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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 will take place at he Cedarwood Trust, The Avenues, Avon Ave, North Shields NE29 7QT on Thursday 25tyh 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.