A new play is set to be performed to thousands of people around the world including its writer 8,500 miles away.

Elysium Theatre Company have teamed up with the Queen’s Hall Arts Centre in Hexham to create the Hello and Goodbye performance, written by leading South African playwright Athol Fugard.

The live streamed show will be filmed at the Northern School of Art in Hartlepool next Wednesday following two weeks of rehearsals at the Queen’s Hall.

“It is amazing to think that Athol Fugard could be watching one of his own plays online for the very first time, thousands of miles away from where it is being performed," said Jake Murray, founder of Eysium and director of the play.

“I would love it if he does get to watch, it would mean the world to me and the company. He’s one of the world’s great playwrights and a living legend.

“Without the support Queen’s Hall this would not have been possible. They have given us space to rehearse and support to produce this fantastic play that the whole world can see."

The play features two characters - Johnnie and Hester Smits – and is set in the 1960s in Apartheid South Africa and is a moving drama about a number of topics including family and debts that we owe each other.

Tickets for the show can be purchased at: https://www.queenshall.co.uk/events/hello-and-goodbye, with the performance taking place at 7:30pm on Wednesday, June 23.

Viewers will be able to catch-up on the show when convenient as it is set to stay online for a week.

It is a funny, moving drama about families, siblings, love, regret and the debts we owe each other, emotional as well as financial.

Hello and Goodbye is the seventh production from four-year-old Elysium, and stars Jake’s co-founders Danny Solomon and Hannah Ellis Ryan.

Hannah shot to stardom after appearing in Coronation Street in 2018 as ‘baddie’ Hannah Gilmore, the lover of Jim McDonald and impersonator of his late daughter Katie.

The Australian has lived in the UK for eight years, and is excited to perform for her family who will be able to watch the show from thousands of miles away thanks to cameras on the night.

She said: “I am so excited! Even my mum in Brisbane will be able to watch me for the first time in years.

“I can send my whole family a link for them to watch me from thousands of miles away, and that’s something that is so special, and something I have to be grateful for.”

She added: “We want to give the audience the feeling of an authentic theatre experience, even though they aren’t in the room.

“Acting for theatre and camera is very different, so it will be a challenge to act for both! In a theatre, it is all about reaching to the back of the room, whereas for something like Coronation Street, it can be about even the smallest of eyebrow movements.”

Danny, who has never acted for camera before, added: “The live aspect can be quite scary, and it will be different to just playing to a seated audience, but I am looking forward to getting a couple of run-throughs under my belt to be ready for the real thing.

“It is great that the play can be available to so many people at once, without them having to leave their home. It is a wonderful idea and I imagine we will be doing more live-streaming in future.”

Tickets for the show can be purchased for £5 (£3.50 concessions) here: https://www.queenshall.co.uk/events/hello-and-goodbye

Ticket holders will be given a link and a password, and can then watch the play live on Wednesday 23rd June or ‘catch-up’ as it stays online for a week.

For more information on Elysium and their productions, find them on social media at @ElysiumTC or go to www.elysiumtc.co.uk

Jake Murray, and he is founder of Eysium and director of the play