Live post-lockdown hit shows from Sunderland now wowing audiences online

Sunderland Culture commissioned three organisations to produce the project called Unlocking the Doors: New Combinations, through Arts Council England’s National Lottery grants last summer.

The three projects were Space Camp, by theatre company tiny dragon, ACEDIA by the award-winning Southpaw Dance Company and Club 620 by The Six Twenty.

Space Camp: Hylton We Have a Problem involved a space flight from Roker Beach to “New Sunderland on planet VX-76”. The 360 visual and sound experience, based in a shipping container, was a sell-out in August 2021.

ACEDIA was an innovative pandemic story, told through dance and virtual reality. It depicted “loss and listlessness during lockdowns”, as well as celebrating the joy of reconnecting as people emerged from isolation.

The digitally-augmented performance was performed by Southpaw Dance Company in the Athenaeum building on Fawcett Street, Sunderland. It combined live dance with groundbreaking technology. One live dancer was accompanied by several other dancers viewed through iPads.

Club 620 was an “immersive live arts club night” delivered by The Six Twenty, celebrating local talent and featuring a team of independent artists, musicians and technicians. The neon playground of live music, performance and digital art took over city centre club Independent.

Music was provided by acts including MXYM and PICNIC and the night also featured DJ sets, pop-up aerial performance, art installations and an interactive digital wall from artist Ronan Devlin, whose digital wall and a photo gallery are now available online.

Helen Green, head of performance at Sunderland Culture, said: “Unlocking the Doors: New Combinations was an important step toward normality and live performances on Wearside.

“We wanted the commissioned artists to reflect a sense of the city gradually reawakening and a sense of slowly returning to normal, creating performances in three very different spaces.

“The locations chosen by our artists and their thoughtful response to our brief combined to create some brilliant experiences and the audience feedback to the performances was fantastic.”

Each show can be watched at www.sunderlandculture.org.uk, where ACEDIA and Space Camp are available on a pay what you decide basis. A Club 620 photo gallery and the Ronan Devlin digital wall are free.

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