Calling all StageSiders, welcome back to another article here at StageSideUK. This time around we are sharing a Syndicated Q&A hosted with […] The post PR – Syndicated Q&A – Rude Health Festival first appeared on StagesideUK.

Calling all StageSiders, welcome back to another article here at StageSideUK. This time around we are sharing a Syndicated Q&A hosted with a range of artists at the Rude Health Festival. We hear from directors, artistic directors and all kind of creatives, regarding their experience being a part of the Rude Health Festival. Settle in and lets learn more about Rude Health Festival.

1. What does it mean to you to be part of Rude Health Festival 2025 and present your work in Cambois?
2. The festival explores many different ideas, from health and community to identity, care, and creativity. Which of these themes feel most connected to your work, and why?
3. Can you tell us about how the idea for your performance first developed?
4. How has working with The Tute and the wider Rude Health Festival team supported or shaped this project?
5. What do you hope audiences in Cambois, and beyond, will take away from experiencing your work?

ESTHER HUSS

1)      

Alex and I moved to Cambois in 2019. Before that, I had spent over 20 years in London working as a freelance performer and as the founder of the Inclusive Dance Company, Dandelion Collective. Relocating to the North East marked a major life change—and sparked a significant creative shift. I stepped away from the constant hustle of teaching to make ends meet, and instead immersed myself in the landscape and rural life. The contrast of heavy industry and natural beauty here, along with the resilience and warmth of the local community, laid a fresh foundation for my work.

One of the things that struck me immediately was the collaborative spirit in the North East. I quickly began working with visual artists and sound artists, and those interdisciplinary collaborations have since become a vital part of my creative process.

After years in London, I often questioned whether the world needed yet another dance/ performance piece—there was simply so much of everything. But in Cambois, the context is different. There’s a clarity of purpose here. I feel a strong sense of mission: to share my skills and experience, to listen, to learn, and to create work that truly resonates. Performing at The Tute—often to an audience that includes both local residents and curious visitors from further afield—feels meaningful in a way that’s hard to describe.

When Alex and I first dreamed up the idea for Rude Health Festival, I was genuinely excited to curate a programme of artists and performances that embody integrity, sincerity, rigour, and risk. Over the past six years, it has been a joy to bring experimental, avant-garde work into this community. This is not an audience saturated with cultural events—they’re cautious at times, but curious. Building trust has taken time, but that journey has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my work here.

2)

These issues matter deeply to me, which is why we ensured they’re woven into the heart of the festival. Cambois is an ex-coal mining community, and with no new industry to replace what was lost, questions around identity and belonging remain vital and unresolved. There’s a lingering sense of displacement. I often see young people wandering the streets with little to do and few influences beyond school and home. Many residents struggle to access meaningful work or feel disconnected—living on the fringes of society.

But I believe these individuals can be reached—through care, through dialogue, and through art. Often, they are the ones most open, most curious, and most willing to engage when given the chance.

My recent work HIPS&SKINS, created in collaboration with Jacky Lansley, explored care and the treatment of women in the healthcare system. Even a year later, people still approach me to quote lines from that piece—proof of how deeply it resonated, and how powerful these shared experiences can be.

3)

The idea for the festival grew from a desire to create a programme that speaks to everyone in our community. Health is a universal thread—it connects us all, across every generation—yet each age group faces its own unique challenges. Young children are navigating the pressures of social media and the anxiety it can bring. Older people may struggle with loneliness, a loss of purpose, or feeling disconnected from the community. Parents are often overwhelmed, simply trying to keep things going. And many are quietly coping with physical or mental health issues—right here, on our doorstep.

Bringing people together in one space to experience thoughtful, moving, and challenging work has the power to shift perspectives—and even change lives.

It feels genuinely exciting to bring world-class art to a small, often overlooked place like Cambois. It feels radical. And it feels necessary.

4)

At The Tute we hugely care to make everyone feel valued and conscious of the contribution they make to the festival, the community and their own lives. Beyond the tasks that need to be done, there is a great amount of dialogue happening, getting to know each other, supporting and inspiring each other. We were recently joined by a 12 year old teenager, who supported the front of house. She had been expelled several times from school, and after the first event said that this was the longest she had ever sat still. She was mesmerised by the event. This I believe is one of many testimonials from those involved.

