Good for Yorkshire!

Last year, the West Yorkshire Playhouse held its Seven x Seven season championing new plays by new writers. This week Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential opened 10 x 10, the Stephen Joseph Theatre's summer of ten new works in Scarborough, and on Tuesday Hull Truck Theatre's 3 x 3 package of fresh comedy opens in Hull.

The Hull Truck Originals season, selected from the hundreds of scripts sent to John Godber each year, is giving three new comedies the "chance to shine", and the first to bathe in that spotlight is Mick Martin's A Week In England.

An "odious comic vision of Nineties neighbours from hell", Martin's play was originally commissioned by Major Road Theatre Company two years ago, but the script was left without a home when the Bradford company folded on the departure of its director to an Arts Council post.

However, Yorkshire and Humberside Arts brought the work to the attention of Godber and Hull Truck executive director Simon Stallworthy, who now directs the premiere.

"Hopefully this will give the play the launching pad and big boost it needs," said Mick. "I was lucky in the past with Major Road doing two plays, Wonderland and Old King Coal, but it's hard to get plays put on at theatres where people will come and see new works. At Hull Truck, there is a tradition of people going to new work and it's interesting that two of the most supportive theatres, in Hull and Scarborough, are run by playwrights, John Godber and Alan Ayckbourn."

A Week In England runs at Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, from Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm. Coming next will be Robert Farquhar's Kissing Sid James, June 16 to 20, and Susan Gott's Watching & Weighting. For tickets, telephone 01482 323638.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.