Snow White in Get Carter's footsteps
balletLORENT film puts Benwell back on movie map
Ever-inventive dance company balletLORENT is venturing into feature film territory, reimagining its Benwell base as ‘Benywood’ - after Hollywood - and claiming to be following in the footsteps of Get Carter.
The Mike Hodges thriller, they say, was partly shot in Benwell in 1971 with a Victorian terraced house on Frank Street, long since demolished, serving as the home of Jack Carter’s brother (Carter being the gangster memorably played by Michael Caine).
Benwell is perhaps the only thing in common between Get Carter and balletLORENT’s Snow White: The Sacrifice, an 80-minute screen version of the dance company’s stage show of the same name.
But with tongue possibly in cheek, the company reckons the Newcastle suburb of Benwell has been overlooked by filmmakers for far too long.
Liv Lorent, founding artistic director of balletLORENT, says: “Benwell is a special community full of lively, creative people.
“balletLORENT has been based here (in the John Marley Centre) since 2021 and immediately felt right at home.
“It is our absolute pleasure to create a temporary film studio here to create our feature-length Snow White: The Sacrifice. Benwell is now ‘Benywood’ and hopefully our film will be the first of many produced in the local area.”
Snow White: The Sacrifice is co-directed by Ben Crompton, the Game of Thrones actor, and Alex Ayre, winner of a regional Royal Television Society award.
It features dance artists including Caroline Reece (Wicked Queen), Geoff Hopson (King) and Natalie MacGillivray (Doe) while Sarah Parish, known for Mistresses, Cutting It and satirical BBC ‘mockumentary’ W1A, narrates the script by Carol Ann Duffy, the former Poet Laureate.
The costumes are by Libby El-Alfy and Nasir Mazhar, the music by Doctor Who composer Murray Gold, the stage design by Phil Eddolls and the lighting by Malcolm Rippeth.
It’s a multi-camera screen adaptation of the show which premiered at Northern Stage last Halloween, giving a dark, gothic twist to the Snow White story by telling it from the perspective of the wicked stepmother.
Though aimed at a 16-plus audience, 10 young members of balletLORENT’s Youth Academy will feature in the film and Willow, a nine-year-old pupil at the local Bridgewater Community Primary School, is cast as the young Snow White.
“I feel excited to be a part of this Snow White film because it's an opportunity that not many people have - especially not so close to their home,” said Willow ahead of the shoot at the John Marley Centre.
“I can't wait to see how it turns out.”
Youth Academy member Hayden, who is 10 and attends St Bede’s Catholic Primary School in Denton Burn, was equally excited.
“I feel really happy that I’m in this movie of Snow White: The Sacrifice,” he said.
“I've performed on the stage in front of loads of people at Northern Stage and now I’m performing in a movie for balletLORENT.
“It’s really funny because I live not far from balletLORENT, in Benwell, and I just got to walk up the street from home to the studio and make a movie.”
Snow White: The Sacrifice is being made for the theatre streaming platform Marquee TV and will be released in September.
Meanwhile the original stage version of the show will be performed at Sadler’s Wells East, London, on April 18 and at Darlington Hippodrome on May 17.