5)

Performances and workshops offer a powerful opportunity to bring people together in a shared space. In the lead-up to the festival, we spend time reaching out to those we meet—inviting them in, making them feel seen, heard, and welcome. Our aim is to dismantle the idea that contemporary art is distant or inaccessible. We want people to know they have a place here, should they choose to take it.

More than anything, we want attendees to feel safe, welcomed, and open to engaging with the work—to be surprised, inspired, and moved by the artists and their own experiences in the workshops. To discover joy in the variety of the programme.

Cambois can sometimes feel isolated, with limited transport, no shops, post office, or café. That’s why it matters so much to us that people feel this festival brings the world to their doorstep. That they feel the value of access to culture, connection, and creativity—and the richness that comes from sharing space with others.

LIZ AGGISS

In the 1980’s I started my performing life in alternative theatre and cabaret spaces, performing to unsuspecting diverse audiences, from tiny scratchy venues, to rowdy pubs and clubs supporting unknown punk bands, to unwieldy stadium gigs supporting The Stranglers. As my work matured, I graduated to posher more prescriptive theatre spaces. But I never lost my delight in working the alternative spaces. So I was thrilled to be invited to The Tute. It’s also come at a most fortuitous moment. It’s given me a good reason to get back on the horse. Crone Alone had been festering in my mind before Covid struck in 2019 leaving me workless and rudderless. During this fertile void the early research for this show focused on female hysteria, but as the Covid fallout continued to upend life as we knew it, and my hip announced it was worn out and needed replacing, I had plenty of time, several years, to ponder as I repaired. In reflecting over the past 50 years as an artist&academic, engaging in a dizzying array of roles, I realized I was barking up the wrong tree. I needed to get back to basics. What am I doing? Why am I doing it? How do I want to do it? And above all I needed less palaver, more simplification, and a different approach. I wanted to talk about value and worth. So that’s what I’ve gone and done. To be honest I’ve missed being out there. Doing it. Being a contributor to an artistic community. I’ve missed the delight in sharing, communicating and reveling in performance. I’ve missed unpicking the creative journey. I’ve missed grappling with ideas. So I thank The Tute for shoving me back into the limelight and giving me the opportunity to connect with my former self in a different guise and bring this work to a new and equally unsuspecting audience. Full circle…or pirouette? Magic! 

YUVEL SORIA

1)

Being part of Rude Health Festival 2025 feels really special to me. The festival’s openness and curiosity resonate deeply with how I approach my practice — even though Ajayu Transitorio wasn’t created specifically for the festival, there’s a strong alignment in spirit. Presenting the piece in Cambois, a place shaped by its own rhythms, stories, and people, feels like an exchange between different worlds and energies. It’s exciting to share a work that carries memories, gestures, and rituals drawn from different cultures and traditions, with a cast of people who are British but also carry other heritages — other sets of cultures and traditions alongside the British ones — and to see how these layers might connect with the people and landscape here in the North East.

2)

For me, Ajayu Transitorio connects most deeply with identity, care, and community. The piece is inspired by the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) tradition in Bolivia and by different death rituals across cultures — ways of honouring those who have passed and keeping their presence alive. Through this work, I’m exploring how remembrance and ritual can become acts of care, and how collective spaces of reflection can nurture a sense of belonging. I want to create a space where people can feel, breathe, and reflect together — a shared moment of grounding, presence, and connection.

3)

The idea grew from personal reflections on loss, migration, and transformation — on how we carry memory and how we reconnect with what’s been left behind. The Bolivian Day of the Dead tradition was the starting point. I have always loved the festival — the colours, the food, the sense of togetherness — and I grew up being part of those celebrations. Bringing those memories and experiences with me across borders and time has shaped how I think about connection, absence, and continuity. From there, I began exploring other cultural rituals around death and remembrance, finding shared threads of love, care, and renewal. The piece evolved through movement, sound, and ritual, becoming a kind of living altar — a space where stories, bodies, and voices meet.

4)

Working with The Tute and the Rude Health team has been a generous and supportive experience. They’ve created an environment that encourages openness, risk, and dialogue, which allowed the work to breathe and respond to the context of Cambois.

