Here Be Dragons: North East Adventures

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Funded on
17 Dec 2024

Help us bring Here Be Dragons to North East communities! Your support funds one week of local performances, including a show for Deaf Awareness Week, spreading joy, music, and adventure for all.

£4,480 Raised of £5,008

28 Backers

89%

Our Delivery Report

Funded on 17 December 2024 | Delivered on 09 May 2025

£4,480

RAISED

28

BACKERS

13

DAYS TO FUND

BIGGEST PLEDGE

£1,500

From Garfield Weston Foundation

£20

MOST POPULAR PLEDGE AMOUNT

539

people have visited this project!

Unfolding Theatre donated £25

Project Image

Project Image

4 Community events created

Arts Council NPO Funding

Arts Council NPO Funding donated £1,390

20 May 2025

Theatre company brings sign language performances into Newcastle primary schools

ITV Tyne Tees

Featuring both deaf and hearing performers, the play combines magical creatures and the Tyne and Wear Metro, and aims to inspire deaf children.

The Latest from Here Be Dragons: North East Adventures

In May, we developed and presented a new deaf-inclusive version of Here Be Dragons. Our Creative Associate, EJ Raymond joined the cast as a deaf, BSL-speaking character, Mosie the Pigeon! The show featured BSL interpreter Caroline Ryan, and Annie Rigby as voice-over for EJ.

We performed the deaf inclusive show twice at Benton Park Primary on 9 May for Deaf Awareness Week. It reached 462 audience members, including 30 deaf children from Benton Park Primary and Broadwood Primary (both Newcastle mainstream primary deaf units). It gained significant profile in being featured on ITV local news, shared widely on social media.

On May 10, Here Be Dragons (regular version) toured to Caedmon Hall, Gateshead. Two performances engaged 77 audience members, including Gateshead Youth Theatre who took part in a post-show cast Q&A. A small group from Edberts House Community Hub attended this performance.

https://www.unfoldingtheatre.co.uk/

“Unfolding Theatre is one of the North East’s most precious cultural assets, making eclectic big-hearted performance work rooted in community participation and co-production.” North East Bylines

Unfolding Theatre inspires people through big-hearted, responsive and impactful theatre and community-based creative projects. Since 2008, we have won awards for our work with under-served communities (NCCPE Engaging Young People Award 2014, Journal Culture Awards: Performance of the Year 2010/2017, Arts and Business Partnerships 2019).

Our mission is to bring together surprising combinations of people who are representative of the world we live in. This enables us to generate remarkable theatre for national audiences, reflecting the stories of people from a range of communities.

Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Unfolding Theatre became a charity in 2016. Our vision has three core aims: 1) more people are leading happier, more creatively fulfilled lives, 2) mainstream theatre better reflects England’s diversity and drives excellence and 3) people with different life experiences are better connected.

We aim to reach people of all ages and backgrounds and specialise in engaging with people that do not typically engage with theatre and the arts. Our current programme of work engages older people (50+), children and young people (including many of whom are neuro-diverse and/or d/Deaf), schoolchildren, adults living in areas of low arts engagement and socio-economic disadvantage, families and antenatal mothers.

Since 2018, we have carried out 8,600 creative engagements with over 3,500+ participants through 645 community-based activities, workshops and sessions. We have reached 31,500+ live audiences and 23,000+ digital audiences.

Project Owner: Unfolding Theatre The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.