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New play Keep On Keeping’ On is touring to Crewe, Blackburn and Blackpool from 13-31 May
Press Release and news below
New play Keep On Keeping’ On is touring to Crewe, Blackburn and Blackpool from 13-31 May in unusual pop-up venues across the north; transforming a shopping centre, a working men’s club, and a library into a Northern Soul-themed discount shop.
The show is a celebration of Northern Soul music (which is having a recent renaissance) and an exploration of the ongoing decline of the Northern high streets, told through the eyes of a big-hearted family who battle to keep their discount shop on the high street afloat.
The pop-up venue’s shop counter doubles as a DJ booth playing Northern Soul has an immersive set designed by students from Crewe University Technical College.
Keep On Keepin’ On is a new feel-good play which will tour to three non-theatre spaces in Northern Soul strongholds, using the themes the play to connect independent retailers with local authorities and Business Improvement District (BIDs) as a way of starting conversations to generate real change. Foregrounding the challenges facing independent retailers through the story of a working-class family, and through the choice of site-specific locations, theatre company Northern Soul Productions aims to combine a good evening’s entertainment with a route to reinvigorate the high street and nighttime economies.
Bradford-based writer Mick Martin has created the new high-energy comedy as a sequel to his 2003 Once Upon a Time in Wigan, with his teenage dreamers now middle-aged and balancing co-parenting, a failing Northern Soul-themed discount shop and a ‘what could possibly go wrong’ scheme. Keep On Keepin’ On is a soul-rich, cash-poor comedy with a classic Northern Soul soundtrack about a dysfunctional family just trying to keep it together on a run-down northern high street.
Keep On Keepin’ On follows Eugene and Maxine; their teenage romance first ignited on the dance floor, but life has spun them in and out of each other’s arms ever since. Now, years later, Eugene is a weekend DJ and a full-time disaster, barely keeping his shop afloat. When Maxine reappears with one more plea for help – this time for their son, newly released from jail – their ‘what could possibly go wrong’ plan sets them spinning into chaos. Keep On Keepin’ On is a hilarious and heartfelt story of resilience, family, and the power of music to keep us moving, even when times get tough.
Each site-specific location – a shop in Crewe, a working men’s club in Blackburn and a library in Blackpool – will be set up as Eugene’s shop with the audience seated in and around the bric-a-brac, and a shop counter that doubles as a DJ booth after the show. The set has been designed in collaboration with students from Crewe University Technical College, and the locations have been chosen as areas that have poor nighttime economy and high vacancy rates.
Dates
Blackburn
St Paul’s Working Men’s 104 Montague Street, Blackburn, BB2 1EE – Wednesday 21st May – Saturday 24th May 2025.
Blackpool
Blackpool Central Library, Queen Street, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 1PX - Wednesday 28th May – Saturday 31st May 2025
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