Their continued support made it possible for me to realise the piece in the way I envisioned — with care, depth, and integrity. Performing at the festival has also been something I’ve hoped for since first meeting Esther and spending time in the studio together. Those early conversations, shared explorations, and experiences of each other’s work made this whole process feel very natural and fulfilling. It’s been a truly lovely journey to see that shared intention come to life through the festival, and I hope this is just the beginning of many more collaborations to come.

5)

I hope people leave with a sense of connection — to themselves, to one another, and to those who came before. Ajayu Transitorio is about remembering, naming, and making presence felt — about the power of speaking a name and letting it be heard. I want the work to invite people into a shared space where we can reflect together on what we carry, what we’ve lost, and what continues through us. If the piece offers even a small moment of stillness, recognition, or collective care, that would mean a lot to me.

ALEX OATES

1)

Esther and I have been running The Tute for nearly five years now, and this will be the first time I’ve presented my own work here. It feels quite exposing to put your work on show right on your doorstep—but from the start, we’ve wanted our projects to be part of an ongoing conversation with our local community.

That conversation has shifted in tone recently, and what I hear around me has made me increasingly angry. So this felt like the right moment to mount a rebuttal.

I’m really proud of the breadth and quality of work we’ve managed to bring to this small, working-class community. I was lucky enough to grow up in the North East during a time of cultural plenty, when NPOs had the funding to produce challenging work and take big creative risks—things that can only be dreamed of in today’s arts funding landscape.

As a teenager, I took part in an RSC outreach scheme in Blyth, and I’ll never forget the thrill of top-drawer professional theatre connecting with a salt-of-the-earth community. I’ve been trying to recreate that feeling—if only in some small way—here in Cambois.

2)

From the Sea fits into the wider theme of societal health—it examines local attitudes toward asylum seekers and asks: how did we get this angry? Societal health is, of course, the foundation for so many other aspects of wellbeing. Without healthy public discourse, we can’t hope to achieve true health in the other areas of life we aspire to improve.

I believe hate comes from anger, and anger comes from fear. Hopefully, by engaging in deep learning and careful listening around this issue, I can make a small dent in the bubble of rhetoric that’s slowly suffocating these communities.

3)

A few years ago, I noticed a correlation between pro-animal posts and anti-immigration posts on our local Facebook pages. To me, they represented a moral contradiction. I quickly wrote a monologue called SealHugging, which became the basis for this play. It was about a woman who volunteers her time patrolling a local lighthouse to ensure people don’t get too close to seals. One day, she rescues a seal, takes it home, and puts it in the bath—only to discover it’s actually an asylum seeker. Suddenly, she’s appalled and tries to kill it.

It was a short, sharp shock of a play that came from a place of anger. I sent it to Amy Golding, a brilliant director with extensive experience working with people seeking refuge. She felt it had potential to develop, and together we discussed the possibilities.

What has emerged is an exciting opportunity to explore not just one character but a range of perspectives on immigration. We’re now spending time with local asylum seekers—talking, listening, and making sure we get the facts right.

I want to use the play as a chance to answer the questions I often hear in my local barbershop: “Why are they coming here and not staying in France?” “Why are they all fighting-age men?” “How come they get so much and we get nowt?” These are questions fuelled by media organisations with wider agendas—but it’s important to recognise that people are asking them, and to offer truthful, humane answers.

4)

I’m really grateful to the North East Combined Authority and to QTS for financially backing this festival. Their support means that all the pieces have the space to breathe and fully explore the issues they raise.

In the case of this play, it’s meant we could afford to bring Amy Golding on board—not only a brilliant director but also an expert in immigration—and take the time needed to properly develop the work.

At The Tute, we aim to collaborate with the best artists in the UK—people you might see performing at one of the prestigious venues in London, but who are also grounded enough to recognise the value of creating that kind of work here, in a region that ranks among the top 3% most deprived areas in the UK.

It’s a great privilege to help make that happen, and to be part of it with my art form this year.

5)

We’re working hard to attract an audience from across the political spectrum, and we hope to provoke a calm, respectful discussion—one that helps us come closer together as a community and recognise the shared humanity in everyone.

