Pay What You Decide Info
Age: 16+
Relaxed performance
Dynamic Pricing
ARC’s policy is to set ticket prices based on demand, like budget airlines, which means we set a price when the event goes on sale and then sometimes put the price up or down depending on how the show is selling. Usually, the price will increase as we get closer to the event, so it is advantageous to book in advance, although sometimes we will put special offers on and reduce the price. Our website will always show the current ticket price.
ARC’s theatre and dance performances are priced on a Pay What You Decide basis, which means you don’t have to pay until after you have seen a show!
We want to encourage more people to come and see shows at ARC, more often. Pay What You Decide not only allows you to pay what you can afford, rather than a fixed ticket price, but also removes the financial risk of buying a ticket for a show in advance without knowing whether you are going to enjoy it or not.
Tickets are available to book in advance as usual, but there is no obligation for you to pay until after you have seen the show. You can then decide on a price which you think is suitable based on your experience, which means if you haven’t enjoyed it at all, you don’t have to pay anything.
All money collected will help ARC pay the artists who have performed, and we therefore hope you will give generously.
Please ensure you have arrived and collected your tickets 15 minutes before the show starts in order to secure your seats. At the end of the show, you can decide what to pay, either by cash on the door or by card at the Box Office.
Seating: Unallocated - Theatre Style
*This event can be attended in person or watched online*
All performances of The Queen of the North will be relaxed, and will have integrated captioning and audio description.
Tommy’s gone up North to start a revolution.
Queer, disabled and working-class, he’s had enough of being held back by the system, and is determined to finally tear it all down.
But arriving at Stockton High Street’s historic market, Tommy starts to question their ideas about what working classness means to them – and what kind of liberation they really need.
The four pillars of the Stockton community have started their own revolution already. And it’ll take much more than a Southerner with a megaphone to change things for good.
Co-produced over six months of collaboration with local residents of Stockton-on-Tees, Tommy (The Queer Historian) returns to ARC this summer with their new show about class, a 700 year-old market and the whole of the Teesside community.
The Queen of the North crosses the North-South divide and multiple generations of working class culture, to deliver an unforgettable manifesto for freedom.
Q+A: The performance on Thu 4 Jul will be followed by a post show Q+A with writer and performer Tommy, hosted by ARC Producer Allison Birt.
Access information for audiences
Written and performed by Tommy
Directed by Scott Le Crass
Dramaturg: Deirdre McLaughlin
Set and Costume Design: Lu Herbert
AV and Lighting Designer: Si Cole
Sound Designer: Matthew Tuckey
Creative Captioner: Rachel Sampley
Stage Manager and Technical Operator: Simao Vaz
Graphic Design: Ellis Miles Stewart
Social Media: Meg Fereday
Accessible Marketing: Graham Johnson
Producer: Beth Sitek
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England and by ARC Stockton & Teesside Archives.
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Seating Accessibility Information
Seat size
In our Studio the seats in row A are 37cm (141/2″) wide and 44cm (171/3”) deep, are 44cm (171/3”) from the floor, and have a 12cm (43/4”) gap between seats. Seats in row A are also removable as single seats.
Seats in rows B-H are 43cm (17“) wide and 46cm (18“) deep, are 44cm (171/3 “) from the floor, and have 8cm (3“) between seats.
Seats in rows J-K are 43 cm (17“) wide and 44cm (171/3“) deep, are 44cm (171/3“) from the floor, and have 8cm (3”) between seats.
Armrests
Seats in the Studio do not have armrests.
Legroom
Seats in row A have 50cm (192/3“) of legroom in front of seats.
Seats in rows B-H have 30cm (112/3“) of legroom in front of seats.
Seats in rows J-K have 24cm (91/2“) of legroom in front of seats.
Further information
If you have any questions about accessibility our Box Office team are always happy to help and can be contacted on 01642 525199 or by emailing [email protected] - you can also tell us about your access requirements when prompted to do so during the online booking process.
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The Queen of the North - Access Information for Audiences
THE QUEEN OF THE NORTH
ACCESS DOCUMENT FOR AUDIENCE MEMBERSHello !We are so pleased that you are coming to watch one of our performances of THE QUEEN OF THE NORTH. We want to make sure you feel as comfortable as possible seeing the show, so we have put this document together to let you know what to expect. If you haven’t been to a performance like this before, it is normal to have questions about the show and what will happen.
