Sea said: “I’ve been a huge admirer of Alison Carr’s writing for many years and I’m thrilled to be directing this striking new  play, inspired by an astonishing local story. Live Theatre is one of very few  venues outside of London that is exclusively dedicated to developing new  work and it’s really exciting to be a part of that ecosystem.”

Live Theatre’s Artistic Director Jack McNamara added: “We have a lot going on  at Live Theatre this season. So much so that we’ve even had to spread out  across town to another brilliant theatre in the city! Every piece of work on oƯer  feels like a labour of love and I am so excited by the breadth of brilliant and  deeply North East talent that will fill our theatre both onstage and oƯ.”

To find out more about this exciting season and to book tickets go to: www.live.org.uk.