Can theatre succeed where politics failed?
‘Dear Sunderland’ is a theatre production created by people whose lives were affected by the divisions exposed during the 2024 Sunderland riots.
The show is returning this summer, with a free performance at the Summer Streets Festival in the city on 5 July, after emotionally charged performances earlier this year left audiences demanding more.
The production brought together people from opposite sides of Sunderland’s divisions.
Created by award-winning North East company Unfolding Theatre, it had a sold-out premiere in March, where audiences responded with standing ovations to a production built from the voices of people rarely heard together in the same room.
Artistic Director, Annie Rigby, said: “The production has already become one of the most talked-about pieces of community theatre in the North East. I am enormously proud of what we co-created. The depth of co-creation was only possible because of our ten years of bringing people together across political divisions in Sunderland. It wasn't an easy brief - the workshops included difficult moments confronting racism, but it felt like a real gift to be able to deliver this project".
Rather than writing a script about division, Unfolding Theatre spent months inviting Sunderland residents to write letters to their city.
Those letters came from people involved in the aftermath of the 2024 unrest, refugees and asylum seekers, women attending probation services, children, people living with poor mental health, lifelong Sunderland residents and members of Sunderland’s global majority communities.
Some letters celebrate the city. Others challenge it. Some express anger. Many offer hope.
Together they became ‘Dear Sunderland’ – a moving production that asks whether listening to one another might achieve what politics often cannot.
The work grew from 22 workshops involving more than 200 creative engagements across Sunderland and represents more than a decade of Unfolding Theatre’s work bringing communities together through co-created theatre.
One of the production’s most remarkable moments happened not on stage but in the audience.
At a workshop, during the creative process, difficult conversations around racism prompted one participant to leave. When the finished production premiered in March, that same participant returned and gave the performance a standing ovation.
A letter from Nigerian migrant Kelechi Olungu-Victor asking Sunderland to, “Open your doors a little wider” received spontaneous applause from an audience. Evaluations showed the audience attending held a broad range of political viewpoints.
Annie Rigby believes those moments demonstrate something increasingly rare: “After the riots there were countless people talking about communities, but not many creating opportunities for communities to genuinely talk to one another,” Annie said.
“’Dear Sunderland’ isn’t interested in telling audiences what to think. It simply asks people to listen. The letters are funny, moving, uncomfortable and hopeful because they’re real. They belong to the people who wrote them. The response in March exceeded anything we imagined. People stayed behind afterwards to talk to strangers about what they’d just experienced. That’s why we’re bringing it back.”
The production has also transformed the lives of some who helped create it.
Former participant Ray Hopkins, a builder who had previously only written songs at home, became a commissioned co-writer and musician for the production.
Ray said: “I’m a builder by trade, but I write at home in my bedroom. Now I’m writing for performances and being paid to do so. It’s easy to feel like you’ve missed the boat - to play in a band or do something creative. This has shown me otherwise.”
As Britain continues to debate social cohesion, migration and community identity, the team behind ‘Dear Sunderland’ hope it offers something increasingly unusual - an opportunity to hear voices that rarely occupy the same space.
Summer Streets Festival 2026 is a free-entry music, arts and community festival for Sunderland. It takes place this weekend, 4 & 5 July: Summer Streets Festival
