'Full circle moment' - Theatre production from local writer to kick off in South Shields
“It’s been a real full circle moment that my big first big professional job is on in the North East.”
South Shields will host the first of a series of summer theatre performances from a North East-based writer which explores addiction, coercive control and domestic abuse within a gay relationship.
Starring Corey Muizelaar and Ben Robert Cunningham, ‘Behind Closed Doors’ will open at The Customs House in South Shields on Saturday, August 1.
A busy summer will then see the production continue at Camden, Edinburgh and Guildford Fringe Festivals.
A full UK tour will follow the busy summer months.
Muizelaar, who also wrote the script for the show, has said the production takes from aspects of past relationships he has been in.
“Having that lived experience of violence, you don’t think of two men in a relationship. It’s a hardly represented dynamic” he explains.
“I think it’s a very fair telling of that story.”
Raised in Sunderland and South Tyneside, Corey attended sessions at the Customs House as a child with his own play now taking over the theatre for a night.
“I grew up in the Customs House Youth Theatre.
“It’s been a real full circle moment, that my big first big professional job is on in the North East, especially in that theatre because it really does hold a big place in my heart.”
The show features two cast members, Corey and Ben Robert Cunningham in addition to director Jason Marc Williams.
“We had some earlier points together in the year where we met for script development and characeter defining stuff” adds Jason.
The hard work begins now for the trio with full rehersals underway ahead of an intense summer of performances, which will be implified by the nature of the play.
“It’s quite an intense piece” said Ben.
“There are some really interesting and dark themes that maybe other shows prefer not to look at.”
Jason continued: “It’s not clear, there’s not a goodie and a baddie. That’s something which for me feels really real. I think that ambiguity is likely to drive some conversations.
Tickets remain available for the show, which is recommended for anyone aged 16 and over, through the Customs House website.