BETM UK tour + Easington and Dawdon trips
Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 1:38 pm
I became a great fan of the movie version of BE around the time of the 2000 cinema run and was greatly moved by it, but it took quite a while for my interest in the musical theatre version to develop. Perhaps I saw it only 3 or 4 times during the long VPT run, but it was seeing the live cinema screening that has really griped my imagination. When the tour was announced in 2015, I conceived a plan to visit most of the tour venues.
I missed the Plymouth run due to work pressures, but I will never forget my trip to the North East. I will shortly write a full review of the show which I have just seen at the Alhambra in Bradford. I realised that what I saw at Sunderland Empire would take a few weeks to fully absorb in my mind, so for this article I will concentrate on my visit to Easington itself. I could have visited earlier, but seeing the town during the run at the Empire made for a very special trip.
There are a few articles on the web of visits to the town by people who have seen BETM, but some of them seem to be written by journalists eager to make political points against the writers and producers, accusing them of profiting at the expense of the miners. They seem to want to put people off by painting the town as a depressing, perhaps even unsafe place to visit. However, even though I’m not as ‘left wing’ as the creators of the show – I can relate to the human suffering caused by economic and social after-effects of the closure in 1994. I came away with the impression of a town that is proud of it’s connection to the show and has in some way started to renew itself, with the progress made by the Social Welfare Centre (great to see Haydn, Scott, Annette and Martin visit the centre) and the Colliery Band (playing outside the Empire on opening night as well as it’s part in the VPT final show). Although the streets were surprisingly quiet, at no time did I feel uneasy. The few people I passed directly either smiled or said hello. PLEASE DO TRY TO VISIT EASINGTON IF YOU CAN. Perhaps this account will inspire you.
I started with a day in Newcastle on April 27, having never visited before. Over the past 20 years this former shipyard city has re-invented itself with a vibrant museum scene and new arts hubs (Hanford Museum, Baltic Centre, Castle, Discovery Museum). The next day I travelled to Sunderland on the easy to use Metro local train network and checked in to a well known budget chain hotel that is only 100 m or so from the theatre. Sunderland seems a bit more ‘down at heel’ than Newcastle but there are still lots of things (Winter Gardens, National Glass Centre, Monkwearmouth Station Museum, etc) to see as well as the iconic bridge across the river Wear as seen in the 4 Billys photos that seem to have become a tradition on the tour’s arrival in each city. The theatre was impressive (bigger than VPT) with it’s cosy red seating and ornate paintings and plasterwork. Saw Haydn, Henry and Lilly on the night of April 28th – my first show of the tour. My full review will be at Bradford, but what a revelation these three were.
I knew that Easington would only really fit into my schedule on Friday 29th April, the day I wasn’t seeing the show. I wanted to spend most of the day there. I went to the nearby bus station and took the no. 23 bus (Hartlepool) which runs every 30 mins on Monday to Saturday until early evening. The journey takes about half an hour. On entering Easington Colliery, the first thing you see as the bus comes down the hill of the main road (Seaside Lane), on the left, is a building with a brightly painted corrugated metal roof and frontage. These protect what remains of the Realto Cinema (closed1975) – now a carpet store. The side entrance on Oswald Terrace, now bricked up again, was the door of Everington Boys Club in the movie. I went around to the back of the store into Londonderry Terrace. After a short distance another unnamed alley forming the back access to two terraced rows of houses branches off to the left. At this junction with Londonderry Terrace is the location of the snowman in the Billy-Michael Christmas scene. If you look at the film, the back wall of the cinema is visible in the distance. It was now starting to rain, but I struggled with my umbrella and phone and managed to take a few pictures. It is interesting to note, as I could confirm later in the visit, that the village is quite well kept considering its continuing social problems – there were only very small amounts of litter or graffiti and plenty of flower tubs near the centre.
Then I went back to the main road (bus stops both directions near here) and after a short walk down the pavement came to a deli shop and bought a pulled pork hot sandwich from the friendly couple inside. In this section of the road is the Co-Op where grandma would have bought her pastie. On the right in the village centre is the Social Welfare Centre which now helps former miners and also provides activities for young people. Their website says they welcome visitors including people with an interest in BETM. I am quite shy and hadn’t rung beforehand so did not enter but the door was open. Incidentally this welfare centre is not the one in the movie. That is in the village of Dawdon, 5 miles or so away and not on this bus route. Apparently, there is a bus from Sunderland to there. I might go in the future as Dawdon is also the scene in the film where Billy pirouettes while dancing towards the rusty metal sheeting (up Embleton Street).
