Performance Description
From You to Me
A verbatim play about language variation and later life on Tyneside, north-east England.
Photo credit: Northumbria University
An innovative collaboration between linguistic research and theatre practice
From You to Me is a verbatim theatre production co-developed by sociolinguist Dr Heike Pichler (Newcastle University) and theatre practitioner Steve Gilroy (Northumbria University) to spotlight the linguistic choices and lived experiences of adults aged 70+ on Tyneside, north-east England.
Using testimonies from the Language in Later Life on Tyneside research project, From You to Me shares moving moments from the lives of thirteen older Tyneside adults. It provides a snapshot of their different experiences and viewpoints, and offers intimate accounts of changes in family and community life over their lifetimes. In their word-for-word retellings, the actors closely replicate the accents and dialects of the real people they play, illustrating variations in their pronunciations, word choices and grammatical structures. Between scenes of storytelling, the actors comment on their characters’ language use to celebrate accent and dialect variation on Tyneside.
From You to Me invites viewers to embrace new ways of listening to and thinking about adults aged 70+ on Tyneside. It fosters increased empathy for the experiences of older adult community members and enhanced understandings of the nature of language variation.
The performance genuinely made me think differently about the older generation and made me more confident in the way I speak myself. Wonderful show.
Audience member
Watch a trailer of From You to Me below, or watch a full-length video of the performance. And find out more about the characters' variable language use.
Creative Team
- Researcher, dramaturg & original idea Dr Heike Pichler
- Writer, director & original music Steve Gilroy
- ProducerAlphabetti Theatre
- Performers
Chris Connel (Pitman Painters)
Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake) | 2021 performances
Jackie Lye (BBC - The Archers)
Tony Neilson (Northern Stage Ensemble) | 2022 performances
Sharon Percy (I, Daniel Blake)
- Lighting, technical & stage managementLiam Crozier, James Froment, Kev Tweedy
- Filming & video editingJames MacDonald, Ben Harker
Production History
- Public Performances
Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne | 11 November 2022, Festival of Social Science
Great North Museum - Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne | 10 November, 2022, Being Human Festival
- Work-in-progress Performances
The Catalyst, Newcastle upon Tyne | 25 January 2022
Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne | 23 September 2021
Northumbria University Students' Union, Newcastle upon Tyne | 22 September 2021
Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne | 15 September, 2021
We gratefully acknowledge the help and support of:
- the Tyneside adults interviewed for the Language in Later Life on Tyneside research project, directed by Dr Heike Pichler at Newcastle University (UK)
- ‘Lena’ and ‘Brenda’, the project interviewers
- the charities and voluntary organisations that have promoted the research and performance projects, and the student researchers who have contributed to them
- our colleagues at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities who encouraged and helped us pursue this performance project
- our funders: Newcastle University, Northumbria University, ESRC - Festival of Social Science, AHRC - Being Human Festival