Truck’s anniversary season opens with Northern gems

“It’s pretty full on,” says George Perrin.

You can’t help but think “not half”. The director is taking on a pretty mountainous task. Not only is he in charge of the two plays that will launch Hull Truck Theatre’s 40th anniversary season, he is directing both of them to run in rep – which to you and me means at the same time.

“It’s not something we do these days, it’s fallen out of fashion; it’s certainly the first time I’ve directed anything in rep in 10 years of working as a director,” says Perrin. “I’ve always suspected it makes the actors you’re working with act better when you do something in rep.

“Generally actors do a couple of plays a year, which means when they are in rehearsal they are really focused on a single piece of work, but they are almost too focused. When they are switching between two plays it seems to do something to the acting brain and makes for a stronger performance. In some ways it seems one play nourishes the other.”

This nourishment needs, however, to be carefully managed. When you are rehearsing two plays at once, there are clearly pitfalls.

Perrin says: “As the director of both shows, it means I need to be organised and rehearsals have to be carefully co-ordinated. You can’t really chop and change too much.”

The rehearsal schedule which Perrin outlines makes his diary sound like it is harder to understand than the Enigma code, but he says it is worth it. “You really feel like you are being tested as a director.”

The two plays Perrin is leading his cast through are northern classic Once Upon a Time in Wigan and a new play that could become a Northern classic, Sixty Five Miles.

Once Upon a Time in Wigan is Bradford writer Mick Martin’s tribute to Wigan Casino, the hub of The Northern Soul all-nighters that ran from 1973-81, that became legendary.

Set in 1976, it tells the tale of an 18-year-old who is fed up with his job and feels like he’s going nowhere fast. But all that changes when he gets a taste of Northern Soul music, giving him a whole new outlook on life.

“It is an amazing story about a period of time and a phenomenon of young people from across the country coming together not to drink, or cop off with each other, but just to dance,” says Perrin.

“I grew up in Manchester and it was incredible to discover, through the play, this untold story of how 2,000 young people, every Saturday, would descend on the city to just dance through the night.”

Perrin, who is co-artistic director of the new writing theatre company Paines Plough, had been talking to the powers that be at Hull Truck about collaborating on a production for the 40th anniversary.

Because of Hull Truck’s “proud tradition of plays rooted in the North and new work”, says Perrin, archetypal Northern play Once Upon a Time in Wigan was a perfect choice to fulfil one of those traditions.

The second play fulfills the other tradition. Sixty Five Miles, written by Hull University graduate Matt Hartley, won the prestigious new playwrights’ competition the Bruntwood award in 2005.

Although it won the writer recognition, the play, with a large cast, remained unproduced. It will finally receive its world premiere on February 1, at Hull Truck.

Perrin says: “So many new plays get passed around until they find the right home. This is a perfect example of that, it’s great to be finally giving it life.”

Once Upon a Time in Wigan and Sixty Five Miles, Hull Truck, to February 25. 01482 323638. www.hulltruck.co.uk

A TALE OF THREE NORTHERN CITIES

Once Upon a Time In Wigan: 18-year-old Eugene has a humdrum job, no girlfriend and he’s living a hard life in a Northern town. Then one night he discovers Northern Soul and everything changes. Mick Martin’s play is already considered a modern classic, less than a decade after first being produced.

Sixty Five Miles: Rooted in Yorkshire, this play examines the 65 miles that separate Hull and Sheffield. In one city a daughter, in the other, a father. In one city a man, in the other, his very different brother. The Bruntwood is one of the UK’s most prestigious playwrighting prizes. After his win with this in 2005, Matt Hartley went on to write for Radio Four and is under commission with the RSC.