GW celebrates end of tour at Tameside Arts Festival

Date published: 18 July 2010

Following its Parliamentary Premiere at Westminster, GW Theatre Company marked the end of its highly successful six month tour of ‘One Extreme to the Other’ by performing the hard hitting, award winning production, at Mossley Hollins High School, Tameside on Wednesday 14 July - as part of Tameside Arts Festival.

The theatre company decided to finish the tour of over 100 performances nationally, with a hometown performance.

GW Theatre and Mossley Hollins are creative partners, and the school with its specialism in Arts has been particularly supportive of GW with its focus on creative inspiration and leading by example.

The production, written by Mike Harris tackles racial, religious and political extremism, and Creative Director at GW Theatre, Dave Jones, says: “We thrive on producing razor sharp plays that expose the most pressing of issues and One Extreme to the Other explores the dark heart of extremism. Our first aim is always to present striking, funny and memorable drama but we also seek to provoke thought and broad dialogue and debate about identity, society, class, community and personal responsibility, and from past performances, the play has been received very well and is making a real impact in changing people’s perceptions and behaviours.”

The project has been developed and researched with young people, teachers, local government agencies and officers, skilled professionals and people on the ground as part of an urgent requirement to help young people and their elders understand, resist and challenge extremism.

One Extreme to the Other stresses above all what unites us rather than divides us, and asks the audience at the end: we have a future in common, what do we do about it?

Dave Jones, Direct of GW Theatre explains; “Although we tour nationally, GW is very proud to be based in Tameside and this performance at Tameside Arts Festival is a rare opportunity for a public audience to be able to see the company in action. We didn't just bow and go home after the show though – the audience got chance to talk to and interrogate some of the characters in the story and also have a chat with the cast!”

“The performance saw the launch of an initiative to transform Mossley Hollins High School into a live arts venue. Staff and pupils will move into a brand new school next Spring and we want it to be known as a centre of excellence.”