The North See Theatre Company

William Mickleburgh is the Artistic Director for the North See Theatre Company.

Read about this company's maiden production 'The Girlfriend Experience' here. A review for this production is below.

"North See Theatre's production of The Girlfriend Experience struck exactly the right note, entertaining audiences with a slick production that explored this difficult text with sensitivity and charm."

Dr Miles Gregory, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of The Theatre, Berwick Upon Tweed

Review - The Girlfriend Experience

New Northumberland-based theatre group, North See Theatre Company (in association with The Theatre, Berwick-upon-Tweed) this weeks presents its maiden production – The Girlfriend Experience, by Alecky Blythe. If we tell you Alecky courted controversy earlier this year with her new play, London Road, a musical based around the Ipswich prostitute murders, then you would be right in thinking the North See Theatre Company has taken a bold, uncompromising stance in saying who they are and what they're about right from the off.

Alecky is a leading proponent of verbatim theatre whereby subjects are interviewed on a particular topic and recorded, then a play created around their actual words. It's a strange mix of journalism and theatre which you would think would show an obvious join, but it works surprisingly well.

In The Girlfriend Experience the words of prostitutes working in a basement flat brothel in Bournemouth have been shaped into a ribald, touching and thought-provoking piece. We're drawn into the everyday lives of Tessa, the madam; Suzie, the tart with a heart; Poppy, hooker-in-training, and Amber. We get a glimpse of their dreams, their love lives, the often hilarious day-to-day practicalities of selling sex.

A writer always faces the temptation to air-brush politically sensitive subjects, and we had a dread that this play would buff-up the prostitutes until they shone with inner virtue. But to our great relief what came across instead was the very the humanness of the characters.

This verbatim approach – directly quoting not only the words but the repetition, stuttering, and mauled syntax of real speech – manages to introduce us to authentic people rather than two-dimensional characters plucked from a page and dropped on stage. They share our worries about paying bills, finding lasting love, looking after their children or ageing parents. Prostitution is just another job with all that entails; more than that, it's a career. A choice.

As the play commences, you sit in the role of silent interviewer, the cast regularly breaking the fourth wall to address the audience directly and encouraging us to laugh along with them. Naturally, there's a lot of (very funny) sexual references but ironically it's only when you witness Tessa's and Suzie's emotional wrestle with disillusionment that you get the uncomfortable feeling of being a voyeur.

The cast managed to tame an incredibly complex script. It didn't seem to pose any problems for a very confident and relaxed Dani Carbery, whose warm-hearted Suzie had us wanting to sit next to her on the couch and help her pull on her rubber cat suit while discussing soft furnishings. Lin Clifton as Tessa gave off marvellous world-weariness. Kate Jamieson and Nina Mickleburgh both turned in good performances in their roles of Poppy and Amber respectively.

The director, William Mickleburgh, had used a light touch. The play didn't need much or particularly imaginative staging, leaving Mickleburgh free to concentrate on the performances themselves.

It is fantastic to have this sort of innovative and daring theatre on our doorstep. North See Theatre Company has produced a very funny, warm and moving first play, one well worth seeing if only to challenge your preconceptions of what, and who, a prostitute is. You'll come away surprised.

Northumberland Gazette review here

"North See Theatre's production of The Girlfriend Experience struck exactly the right note, entertaining audiences with a slick production that explored this difficult text with sensitivity and charm." Dr Miles Gregory, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the The Theatre, Berwick Upon Tweed.