The Customs House announces Young Writer in Residence 2023 and her play about the North East disappearing

Holly Readshaw has been announced as The Customs House’s Young Writer in Residence 2023.

Her play Where Did All The Magpies Go? is a comedy about what the world would be like if Gateshead and Newcastle suddenly disappeared and will be performed at the South Shields theatre in June as part of their annual Takeover Festival.

The week-long arts festival is produced by, with and for young people, giving them a chance to shine and develop their leadership skills.

“They were looking for plays that were a celebration of the North East and that’s what I write anyway. I love writing about it, I’m very much a North East creative,” says Holly.

“Some people are very negative about their hometown, constantly saying it’s overrated or that they’re so glad that they left. But I love it here!

“So I thought, what would it be like if it suddenly disappeared?”

But the play covers more than the main character’s panic about their hometown being gone. Things we created here magically disappear too.

So there would be no Ant and Dec, Cheryl Cole, but also... no windscreen wipers.

The Customs House has paired Holly up with Alex Oates, a Geordie playwright who has worked with the likes of Russell Tovey, Iwan Rheon and Rebekah Ryan.

“I know what I’m trying to do,” Holly laughs.

“But there’s so much planning and it’s easy to get a bit lost. That’s when he steps in and asks: ‘How about you think about it this way?’ or ‘Why don’t you try this?’

“It’s been so helpful to have someone to bounce the ideas of and help me find my way with it.”

This isn’t Holly’s first forray into North East theatre. In 2021, her debut play Once a Dunstoner, Always a Dunstoner was performed at the Live Theatre.

Her second play, Lost Property, was performed at the Central Bar and she used to write a comedy sketch show for YouTube called Why Did the Chicken?

Where Did All The Magpies Go? is, however, her first full-length play.

Catch it at the Customs House on 2nd June- the finale of this year’s Takeover Festival.

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