Hull's star turn

‘Scrapital of Culture’ said the national newspaper headline.

‘An April Fool’s Joke’ declared Lancastrian cricketer Freddie Flintoff.

Already it is clear the proud city of Hull, less than a fortnight into celebrating its year as the UK’s City of Culture, is going to have the last laugh – in the face of great ridicule.

The city, whose sons and daughters include Rutter, Courtenay, Lipman, the crucible in which Larkin, Minghella, Plater were forged, has put up with the jokes and brickbats since it was announced in 2013 that it would be the UK City of Culture 2017.

Now is the city’s time to shine. It started on New Year’s Day with a fireworks display bigger and better than the one in the actual capital the night before and so far the five star reviews and huge turnout points to the fact that Hull will embrace its status for this year and thrive.

The people of Hull and the city’s many arts organisations and buildings (there are far more than you might realise) are going to reap serious rewards over the coming 12 months but I am particularly excited, as the Yorkshire Post’s theatre critic of over a dozen years now, to see that a city’s theatre that I’ve championed in these pages over that time is going to get its due.

Hull has a big receiving house, Hull New Theatre, operated by the local council and due to reopen this year. It also has, thanks to people like Dave Windass, Andrew Pearson and Jill Adams, a vibrant underground theatre scene. Fruit was a huge addition to this scene a few years back, but it is the energy in the city that makes a place like Fruit.

At the theatrical heart of Hull is the little company that began its life in the back of a van with firebrand Mike Bradwell. Hull Truck was started in the early 1970s by Bradwell because it was somewhere he could make work without being bothered.

The legacy of that desire to make theatre work in relative obscurity is a £15m building that stands on Ferensway.

There have been some significant moments in the history of Hull Truck such as when John Godber was appointed artistic director over Danny Boyle back in the early 1980s. There was the success of Up N Under and the further success of Bouncers. There was the move from the former church at Spring Street and the relocation to the theatre’s current home.

This year will also go down as a watershed for the theatre. It is the year that local boy Richard Bean comes home with a play being produced by the RSC and his local theatre. From tiny acorns.

That the RSC is coming to town is something really quite special. That the play, The Hypocrite, will be written by Olivier award- winning Bean and star local boys Martin Barrass and Mark Addy and be presented at Hull Truck is the kind of perfect confluence a writer wouldn’t dare dream of putting in a script. Also featuring Caroline Quentin, it has, thanks to popular demand, been extended by a week. “We knew from the day we went on sale that we had a hit on our hands – it’s the fastest selling show since we opened our building on Ferensway,” says Mark Babych, the man who has the honour of being the theatre’s artistic director in this extraordinary year.

“We are delighted to be opening our year of culture with a company that represents the best of British theatre; and has a fantastic representation of actors from Hull and Yorkshire.”

Greg Doran, the man in charge of the Royal Shakespeare Company is similarly enthused.

“We are thrilled to be working with Hull Truck Theatre and Hull UK City of Culture 2017, to stage Richard Bean’s hilarious new farce about the English Civil War, The Hypocrite.”

Without wishing to be all forelock tugging, it is quite the thing to hear the head of the RSC telling us how he thrilled he is to be bringing his work to Hull.

The rest of the season looks similarly exciting. The theatre will round of its year with a new version of A Christmas Carol by the increasingly brilliant Deborah McAndrew. Before that, however, there is so much about which we should be excited, no more so than at the 25th anniversary of the co-production of Northern Broadsides’ Richard III. Barrie Rutter, the indomitable leader of Broadsides was at the helm of the company’s first production. Those of us who weren’t around have heard the story from Rutter: “Richard III in the marina at ’Ull.”

This year the theatre will work once again with Broadsides to stage the great Shakespearean play in May. Rutter says: “It is with sweet circularity that the 25th anniversary of Northern Broadsides coincides with Hull’s celebrations as UK City of Culture 2017. I am a native son; Broadsides was launched in Hull with a production of Richard III in a Marina Boatshed in 1992. The new production at Hull Truck Theatre will be exclusive to the city festivities and will be a birthday thank you for 25 years of theatrical support.”

In the summer months, the city will see the world premieres of new works by two nationally and internationally regarded playwrights, Bryony Lavery and Amanda Whittington.Both well known for their work in Yorkshire, in June Whittington will see her story of a women’s boxercise class fighting to stay open and is inspired by real life Mighty Atom, Hull professional boxer Barbara Buttrick. Lavery, the internationally performed playwright, will see the world premiere in August of her adaptation of the Dickens novel Our Mutual Friend.

And that’s just for starters. 
It’s going to be a hell of a year in Hull.

***

The Hypocrite, by Richard Bean: a comedy inspired by the infamous moment when King Charles I was denied entry to Hull at Beverley Gate, an event which began the English Civil War. February 24 to March 25.

Richard III: Northern Broadsides and Hull Truck co-production: May 4-27.

Mighty Atoms: By Amanda Whittington, directed by Hull Truck Theatre’s Artistic Director Mark Babych. June 8-July 1.

Our Mutual Friend, adapted by Bryony Lavery: Around 100 performers from the Hull Truck Youth Theatre appear in this feisty new production. August 22-26. Tickets 01482 323638.