A CRITICALLY acclaimed solo show will be performed at the Queen's Hall Arts Centre later this year.

Writer and performer, Alison Skilbeck, will bring her solo show Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London to Northumberland for the first time after a successful run at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Performances will take place at The Witham in Barnard Castle on September 27, The Playhouse in Alnwick on September 28, Queen’s Hall Arts Centre in Hexham on September 29, and The Maltings in Berwick on September 30.

The show has toured the UK, Ireland and France. Skilbeck has special permission from the Roosevelt Estate to use Eleanor’s diary and writings. The play captures the spirit, humour, and passion of one of the most extraordinary women of the twentieth century, on her visit to Britain in 1942.  

Directed by Lucy Skilbeck with sound design by Emma Laxton and lighting design by Mark Dymock, Skilbeck's one-woman show explores Roosevelt’s public and hidden life.

Described by The Guardian as 'always a moving and bravura performance', the play looks back from 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, while Eleanor is on her deathbed.

Roosevelt relives her visit to war-torn Britain, and pivotal experiences from throughout her long life, including the extra-marital affairs of her husband, President Roosevelt, and her own close relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok, to establishing herself as, in President Truman’s words, 'the First Lady of the World'.

The research involved reading Eleanor’s wartime diary, newspaper columns and was inspired by many notable biographical works.

Skilbeck portrays a woman beset by deep personal insecurities and tragedy, but one who never lost her passionate belief in the strength of the human spirit. Playwright Alan Ayckbourn described her performance: "A consummate performer weaving her way effortlessly through her own finely woven web of fascinating material."

For her performance in Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London, Skilbeck received a Best Female Performance Nomination for the Off-West End (Offie) Awards and was nominated for the Best Actress award (along with Best Production nomination for Hint of Lime Productions) at the Buxton Fringe Awards.