Rude Health at The Tute, Cambois

Award-winning playwright Alex Oates and renowned dance artist Esther Huss present Rude Health; an innovative new arts project unlike any other in the North East of England. Rude Health is a four-week-long festival of art, dedicated to different aspects of health, with each week carefully curated to reflect a certain need of the community, including mental health, aging and isolation, women’s health, and environmental issues. This exciting performing arts festival will give the local community access to high quality arts, underlining that art is for everyone, not just those in capital cities.

After transforming an old miners’ welfare institute into a dynamic arts space called ‘The Tute’ in 2020, Oates and Huss have held regular creative workshops for the community and offered free residencies to artists. This year with Rude Health, they present a varied season of work that champions some of the country’s most talented artists and connects communities with leading creatives in this de-industrialised, deprived corner of Northumberland.

Mental health is the focus of the first week of the festival. With mental health inequalities widening at a higher rate in the Northeast compared to other regions in the country, the area faces a real problem with regards to accessing support in this area. Through the healing power of art, this initial week aims to bridge the gap and presents a programme of joyous events for local people to take part in. Local music-theatre practitioner and early member of Kneehigh Theatre company, Tim Dalling and legendary free jazz improviser Maggie Nichols will orchestrate a week of musical freedom in which workshops and performances inspire people to value their own voice and wellbeing.

In the second week, Rude Health looks to the ever-present issue of ageing and isolation with events including a staged reading of Samuel Beckett’s seminal play Krapp’s Last Tape by North East born actor Trevor Fox (RSC, National Theatre) and directed by Tees Valley artist of the year Andy Berriman. The piece grapples with the aches and pains of getting older and longing for the past, themes that will inevitably speak to the aging population of Cambois and surrounding areas. Alongside this, actress, writer and director Tracy Gilman will run workshops with local nursing homes to ensure older members of the community feel the positive effects of the festival.

The third week is dedicated to women; the cornerstone of this community. Rude Health is raising awareness around women’s health in the form of a new performance, HIPS&SKINS, from long-term collaborators Esther Huss and Jacky Lansley. Over the last five decades, Jacky has become a pioneer of experimental dance and is now the Artistic Director of the Dance Research Studio; bringing her award-winning expertise in politically charged work to the people of Cambois. The performance promises to be hilarious, moving and thought-provoking as the artists navigate personal stories of sexism and ageism around their health, through dance, performance art, jokes and music. Jacky and Esther will also be co-leading a workshop linked to issues explored in the performance called BEING RUDE - Creating Performance from the Personal and Political.

As the festival enters its fourth week, the health of our planet becomes the center point. Working with the brilliant Miscreations theatre, a new piece of family theatre will be presented at The Tute. Through aspects of physical theatre and clowning, the piece explores the loss of a legendary landmark of the region, Sycamore Gap. Alongside a public performance, the company will extend its reach to the local primary school with an exclusive showing for the children. The festival will come to a close with an opportunity to engage with some incredible young minds from Bedlington Academy and their feelings about the climate crisis, in the form of a sound installation piece that is the result of months of workshops ran by local writer Hilary Elder and sound artist Jeremy Bradfield.

Rude Health is a rare opportunity to see new and unusual work in a historic space, while investing in, and giving back to, the often-isolated Northumberland community of Cambois.

Esther Huss comments, We’re really thrilled that after years of unpaid work embedding ourselves in the community, we’re finally able to present a season of professional work that represents what we’re all about. Targeted community engagement creating tangible value alongside the kind of daring and uncompromisingly brilliant artistic performances that would prove too risky for larger organizations to program nowadays.

Alex Oates comments, We’ve already seen through our work with young people at risk of dropping out of education or training the massive benefit that art can inspire, and this has been incredibly humbling. If one young person chose a healthier path as a result of this project then it will all be worthwhile.

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund with the North East Combined Authority as the Lead Authority.