A hit North East play about WW1 women footballers and munitionettes is to return early next year. Wisecrack Productions’ Jane Harker said: “We are delighted to be bringing ‘Wor Bella’ back. It is a terrific story about forgotten, heroic women. Demand is incredible. This will be the third time in only five years it has been produced.”
Bella Reay
‘Wor Bella’ premiered in 2022 and subsequently sold out nine venues in the North East and London before transferring to Newcastle Theatre Royal in 2025. The play received standing ovations after every performance and now plans are in place to tour the region this coming March to celebrate International Women’s Month.
Jane continued…“Set in 1918 during WW1 ‘Wor Bella’ is a timeless story about women’s struggles, which more than 100 years later is still relevant. Hundreds of football teams were formed nationally and dozens in the North East. We want each new generation to know about these fantastic, heroic working class women. This is their incredible story. I can’t think of a more appropriate story to tell during International Women’s Month.”
The play is told from the viewpoint of “Wor” Bella Reay, the Blyth Spartans centre forward who in an 18 month period scored an incredible 133 goals in 30 matches. They achieved cup glory in 1918 and Bella went on to represent England.
Jane added: “Bella Reay has been described as ‘the Alan Shearer of her day’ –a fitting accolade as the former Newcastle and England star makes a to-camera cameo in the play. He’s very supportive.”
Wor Bella was written by Ed Waugh, who also includes the hit shows ‘The Cramlington Train Wreckers’, ‘Carrying David’ and ‘Hadaway Harry’ in his extensive canon of work.
‘WOR BELLA’ tour dates 2027
March 3, Hexham Queen’s Hall
March 4 & 5, Phoenix Theatre, Blyth
March 7, Glasshouse Gateshead
March 9, The Tullie, Carlisle
March 10, Witham, Barnard Castle
March 11, Bishop Auckland Town Hall
March 12, Gosforth Civic Theatre
March 13, Westovian Theatre, South Shields
For further details and to book tickets visit the venue websites or visitwww.worbella.co.uk
Working in media and entertainment can be a risky business and after Covid it only increased. Picking up a couple of jobs but then nothing for a while has been a regular pattern for me these past few years. It’s a struggle but I wouldn’t change it for the world, I’ve loved every minute of it since my first video commission in January 1997.
I remember the day well. I was in a community centre in Hetton le Hole, Durham talking to a group of former miners who were interested in making a video when someone burst into the room with tears in her eyes “You never guess what’s happened?” We all turned around thinking the pipes have burst, there’s been an accident, someone’s died, what’s happened? “Kevin Keegans left Newcastle United”!
South Shields theatre producer Ed Waugh
I was interested how others working in the creative industry have managed so I got in touch with South Shields playwright and theatre producer Ed Waugh. Ed is part of the North East based Wisecrack team who use theatre to document working class history. I asked him about his past year.
‘Where did 2024 go? The whole year passed like a whirlwind. We’d come off a busy 2023 but from January 1 we were focused on Wor Bella, which was transferring to the wonderful Newcastle Theatre Royal in April. If that wasn’t enough to organise, we did a pre-show run in London to get the production on its feet’.
‘Wor Bella is about North East women footballers in WW1 and the interest was massive. We had full pages in The Guardian and Daily Telegraph as well as tremendous coverage in other national publications. The upshot was London sold out’.
‘Coming home to the Theatre Royal was magnificent – three sold-out houses and just as in London standing ovations after every performance. It was my fifth show at the most prestigious venue in the region, a record for a local writer, so you can imagine how it swelled this Geordie’s heart with pride’.
(Link to interview with actress Catherine Dryden who starred in ‘Wor Bella’).
‘I’m just so honoured to be working with a top-class, professional and dedicated Wisecrack Productions team. We have director and actor Russell Floyd and other brilliant actors, technicians and hugely important people behind the scenes who allow us to put excellent stories on stage. It’s a true team effort’.
‘We’ve now sold around 800 Wor Bella scripts, so that’s canny. Many more thousands of people now know the story of these selfless working class women who saved the WW1 war effort’.
‘My book Geordie Plays Volume 1 has also almost sold out – the last few remaining first editions at Newcastle City Library are now officially collectors’ items’.
‘2024 ended with a triumphant tour of our play The Cramlington Train Wreckers. It’s about the General Strike of 1926 and how miners in Northumberland inadvertently derailed the Flying Scotsman during the nine-day strike before it was sold out by the TUC and Labour Party leaders. Word of mouth – the only marketing that really matters – was phenomenal and every venue sold out’.
‘We’re looking to get The Cramlington Train Wreckers out again in May 2026 to mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike – the biggest rupture in British society since the civil war in the 1640s’.
‘In February 2025, Hadaway Harry – produced by and starring Jamie Brown – is touring the region. Hadaway Harry is about champion Tyneside rower Harry Clasper who was a forgotten Geordie legend’.
‘When he died in 1870, 130,00 lined his funeral procession in Newcastle. It will be the play’s 10th anniversary. I can’t believe a decade has gone by!’
‘Then in June, Carrying David will play Newcastle Theatre Royal. My sixth show there. Carrying David is about Glenn McCrory’s rise to becoming the first North East world boxing champion. It is being produced by and stars Micky Cochrane. Don’t miss these plays, you’ll be spellbound!
(It’s worth checking out both ‘Hadaway Harry’ and ‘Carrying David’ reviews on Google).
Actress & Theatre producer Leah Bell
Dirty Dusting, of course, continues to tour nationally – and internationally – and that play is touring venues in the UK in October under the guidance of the inimitable Leah Bell’.
(Link to interview with actress & theatre producer Leah Bell from July 2021)
‘The old warhorse Waiting For Gateaux – written, like Dirty Dusting with Trevor Wood – will be performed in New Zealand this year. Having these four plays produced in 2025 by other people means I can take the year out to write. I’m working on a few new ideas that will hopefully see the light of day in 2026 and beyond’.
ITV news readerIan Payne & former BBC journalist & presenter Jeff Brown
‘I’ll also be doing my talks throughout the region, which amounted to around 40 last year, and I’m producing a series of talks with Ian Payne and Jeff Brown … “the two lads off the telly”. They are happening in April and May’.
‘We’ve done four of these ‘Evenings with’ before, and they sell out quickly. The lads are always good crack and the event is great fun. Loads of other stuff but I was only allowed 500 words for this post and I’ve used up over 600 already! Have a great 2025’.
For some it may be challenging times but Wisecrack continue rolling on. For further information, tour dates & video contact the official website >>>
