My Mate Ren: North East theatre company launch their first play

My Mate Ren explores growing up in County Durham and is the first piece to come from North East based Sticky Theatre

Author: Ellie KumarPublished 29th Apr 2022

A North East creative team say they're excited to be able to share their first piece of work with audiences in Newcastle, Hartlepool and Hexham - after being derailed by Covid back in 2020.

Sticky Theatre - founded by Newcastle based playwright Tamsin Rees and Thornaby based director Holly Gallagher - is launching My Mate Ren to share the highs and lows of growing up in County Durham.

The company say their aim is to create queer work from a new perspective.

Tamsin tells us what to expect from My Mate Ren;

"It's like an 'Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging' but set in the North East, and is a bit more radgie and a lot gayer.

"It's quite joyful, it's quite gentle,

"There's some darker moments, but overall I think it's quite light, quite silly - quite funny!"

The play begins it's run at Newcastle's Alphabetti Theatre - which prides itself on making theatre accessible to everyone, no matter the price.

All tickets are Pay As You Feel, in the hopes of encouraging people who might not have the money to shell out on expensive tickets, to come along.

The date at Hartlepool Town Hall theatre is also Pay As You Decide.

Tamsin - who is an associated artist at Newcastle's Live Theatre - goes on to explain how they hope the show will reach out to young queer people - and their families;

"I used to go to Queen's Hall Hexham with my mum,

"I was just thinking, if i was able to see a play like this it could have been so important, and would have been really lovely.

"It is a show for everyone, it's not just for queer people, but what I think would be lovely is if queer young people and their parents went to see it."

Tamsin is a playwright from County Durham now working and living in Newcastle Upon Tyne, while Holly is a director, theatre maker and facilitator based in Thornaby, and is an associate artist at Arc Stockton.

We asked how it felt to work collaboratively on the show;

Tamsin: "What's so beautiful about theatre is that it is like a team sport

"What I love is just saying 'I've written this thing'…

"You share it with everyone in the room and say 'What do you think? This is how i see the world - Do you guys see this as well?'

"I think absolutely - relinquishing that control is so important as a writer."

The play is performed by Jackie Edwards as Alex, and was created by:

Tamsin Rees - writer

Holly Gallagher - director

Holly Ellis - lighting design

Katharine Williams - associate lighting design

Mariam Rezaei - sound design

Gez Casey - dramaturgy

Becky Glendenning - stage management

The show begins at Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle, from May 3-5, then arrives at Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre on May 9th, before visiting Queen's Hall Hexham on the 19th of May.

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