A Tees Valley theatre-maker is bringing a new trilogy about borders, unrest and to Stockton this September.
JOLT!, written by ARC associate artist Umar Butt, will be performed at ARC Stockton Arts Centre on Thursday 17, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 September. The work is made up of three short plays set across almost 80 years, linking large political events with the smaller, personal decisions people make when the world around them shifts.
The first piece is set during the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan, following a mixed-race couple as their lives are suddenly divided by new borders. The second moves to the 1980s, where a mother takes a dangerous route across a border so her child can see their father.
The final play brings the story much closer to home. It looks at the recent Middlesbrough riots through the experiences of four ordinary people caught in the middle of events they did not create.
Butt, who has been named Tees Valley Artist of the Year, describes the work as semi-autobiographical. ARC says the trilogy explores division without losing sight of the resilience that can hold people and communities together.
That local connection matters. This is not a touring production dropping into the area with a generic story attached. It has been created by an artist rooted in Tees Valley and ends by looking directly at something that happened on our own streets.
Performances begin at 7pm on all three nights at ARC, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees. Tickets are offered through ARC's Pay What You Decide , which allows audiences to choose what they pay after seeing the performance.
: Details were checked against ARC Stockton Arts Centre's official event page and cross-checked against the Visit Tees Valley listing. ARC's first-party listing was used where the two differed on performance time.