Returning to Live Theatre

Last week myself and my family went to see Love It If We Beat Them at Live Theatre, this was the first time this year that I had been to the theatre.

I was not going as press, no- I had simply seen a tweet about the show and booked tickets to see it. Now the last time I was at the theatre was in 2023 at Dance City when I went to review Tin Man but even before that it has been a long time since I had been to the theatre.

Returning to Live Theatre was an odd experience for me, I found myself not exactly knowing where the theatre was and even though I had my tickets, I had completely forgotten where I needed to go to find my seats. Almost as if I was an Alien and I had no idea what theatre was, yet before Covid- when I was at the theatre at least twice a week I used to know exactly where I was going, where I was sitting and I knew exactly how to act. Last week, I was questioning myself, I just didn’t know how to behave- I felt very out of it and very anxious.

I enjoyed the show itself, though I think it was more political than I thought it was going to be- I had hoped it was more going to be about Newcastle United and football. Never the less, I was very impressed the way the performance had managed to use the one set of a pub with a snooker table turn into other scenes, such as St James’ Park and a church.

Though I was engaged with the characters and I was listening to every word they were saying- I did find my mind wondering off. I think I was just adjusting to my environment. I felt overwhelmed and rather emotional to be sitting in the theatre and I could not quite believe that I was back. I was sitting in my seat taking it all in, the stage, the set, the audience, the theatre itself and the whole experience.

 Due to my new career and other things going on in my life, theatre has not been at the forefront of my mind- which is not good enough. I have still been doing Culture Trips, I love going out and about and sharing experiences with you but going my theatre experiences have been lacking and I am sorry for that. I did write a letter to theatre which you can read here to find out more about my relationship with theatre.

What I need to do is do what I did with Live Theatre, pick another theatre- perhaps Northern Stage and book tickets to see a show there- not review it. Just get myself reacquainted and familiarised with theatre again.