My alma mater

I was in Newcastle this evening for a wonderful production at Northern Stage. This theatre used to be called the University Theatre. It had comfortable seating and you could see the stage from any seat. Some years ago it was revamped so there are 3 performance spaces instead of 2. It is not comfortable any more. (Rant over!) I'm really pleased we have it, even though tonight's seats were hard and cramped.

I parked near the RVI and walked to the theatre through the university quadrangle. I did not walk here much as a student because the Medical School was at the other end of the road and my life was spent there or in hospitals. (Those were the days.)

Julie and I were at the theatre for The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff.  Please go to see this is you can.

A folk group called The Young'uns were approached by Johnny Longstaff's son. He knew that they wrote songs about local heros and suggested they might write a song about his Dad. 

What gradually developed was a series of songs about incidents in Johnny's remarkable life, leading to this production. It is "the story of one man's adventure from begging on the streets in the north of England to fighting against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, taking in the Hunger Marches and the Battle of Cable Street."

We heard the voice of Johnny Longstaff between the songs. He was recorded later in life by the Imperial War Museum.

I can't tell you how powerful it was to have his own testimony, in his own words and his own voice.

The show will be on at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, then in Hull and Liverpool before moving to Toronto. (Yes, Toronto!!)

The rest of the day was at home, gradually preparing for my time away.

Here is a link about the development of the show (which no longer uses the backdrops seen in the article. It has moved on since then.)