“This play looks at domestic violence, coercive relationships and the perils of on-line dating in older people. When computers are relatively new to you it can be difficult to negotiate the etiquette of ‘facey’ (Facebook) and ‘the gram’ (Instagram)”explained Alison.
Alison Stanley
“We live in a digital age where meeting and talking on-line is the norm. Everyone seems to have an on-line presence due to the explosion of social media. We talk to people virtually every day and this can be good in combatting social isolation but do we really know who we are talking to on-line and should we be taking information on social media as gospel?”
Alison got the idea to write the play after listening to a group of older ladies…
“They were talking about chatting to people they had never spoke to for donkey’s years – maybe there’s actually a good reason for that! I found it fascinating how they took everything at face value. This produced some great comedic results but also got me thinking about how dangerous this could actually be”.
More research revealed that older people will put up with unacceptable behaviour much longer than their younger counterparts….
“Sometimes they never complain as they have come from a ‘you make your bed, you lie in it’ era and don’t want to be seen as a failure. The production has comedic moments and that sounds quite odd given the subject matter”.
“The play starts where two main characters are having their first meeting after a spell of on-line flirtation. Their chat revolving around family and virtual situations is funny and relatable. This is in direct contrast to the darker moments we see as their relationship develops”.
Rod Glen
”The roles are being played by myself and Rod Glenn (American Assassin, Emmerdale). I’m really excited about it and Rod will do an amazing job of bringing his character to life”.
‘You Need to Say Sorry’ is on at Laurels, Whitley Bay 7.30pm 14-25 November 2023.
“Laurels is a fantastic little gem of a theatre. It’s an amazing fringe venue that brings theatre into the heart of the community and gives a platform to underrepresented voices”.
Gordon was born in Newcastle in 1940 ‘But I spent 22 years in Blyth before moving to Seaton Delaval’.
He was a big sci fi fan in his teenage years ‘I devoured any sci fi books or short stories. Time travel always fascinated me and astronomy was my fanatical hobby’.
‘My favourite novels of all time are ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest’ by Ken Kesey, ‘Catch 22’ by Joseph Heller which I’ve read about seven times, and met him a few months before he died’.
What drew you towards writing?
‘I always had an ambition to write but kept dismissing it as an unachievable pipe dream. I remember ‘Lassie’ films in the 1950’s and was envious of the people who wrote the scripts and could influence the feeling of the audience. I can never remember wanting to be an actor, just to write the words’.
‘Later I struggled with writers like F Scott Fitzgerald and Salinger but admired their ability with words and characters and plot’.
‘I enjoyed the short stories of Ambrose Bierce especially ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’. It has an amazing twist at the end, something I love’.
What do you consider your best work?
‘I think my first novel ‘The Darkness of the Morning’ gave me the greatest satisfaction and became a best seller. I now live a couple of miles from the site of the Hartley pit disaster that occurred in 1862 when 204 men and boys perished. The oldest was 70, the youngest 7’.
‘An old saying came to mind ‘It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good’. I wanted to bring to life a host of fictional characters so the readers might be familiar with their lives, and their deaths would be all the more poignant. Also a smattering of good that came out of all the sorrow’.
What are you working on now?
‘My choice of subject is pretty eclectic. It depends on what suddenly fizzes in my mind. My latest novel, just published in softback and Kindle is called ‘The Priest and the Whistleblower’ and involves a Newcastle based detective sergeant, Jack Shaftoe – far removed from Vera!’
‘Having just finished my latest I’m back to searching for a subject and a plot. There’s a hint in me to write another historical novel, again based locally involving an armaments magnate and stretching from Victoria’s jubilee to about 1920 and takes in WW1’.
As well as being on a BBC Hot Housing writing programme, Alison has scripted Theatre in Education programmes for schools, written two short films for festivals, and also found time to tour the North East and played venues in London and Edinburgh with three of her full length plays – Hard,Bedsocks & Secrets and Life Of Reilly.
With all that you’d think Alison had enough on her plate, but added to her ‘to do’ list this year are another two projects.
Her play Life of Reilly is being produced by the Leah Bell theatre company. An interview with writer, actress and theatre producer Leah features on this site in Take a Bow, 1st July 2021.
We open with Reilly in May in the North East and then go on an autumn national tour. I’m really excited about this as it’s a great opportunity said Alison.
The old saying of if you love what you’re doing you never work a day in your life – that’s so true. My work is my passion and I’m passionate about telling stories of everyday people through writing and acting.