The information in this guide relates to a performance of THE QUEEN OFTHE NORTH. The show will be creatively captioned which will be on a screen used with the video/filmed aspects of the show as well as capturing the speech said by the performer in the show. This show is not currently being BSL interpreted.
In this show, audiences are;
– Welcome to come and go as they please into the space. We want to ensure people are as comfortable as possible.
– There will be a breakout space available in Meeting Room 3.
We really hope you enjoy the show!
DETAILS
– Run time: 60 minutes
– Age guidance: 16+
– Content Warnings: strong language, references to working class struggles including money struggles, brief references to ableism
– No video, photography or any documentation of the show/performance is allowed but pictures or videos during the bows are fine!BEFORE THE SHOW
The doors open at approximately 6.45pm. The team at ARC can also offer you a chance to see the space before you’re in it for the show so if you would like to familiarise yourself with the space from 6.15pm, please get in touch with the ARC team. This allows folx to sit in the space before the main doors open, and have the space to move around the room, get used to staging and have a quiet space before the performance begins.
There will be no touch tours available for these performances.
An announcement will be made into the foyer and bar areas to let you know when the doors have formally opened.
The venue staff will be responsible for announcing when the house is open.
To get into the space, you will need to get into the lift to reach floor 3. In the lift there will be photos from Stockton’s market, postcards we’ve asked people to submit their own memories of Stockton’s market and posters for a fake Dick Whittington panto poster. You will also hear the sound of the market in the lift too.
If you are taking the stairs, there are 42 stairs from ground level up to the gallery level and 22 stairs up to the Studio Theatre. There are 64 stairs in total.
Audience members are also welcome to take the stairs. From the ground floor to get up to the Studio Theatre audiences would go up two flights of stairs from the main entrance, turn left through a door on the gallery level to a further two flights of stairs up to the Studio Theatre.
When you arrive, there will be a member of the ARC front of house team standing outside or close to the space where the performance is happening, who will be there to greet you and check your ticket.
You will be seated in an ‘end on’ configuration which involves the audience being completely separate from the performer on stage.
When you enter the space, the house lights will be on which are the main lights in the theatre and some music playing at a moderate volume. The space will also be filled with haze. Members of the front of house staff will be around to help you find your seat.
DURING THE SHOW
The house lights will go off, meaning that only the lights in the show will be on, the entrance music will be turned off, and the show will begin. This is where the creative captions will begin. They are being projected onto the screens and are only when the performer’s voice or the recorded voice is being used. Captions for sound effects are not captioned.
At the beginning of the show, you will hear a train announcement of Tommy’s voice that will talk you through the access in the show just in case this hasn’t been told by the front of house and box office team. The show will then continue after this point.
Latecomers are permitted throughout the performance.
Throughout the show, sounds will be played at a moderate volume. This includes recorded voices from the community who are playing all of the recorded voice roles you hear. Sounds from the show will be played at moderate volume and there are two times you will hear music pieces. One in around the middle of the show (How Does It Feel? by London Grammar)and one at the end of the show (Remember Where You Are? by Jessie Ware). Lyrics will be projected on the projector screen in the space in the style of old-school karaoke videos.
There are no planned sudden bangs / loud noises.
Sound will be playing around the whole space to give it a ‘surround sound’ effect. There will be sound playing underneath filmed aspects of the show as well as performers speaking.
Lighting will include some slow pulsing between lights, no flashing lights or strobe lighting will be used. There are no dramatic snaps and most lights fade in gradually. There is 1 black out snap which happens as London Grammar song is being played.
AFTER THE SHOW
The end of the performance is marked when Tommy leaves the stage.
After this, the lights in the theatre will come back on and everyone will start to leave as Jessie Ware – Remember Where You Are? is playing. On both nights, a reminder of the producing team from ARC will ask you for donations for the show and a reminder of the programme called Make New Work that Tommy has been a part of.
ABOUT TOMMY
Tommy is a multi-award winning, queer, working class, disabled writer and performer based in Brighton, making work across theatre with elements of cabaret & live art.
Their work explores taboo subjects which are often underrepresented, centring themes of queerness and neurodivergence with communities whose voices are often sidelined or unwelcome in traditional theatre spaces & contexts. Inspiration for their work derives from my own personal experiences alongside a fascination of using historical archives and research as a way to connect with audiences throughout history and rooting them within stories old & new.
Community, queer identity, mental health and disabled visibility are driving forces for their practice and the intersectional, critically acclaimed work they create.