AMY GOLDING

1)

I live and work in the north east coastal area and I am so happy to see brilliant new venues and initiatives happening in my local area. One of my priorities over the last year has been to work more internationally and also to work more in my local area, and this is a fantastic opportunity to do that. 

2)

When a community feels connected, supportive and together it feels healthy to me. My work focuses on sharing stories that aim to bring communities together, to understand the world from different perspectives and spend time with characters / or performers who we might not get to spend time with in the real world. 

3)

 I will be working with Alex at The Tute on a new play he is developing, he sent it to me to read and I was struck by his writing, how he uses sharp wit and the absurd to explore really important issues that are concerning our communities right now. We will be developing the piece further through some research and development and I’m excited to see where that takes us. 

4)

I’ve been working closely with Alex in the lead up but we will get properly stuck into the work in December. The Tute have been really generous in supporting me as a local artist with other projects I also have bubbling, it’s been great to connect and I hope this is the start of a long and fruitful relationship for all of us. 

5)

I hope people will laugh, have a good night and also reflect, think and ultimately consider how detrimental division in our community is for all of us. How we all as humans are intrinsically made to love and to care and how when we can extend that beyond our own we are opened up to unexpected, brilliant and joyful new experiences. 

LUCY SUGGATE

1. 
   It means a great deal to be sharing work and connecting with the community in and around Cambois, and to be a part of Rude Health Festival 2025, in such a difficult and precarious time for many sectors, it  feels like a privilege to be able to spend time and share creativity. I’m drawn to places that are off the beaten track and spaces that have past lives that are being  re-activated by artistic practices that encourage gathering around, it feels like there is better chance to share and connect in a meaningful way.
   
   
2. I think our work is always trying to priorities movement as an idea and a practice, and I predominantly use the body as my primary source material, therefore health, care, and identity is all wrapped up.  The idea for Hexed  has been brewing for such a long time and its exploring strange sensations of being on the periphery, chronicity as in something that persists , won’t go away like fatigue, pain, loss or uncertainty , then there  are sensations of being out of sync, or squeezed, falling between spaces, cracks appearing, isolation and oddness.
3. I have a great deal of empathy and admiration for the work that the Rude Festival team are taking on, the determination and commitment to creating, holding spaces open and making things happen, to take risk and share artists work with care and generosity, to bring people closer to experimentation as a way to make some small sense of the worlds we inhabbit is often unrecognised. 
   
   
4. I have tried to maintain a daily practice that allows me time and space to  explore movement and moving, in fact  a more accurate description  is to get lost in movement. I would say this is the bedrock to all my work, through the doing ideas surface and I begin to sense, feel  and land into movement patterns I want to explore further. Collaborating with Visual artist Charlie Ford who works mostly with drawing , allows me to think about the design of work, how and where it sits in space.
   
   
5. Something about mystery  or the mysterious, to be reminded of the unknown, being all around us and the temporary nature of everything and how to embrace that.

Maria Crocker answers – 

1. This is the first time I’ve presented work in Cambois and I’m really excited to bring this fantastic piece of writing to a new audience. 
2. I’ve directed work for many of the theatre spaces in the North East, but never The Tute, until now! I’m thrilled to be involved in such a fantastic programme of work being presented at this very special place, with community and creativity at the heart of everything.  
3. The festival explores many different ideas, from health and community to identity, care, and creativity. Which of these themes feel most connected to your work, and why? 
    
4. all of it, the play we’re presenting, is a one person monologue that explores the full life cycle of a womans life from birth to death. The actor goes on a journey from first words to sex mad teenage years, into marriage, middle age, and re-discovering life in her later years. It’s an incredibly funny and moving piece, exploring womanhood and identity. I’m passionate about putting women front and centre and this play does that in the most brilliant way! 

• It’s impossible to watch this play without relating it to your own life. It’s sprinkled with a sense of mortality, but also shines a light on all the weird and wonderful things we experience as we move through each phase of life, and how we grow as humans. It’s funny, it’s poignant and makes you appreciate what’s really important. 

Have your say!

Have you experienced Rude Health Festival? Are you an artist or creative who is looking to put on a festival? Let us know in the comments and lets get a discussion going!

As always, please be respectful of each other’s opinions and be kind to each other. Please treat eachother with respect. Bullying will not be tolerated and harmful language will be removed. 

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