Next I went further down Seaside Lane, where the sea was now visible. On the left is a chemist. The left turn after that is the short street that Billy, Tony and Dad walk down on the way to the coach near the end of the movie. As you turn, you will see ahead of you a large, well kept area of grass. Sadly this is the location of the streets of Billy & Michael’s homes – Alnwick & Andrew Streets – they were demolished in 2003. Turn around when you reach the grass and you will see the faded white wall of Wrights Prize Bingo – the brightly painted red hatches visible in the movie are just as vivid today – looks like they are regularly repainted.
Walking to the top of the grass leads to Crawlaw Avenue which is the road Jamie Bell dances along after the Fred Astaire sequence. Turning right and walking downhill leads to the top of Anthony Street used during the police chase scenes in the movie. You will also pass along the top of Angus and Avon Streets. If you walk down the alleyways behind the houses – these are almost identical to the demolished streets where Billy & Michael lived. I took a few photos here and nobody bothered me. Further down, Crawlaw Avenue leads to a large open green space (site of the former colliery) in one corner of which is a well kept memorial garden to the 1951 mine disaster. No vandalism here either. Walking across this space to a car park near the coast, I turned left up a shallow but long hill – there is a timeline of the pit history formed from stone plaques in the grass. At the top of the hill stands a preserved lift cage with a good view back to the village. It is possible to cross a bridge across a railway line (open but no station near here) to the beach but the ground was muddy with the rain so I decided against it. I walked back to the village and met a couple of old miners walking their dogs on the way who said a cheery hello. We would have chatted, but was beginning to get wet due to a heavy hail shower so needed to hurry back to the village and the bus stop.
On the Saturday 30th April, I saw the final Sunderland show (with Matthew, Elliot and Evie), another remarkable threesome. There was a slight disappointment in that the stage manager didn’t arrange anything special for the final curtain (in Plymouth all 4 Billys took the final curtain call). After the show I went to the stage door. I just watched as the cast were busy with their luggage. Several lorries arrived and it was surprising how quickly the set was being dismantled. Didn’t see any scenery – everything seem to be packed in trunks before it was placed outside. I guess this would have gone on for several hours.
Hope you feel inspired to visit Easington and Sunderland!
I missed the Plymouth run due to work pressures, but I will never forget my trip to the North East. I will shortly write a full review of the show which I have just seen at the Alhambra in Bradford. I realised that what I saw at Sunderland Empire would take a few weeks to fully absorb in my mind, so for this article I will concentrate on my visit to Easington itself. I could have visited earlier, but seeing the town during the run at the Empire made for a very special trip.
There are a few articles on the web of visits to the town by people who have seen BETM, but some of them seem to be written by journalists eager to make political points against the writers and producers, accusing them of profiting at the expense of the miners. They seem to want to put people off by painting the town as a depressing, perhaps even unsafe place to visit. However, even though I’m not as ‘left wing’ as the creators of the show – I can relate to the human suffering caused by economic and social after-effects of the closure in 1994. I came away with the impression of a town that is proud of it’s connection to the show and has in some way started to renew itself, with the progress made by the Social Welfare Centre (great to see Haydn, Scott, Annette and Martin visit the centre) and the Colliery Band (playing outside the Empire on opening night as well as it’s part in the VPT final show). Although the streets were surprisingly quiet, at no time did I feel uneasy. The few people I passed directly either smiled or said hello. PLEASE DO TRY TO VISIT EASINGTON IF YOU CAN. Perhaps this account will inspire you.
I started with a day in Newcastle on April 27, having never visited before. Over the past 20 years this former shipyard city has re-invented itself with a vibrant museum scene and new arts hubs (Hanford Museum, Baltic Centre, Castle, Discovery Museum). The next day I travelled to Sunderland on the easy to use Metro local train network and checked in to a well known budget chain hotel that is only 100 m or so from the theatre. Sunderland seems a bit more ‘down at heel’ than Newcastle but there are still lots of things (Winter Gardens, National Glass Centre, Monkwearmouth Station Museum, etc) to see as well as the iconic bridge across the river Wear as seen in the 4 Billys photos that seem to have become a tradition on the tour’s arrival in each city. The theatre was impressive (bigger than VPT) with it’s cosy red seating and ornate paintings and plasterwork. Saw Haydn, Henry and Lilly on the night of April 28th – my first show of the tour. My full review will be at Bradford, but what a revelation these three were.
