Renowned Teesside playwright Gordon Steel is bringing his humorous and heart-warming play, Grow Up Grandad, back to the Theatre stage before taking it out on tour.
Steelworks theatre’s Grow Up Grandad premiered here last autumn and received an incredible response from audiences across Teesside, who flocked to the week long run of performances.
After returning for a week long run here from Monday 5 September, Steel will then take the play to venues across the north, including Custom’s House in South Shields, Whitby Pavilion and Carriage Works Theatre in Leeds.
In addition to an extended tour, the script is in the process of being published by renowned London based music and theatre publishing company, Josef Weinberger.
Grow Up Grandad is about a troubled teen named Poppy and her grumpy grandfather who are both forced to live together when trouble arises in their family. The pair clash initially, but slowly learn to appreciate each other’s differences before some shocking truths are revealed.
Featuring plenty of Teesside colloquialisms and references to the area, the show draws strongly on themes of family and love with some heartbreaking twists.
The lead role of Poppy will once again be shared by Teesside school girls, Eliza Dobson and Rose Allen who were just 13 and 12 respectively when they starred in the play last year, making their on stage debuts.
Speaking about the play and the publishing opportunity, Gordon said: “It’s always rewarding when your plays get published as it allows a worldwide audience to have access to your work. I have people still performing and studying plays that I wrote over twenty years ago. I was in a school recently and the students there had copies of one of my plays and that is always pleasing to know that they are still enjoying and getting so much pleasure from it. I hope that happens with Grow Up Grandad.”
Gordon, who lives in Eaglescliffe, has mentored hundreds of the region’s aspiring actors whilst at Stockton Youth Theatre and many have gone on to be well recognised faces of the TV screen and stage including: Jill Halfpenny, Daniel Casey, Mark Benton and Simeon Truby, who is returning to star in the play once again as the cantankerous ‘Grandad’.
Tickets for Grow Up Grandad are now on sale and can be bought from ARC’s Box Office on 01642 525199 or online at www.arconline.co.uk