Alison has wrote about diverse subjects such as autism and sex workers, for her new play she has decided to tackle domestic abuse and control in relationships.
For research and during the writing process I had advice from Northumberland Domestic abuse services, Age Well Northumberland and also accounts of lived experience.
I’ve found that other plays on this subject tend to centre on younger people but my play is different as it looks at the relationships from the perspective of two people in their late sixties.
This play also looks at how they find their way around social media which is a relatively new thing for them as they haven’t grown up with it and they’re still finding their feet. This often leads them to be vulnerable, as they tend to take everything at face value.
The two characters, Viv and Bill, have met on-line and arrange to meet. Viv is conscious of keeping safe, so on advice from her daughter they meet during the day in a busy coffee shop. They get on well.
The male lead is to be confirmed soon, the female lead is played by Leslie Saint John. Leslie has acted in a number of TV roles including Byker Grove and Catherine Cookson film The Girl, but notable in her role as the glamorous Vicky in the classic TV series Auf Wiedersehen Pet. Interview with Lesley on this site at Talking Pictures 19 February 2020.
Throughout the play there are ‘flash forwards’ where the audience get to take a look into the future to see what life will be like should the relationship develop. During these flash forwards we get to see the real Bill.
The abuse starts as a slow burn with Viv cut off from friends and family. Bill controls her finances and becomes physically violent.
Whilst the subject matter is serious and dark, the real time conversation in the coffee shop is light and I hope in some instances hilarious. I want the audience to feel almost guilty for laughing at Bill.
In one episode in the coffee shop they both declare they’ve had a lovely time and will do it again. I want the audience to be almost shouting out ‘don’t do it!’
As a writer my work is observational and a lot of what I’ve seen and heard goes into this. I think this play will draw attention to older people in this situation and make people aware this is a problem not restricted by age.
‘You Need to Say Sorry’ opens in Laurels in Whitley Bay on June 22nd and runs till July 1st 2023, tickets are on sale now.
Find out more about Alison in an earlier interview on this site at Dream Catcher 3rd & 5th June 2021.
Held on Saturday November 26th by North East playwright & theatre producer Ed Waugh (Dirty Dusting, Hadaway Harry, Sunday for Sammy), the event in Bewick Hall will be a celebration of fantastic stories about working class heroes from Tyneside.
“I’m really excited about this. It’ll rock. There’ll be Geordie songs, stories, and a video link – it’ll be great crack” said Ed
The Harry Clasper, David & Glenn McCrory and The Great Joe Wilson stories were successful stage plays in their own right, now the scripts have been compiled together and released into one book – Geordie Plays.
Harry Clasper’s story follows his journey from working class pitman in Jarrow to rowing Champion of the World.
North East singer and song writer Joe Wilson chronicled working class life in song including the Geordie classic Keep Yor Feet Still Geordie Hinny.
“North East actor Jamie Brown who starred in both plays Hadaway Harry and the Great Joe Wilson will be singing some Geordie songs at the event”.
“We have the top journalist and sportswriter John Gibson coming along, he will regale us with stories about Glenn McCrory’s rise to boxing world champion stardom and the inspiration he got from his severely disabled brother David”.
“We’ll also have a video link to the three plays’ director Russell Floyd” explained Ed.
Some may know of Russell from his time acting in UK theatres and TV shows including Eastenders and The Bill.
“There’s also a special 5-minute video by Canadian, Kas Wilson, talking about what it means to be Joe Wilson’s great-grand-daughter”.
“I would like to give my thanks for continued support to all audiences, supporters, organisers – everyone involved in making this happen”.
The launch is on Saturday, November 26th 6pm, Bewick Hall, Newcastle City Library.
John with a photo of his Grandfather Thomas Caffery.
The last post highlighted the work of the Hive Storytellers who are based in Jarrow. It featured a story that group member John Caffery came across when he was researching his family tree.
“Thomas Caffery my Grandfather was born in Hartlepool in 1886, and I came across his army service records. They revealed he suffered leg injuries in a serious train disaster at Jarrow.
I enquired more about this and searched through old copies of the Evening Chronicle to see if there were any reports”.
”I found there was a communal grave and headstone in Harton Cemetery, South Shields for the passengers of the train who were killed in the accident, but no names for them. They were buried with three named soldiers and remembered on a Commonwealth War Grave.
My curiosity got the better of me and I uncovered full details of the accident and confirmed the identity of 17 people killed.”
Disaster at St Bede’s Junction, Jarrow.
