Stewart Pringle is the writer behind Public Record, a show developed through a collaboration between the National Theatre, Sunderland Culture and Sunderland Empire, which will celebrate the musical heritage of Sunderland.
Public Record will feature more than 100 community performers alongside professional musicians and dancers, and will be staged at The Fire Station in April.
The production is part of the National Theatre’s Public Acts, a nationwide programme creating extraordinary acts of theatre and community.
“There’s a moment in the show when the narrator reveals we’ve been trying to find the earliest sound recording of Sunderland – so I’m asking the people of Sunderland to send in their audio clips from the 1980s, 1970s, 1960s or even before,” explained Stewart.
“The clips could be of a Christmas Day, a birthday celebration, a party or any other event – large or small. We’re hoping as many people as possible will send us clips, and we’ll try to incorporate as many as possible into this section of the show.
“The idea is that the clips will create a time machine, a ‘Tardis moment’ when the clips take the audience back to a specific place at a specific time. Public Record is a celebration of Sunderland, and the clips are moments captured in time in the city.”
Public Record will transform The Fire Station into a recording studio to create a new album, a portrait of the city through its people. There will be four performances of Public Record at The Fire Station, from Friday, April 25 to Sunday, April 27, and tickets are now on sale.
Helen Green, Sunderland Culture’s Head of Performance, explained: “Public Record is an extraordinary tribute – a musical love story for Sunderland. Our audiences will enjoy a unique, exciting, emotional piece of theatre that will leave them feeling very proud of our city, and its newly-acquired status as a Music City.
“The audio clips will be part of a key scene in the show, and we hope Wearsiders can dig out their old clips and send them in to us – they may well feature in Public Record.”
Send your audio clips, in any digital format, to helen.green@sunderlandculture.org.uk
Public Record features original music and songs from Ross Millard (The Futureheads guitarist and singer) and is split into 13 ‘tracks’ each celebrating an element of Sunderland and its long and proud musical heritage.
National Theatre’s Director of Public Acts Emily Lim has teamed up with Ross, Stewart, and Co-Director and Choreographer Dan Canham to develop Public Record.
Stewart is originally from Northumberland and is current Writer-in-Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company and formerly Senior Dramaturg at the National Theatre. His work includes The Bounds, which was performed at Live Theatre in Newcastle and The Royal Court Theatre in London last year.
Public Record’s community performers are drawn from four groups including: Back on the Map, Connect Company from Sunderland Empire, The Odyssey Alumni group and Sunderland Nigerian Family Group.
The Odyssey Alumni performers were involved in National Theatre’s The Odyssey production at The Fire Station last year. Five episodes of The Odyssey were produced across the UK as part of the Public Acts programme, culminating in an epic finale production which brought performers from the five locations together on the National Theatre’s Olivier stage in August 2023.
Public Acts is supported by Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Fund, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The CareTech Charitable Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Mosawi
Foundation and The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust.
For more information or to book tickets, go to https://www.thefirestation.org.uk/whats-on/365//sunderland-culture-sunderland-empire-national-theatre-present-public-record