A THEATRE is launching an initiative to bring live performances to the town.

Saltburn Community & Arts Association (SC&AA) has announced it will be working with The National Theatre to bring screenings of ‘live’ performances to Saltburn via the Community Theatre.

This initiative has been driven by SC&AA Arts Development Officer, Wilma Gardiner-Gill.

“It has long been the ambition at Saltburn Theatre to be part of the National Theatre's Live streaming programme” she said. “After years of research and funding applications, the dream is coming true!

"We managed to secure funding to upgrade the cinema equipment to allow us to meet the high specifications of the National Theatre, allowing us to finally deliver their productions here at our theatre. We start the season with Sir Tom Stoppard’s most recent play Leopoldstadt on Friday, January 28.”

The play explores themes of Jewish identity through the intergenerational Merz family, originally fleeing to Vienna from the pogroms of the East. As the play opens in 1899, the family have successfully integrated into Viennese life, living in the fashionable part of the city, with family marriages to gentile partners. But the following years see the family face war, revolution, and anti-Semitism.

The second screening is from the NT and the Bridge Theatre and is an adaption of Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage on Friday, April 15. This is set 12 years before His Dark Materials.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our audience to see productions, here on our doorstep, that would only otherwise be possible by travelling to London” said Ms Gardiner-Gill.

n Leopoldstadt screening starts at 7.30pm (doors open 6.45pm). Information and tickets (£12) are available from www.saltburn arts.co.uk or 01287 624997.