‘When I was young I watched a production of Blood Brothers and it just blew me away, I was so engrossed and moved – from that day I was hooked’.

Alex Tahnee from Newcastle has been acting since she was 11 year old…

‘I fell in love with theatre playing Young Catherine in Tom and Catherine, a musical about Catherine Cookson’s life at The Custom’s House, South Shields. I love the idea of telling stories and love the feeling of being on stage’.

‘Since then, I’ve worked with many brilliant people in the North East including various shows playing Alice in Alice in Wonderland at Northern Stage, playing a military wife in Magnolia Walls, and most recently playing a female Marc Antony in Julius Caesar, an absolute bucket list role’.

Next up for Alex is a play by South Shields writer Ed Waugh (Dirty Dusting, Wor Bella, Hadaway Harry, Carrying David). The Cramlington Train Wreckers is another forgotten story about the North East.

‘I play Erica, she’s a journalist interviewing Bill Muckle, one of the eight men imprisoned for derailing a train in the 1926 general strike. Bill has a fascinating tale to tell, and it resonates eerily with political issues we face today’.

‘Bill is played by the wonderful Micky Cochrane (I, Daniel Blake, Carrying David, Billy Elliot), and the piece is directed by Russell Floyd (The Bill, Eastenders, London’s West End), who also multiroles throughout as various characters in some glorious buffoonery’.

‘Bill tells the story of the general strike, how it came about, who was involved, the lies and propaganda that were spread and how it ended after only 9 days. Also, how it came to be that 8 young men from a mining town in Northumberland were imprisoned 100’s of miles away from their families and hailed as heroes upon their return’.

‘People are fascinating to me and theatre is like putting them under a microscope. Like Bill in this play, he was a real person who was so gregarious and engaging you can’t help but listen to him. There are incredible stories in every nook and cranny and theatre lets you explore them, what better job is out there?’

‘My hopes for this play is that this piece of local history is known by new generations for not only its regional importance but also how politics has a profound impact on individuals and communities across the world’.

‘I believe by using the first-hand account of one person in the past we can highlight the relevance of the same messages and themes still affecting us today’.

The Cramlington Train Wreckers opens on 7^th November at Cramlington Learning Village and continues around the North East until 16^th November 2024.

For tickets & full list of venues contact the official website >>>

www.cramlingtontrainwreckers.co.uk

Interview with Ed Waugh >>>

WHO WERE THE CRAMLINGTON TRAIN WRECKERS? | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Alikivi   October 2024