Disappointed ticket-holders have all received their money back following the postponement of Nadine Shah's much-talked-about show which was due to be enjoying its premiere run now in Newcastle.
Live Theatre, where To Be A Young Man had been set to make its debut, has confirmed that full refunds have been given after news that the drama - set to star singer-songwriter Shah and inspired by her first album - has been pulled. The Quayside theatre had earlier announced it had taken "the difficult decision" to postpone the show on realising it needed more time.
No new dates have been given for a run but it says it "hopes to announce its return in the future". The show had been heralded as an exciting new venture as part of Live's 50-year anniversary celebrations and it also would have marked Shah's playwriting debut.
First announced at a season launch in March, it was revealed that the South Tyneside-born talent was to both co-write and star in a drama inspired by themes in her first album, Love Your Dum and Mad. The Mercury Prize-nominated singer, described as one of the most original voices in contemporary music, said at the time: "It's going to be great".
With plans to co-write it in collaboration with author Jackie Thompson, To Be A Young Man was named after one of the signature tunes in her debut album: a song written in tribute to a friend who took his own life and the play was due to mark 10 years since its release. Its story of grief and mental health also promised plenty laughs as it addressed the complexities of friendship and power of creativity, all told with the help of music from that first album. Shah had called her decision to collaborate on the new show as a "no-brainer" and "an honour".
The theatre says that as it does not have a date for a rescheduled performance, it chose to refund all bookers. In a statement, joint chief executive officer Jacqui Kell said: "Live Theatre took the difficult decision to postpone the planned production of To Be A Young Man.
"Both Nadine Shah and Live Theatre agreed that more time was needed to realise such an ambitious and personal project in the way that it deserves. We were greatly looking forward to this unique collaboration and we hope to be able to announce its return in the future.
"Our priority was to support everyone working on the production including our fantastic cast and creative team." The show's planned May 4-20 premiere run - with a tour to Brighton Festival and London’s Southbank Centre due to follow - had been set to make Shah the next big name to appear at the theatre, following in the recent footsteps of star guests Sting and Jimmy Nail who were of the focus of one-off 'in conversation' events as part of Live's big birthday year.
On April 12, Nail talked aout his creative journey then he also joined Sting when the Wallsend-born star visited on April 20 to talk about his own life and career in an evening which mixed conversation and music. Football legend Alan Shearer was in the audience at this show, which saw Nail get up to sing with Sting, and afterwards he shared an image on Twitter of the three of them.
The photo - which he captioned '3 Geordies who did ok!!' - and the event itself, which was hosted by the theatre's joint chief executive officer Jack McNamara, soon had people talking, while other Geordie heroes Ant and Dec tweeted in reply: "Love it!" Among other comments were several from people who clearly also had been in the audience.
They included: "My wife and I had the absolute pleasure to be at the Sting ‘encounter’. What an amazing experience. Hope you enjoyed it! " and one saying of Nail: "He sang Big River and said it is hard for him to sing as he struggles with the emotion of it and it showed when he sang it."
To Be A Young Man was set to be one of two world premieres taking place in the city this May. The other, a first ever stage adaptation of Ken Loach's locally-made and award-winning film I, Daniel Blake, will be making its debut at Northern Stage on May 25.
This play, adapted for the stage by the film's star Dave Johns, will have a run there until June 10 before its own tour: buy tickets for the Northern Stage co-production here. For information about Live Theatre's upcoming programme see here.
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