Member Article

Live Theatre Staff tour Tyne's Swing Bridge

Live Theatre’s Artistic Director Max Roberts, staff and creative team from Live Theatre visited Newcastle’s Swing Bridge this week whilst researching their forthcoming play, Tyne.

Max took the play’s designer Gary McCann and filmmaker Philip Shotton along with theatre staff on a tour of the Swing Bridge led by Port of Tyne engineer George Fenwick. The team learnt about the history and engineering of the bridge and witnessed the middle section of the bridge swinging 180 degrees, which it does once a month.

Tyne, a brand new play by Michael Chaplin, opens at Live Theatre on Thursday 27 June until Saturday 20 July and is part of the Festival of the North East. Commissioned as part of Live Theatre’s 40th birthday year, and in partnership with Port of Tyne, the play journeys in time and space along the banks of the river and maps the epic history, atmosphere and soul of the mighty river through story, music, film and images. Tyne, pulls together stories from the river, many of which were gathered by Michael when he was Port of Tyne’s writer-in-residence and walked the banks of the river researching his book Tyne View.

Max Roberts said

“We were delighted that Port of Tyne gave us the opportunity to take a guided tour of the Swing Bridge. George gave us a fascinating insight into the history of the bridges on that site, the mechanical working of the Swing Bridge through to recent events such as the effects of the deluge last year. This was all great research and very timely for our new play Tyne by Michael Chaplin which opens in June and gave us a sense of the atmosphere and challenges on working on the river Tyne.“

The Swing Bridge is managed and kept in working order by the Port of Tyne. Since it was built in 1873, the historic bridge designed by Victorian engineer Lord Armstrong has opened over 286,281 times.

Brian Reeve, Port of Tyne Chief Operating Officer, said: “The Port was delighted to be able to welcome our partners from Live Theatre to tour the Swing Bridge. The special partnership for this 40th anniversary year has created some unusual and inspiring opportunities for our teams to share ideas and creativity - we are looking forward to paying a return visit to see developments at Live Theatre, and also seeing Michael’s play, Tyne, in June.“

2013 is Live Theatre 40th birthday year, and a special year-long relationship with Port of Tyne support its 40th anniversary programme recognises Live Theatre’s own strong connections to the river, the Port and the trading heritage of the region. The visit by Live Theatre staff will be returned when staff from the Port will have the opportunity to attend a tour of Live Theatre’s historic buildings and a special performance of the play Tyne.

Tyne is at Live Theatre from Thursday 27 June to Saturday 20 July. Tickets cost between £22 and £10 with concessions available from £15 to £5. For more information and to buy tickets ring Live Theatre’s box office on (0191) 232 1232 or see www.live.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Live Theatre .