Reports tell us that the 17th December 1915 was a cold, damp, foggy morning and a coal train was pushed out of Tyne Dock and up the steep track by a banking engine joining the South Shields to Newcastle line at St Bede’s Junction, a signal box controlled the area.
As visibility was worsening with weather conditions and heavy industrial smog, the banking engine had finished assisting the coal train and waited for the signal to let him know he can return back to Tyne Dock.
A passenger train heading for South Shields passed by as the banking engine driver waited patiently for the signal. After waiting five minutes he sent his fireman to the signal cabin to notify them of their position.
Sadly this delay proved disastrous as a Newcastle bound passenger train ploughed into the stationary banker train derailing them both, and damaging two carriages.
Shortly after, an empty goods train heading for South Shields also collided into them and was derailed. The carriage’s wooden construction and gas lighting fuelled horrific fires and damage.
Evening Chronicle newspaper report of St Bede’s Rail disaster.
John added “I found in the newspaper reports that the noise from one steam engine was deafening and carriages of the train were a mass of burning wreckage. One engine driver had a remarkable escape as he was thrown yards away from his engine which had overturned and rolled over the embankment into a field.
Men were lying on the ground receiving first aid, screaming was coming from the carriages as one train was on top of the other”.
“Despite heroic efforts of ambulance men from Palmers shipyards, soldiers from Durham Royal Engineers and Tyneside Irish, and a number of railway and policemen plus nearby residents, rescue was practically impossible”.
William Dunlop, the guard, and William Rowe, fireman of a train nearby, ran over and uncoupled the other carriages before the fire spread.
Another man who helped to recue injured passengers was Samson Tolliday. Samson was an off duty engine driver who lived near Tyne Dock station. He was travelling in the passenger train when the accident happened.
At the official enquiry in Newcastle he told the inspector that ‘the first outbreak of fire was from a gas jet. If I had been able to get saws I might have got more passengers out. All water tanks on the engine were broken and water was not available’.
The Chief Constable of South Shields made an official statement reported in the Evening Chronicle 18th December 1915 ‘It is impossible to identify the remains of any of the victims, and only a small proportion of the property found at the scene can be traced to the possession of any of the missing passengers’.
John talked about finding more newspapers reports…
“There was over 200 people on the passenger train, that early in the morning they would have been going to work, among them there was an accountant, cabinet maker, a tripe preparer, and my Grandfather was going up to Newcastle for some army training.
The people that were tragically killed were buried on Christmas Eve 1915. I felt strongly that they should have their own headstone with all their names on”.
The new headstone in Harton Cemetery with the names inscribed, the original headstone on the left.
With a combined effort from local company HVR Electrics, who are based next to Bede metro station where the accident happened, A19 Model Railway Club, Bede Memorials and South Tyneside Council Cemeteries Department, John ensured that an appropriate memorial headstone was installed in Harton Cemetery.
Newcastle’s Lit & Phil Celebrate Anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall
Lit & Phil, Newcastle, built 1825.
Just two mins from Central Station, Newcastle’s prestigious Lit & Phil historical library are hosting an evening of comedy fun as part of their celebrations to mark the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall upon which the library stands.
A radio sitcom pilot written by Ed Waugh (Sunday for Sammy, Christmas in the Cathedral) and Trevor Wood, which was first broadcast on BBC Cumbria in 2011, will have a script-in-hand read through in October.
Kay Easson, Lit & Phil Librarian, is responsible for bringing the laughter to the library on Westgate Road.
“Ed and Trevor have contributed to our cultural heritage with their impressive canon of professionally produced plays that include international comedy hits Dirty Dusting and Waiting for Gateaux, as well as more serious national successes Maggie’s End and The Revengers.”
Kay added “Hadrian’s Wall is an incredible part of North East history and culture so it was a no brainer staging a read-through of their excellent, irreverent but funny radio play about Hadrian cutting the tape to officially open the wall -it’s really daft!”
Jamie Brown, who recently completed a hugely successful tour as Harry Clasper in the one-man show Hadaway Harry – written by Ed – will direct the 40-minute piece that is set in AD 126 as the wall is being constructed.
“Ed and Trev have always had a distinctive voice and perspective on things and it’s wonderful they are collaborating again on this project. Their observations and humour strike a chord with audiences young and old, so I can’t wait to get It’s Grim Up North on its feet”.
“Having read the script and started to assemble an hilarious cast – audiences are in for a proper belly laugh or two”.
Tickets for It’s Grim Up North, which starts 7pm on Friday, October 28, 2022 cost £6/£8.
ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST MUSIC & CULTURE 