I knew that Easington would only really fit into my schedule on Friday 29th April, the day I wasn’t seeing the show. I wanted to spend most of the day there. I went to the nearby bus station and took the no. 23 bus (Hartlepool) which runs every 30 mins on Monday to Saturday until early evening. The journey takes about half an hour. On entering Easington Colliery, the first thing you see as the bus comes down the hill of the main road (Seaside Lane), on the left, is a building with a brightly painted corrugated metal roof and frontage. These protect what remains of the Realto Cinema (closed1975) – now a carpet store. The side entrance on Oswald Terrace, now bricked up again, was the door of Everington Boys Club in the movie. I went around to the back of the store into Londonderry Terrace. After a short distance another unnamed alley forming the back access to two terraced rows of houses branches off to the left. At this junction with Londonderry Terrace is the location of the snowman in the Billy-Michael Christmas scene. If you look at the film, the back wall of the cinema is visible in the distance. It was now starting to rain, but I struggled with my umbrella and phone and managed to take a few pictures. It is interesting to note, as I could confirm later in the visit, that the village is quite well kept considering its continuing social problems – there were only very small amounts of litter or graffiti and plenty of flower tubs near the centre.
Then I went back to the main road (bus stops both directions near here) and after a short walk down the pavement came to a deli shop and bought a pulled pork hot sandwich from the friendly couple inside. In this section of the road is the Co-Op where grandma would have bought her pastie. On the right in the village centre is the Social Welfare Centre which now helps former miners and also provides activities for young people. Their website says they welcome visitors including people with an interest in BETM. I am quite shy and hadn’t rung beforehand so did not enter but the door was open. Incidentally this welfare centre is not the one in the movie. That is in the village of Dawdon, 5 miles or so away and not on this bus route. Apparently, there is a bus from Sunderland to there. I might go in the future as Dawdon is also the scene in the film where Billy pirouettes while dancing towards the rusty metal sheeting (up Embleton Street).
Next I went further down Seaside Lane, where the sea was now visible. On the left is a chemist. The left turn after that is the short street that Billy, Tony and Dad walk down on the way to the coach near the end of the movie. As you turn, you will see ahead of you a large, well kept area of grass. Sadly this is the location of the streets of Billy & Michael’s homes – Alnwick & Andrew Streets – they were demolished in 2003. Turn around when you reach the grass and you will see the faded white wall of Wrights Prize Bingo – the brightly painted red hatches visible in the movie are just as vivid today – looks like they are regularly repainted.
Walking to the top of the grass leads to Crawlaw Avenue which is the road Jamie Bell dances along after the Fred Astaire sequence. Turning right and walking downhill leads to the top of Anthony Street used during the police chase scenes in the movie. You will also pass along the top of Angus and Avon Streets. If you walk down the alleyways behind the houses – these are almost identical to the demolished streets where Billy & Michael lived. I took a few photos here and nobody bothered me. Further down, Crawlaw Avenue leads to a large open green space (site of the former colliery) in one corner of which is a well kept memorial garden to the 1951 mine disaster. No vandalism here either. Walking across this space to a car park near the coast, I turned left up a shallow but long hill – there is a timeline of the pit history formed from stone plaques in the grass. At the top of the hill stands a preserved lift cage with a good view back to the village. It is possible to cross a bridge across a railway line (open but no station near here) to the beach but the ground was muddy with the rain so I decided against it. I walked back to the village and met a couple of old miners walking their dogs on the way who said a cheery hello. We would have chatted, but was beginning to get wet due to a heavy hail shower so needed to hurry back to the village and the bus stop.
On the Saturday 30th April, I saw the final Sunderland show (with Matthew, Elliot and Evie), another remarkable threesome. There was a slight disappointment in that the stage manager didn’t arrange anything special for the final curtain (in Plymouth all 4 Billys took the final curtain call). After the show I went to the stage door. I just watched as the cast were busy with their luggage. Several lorries arrived and it was surprising how quickly the set was being dismantled. Didn’t see any scenery – everything seem to be packed in trunks before it was placed outside. I guess this would have gone on for several hours.
Hope you feel inspired to visit Easington and Sunderland!