You’ve all heard of “The Summer Of Love” – now brace yourselves for “The Summer Of Stagg!”
A raucous new Geordie comedy feature film, The Stagg Do, (www.thestaggdo.com) will receive its World Premiere at Newcastle’s o2 Academy, Westgate Road on 26 June, 2014. This will be one of several screenings planned in venues throughout the UK.
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The Stagg Do was shot entirely on location in the North East of England and features well-known North East actors Bill Fellows (United and Wolf Blood) and Craig Conway (The Descent and Doomsday). Two non-actors from Walker, Martin Paterson and Andrew Stagg, star in the lead roles of this bawdy, low-budget comedy which is being touted as the Geordie ‘Hangover’.
The Stagg Do follows two lifelong mates from Walker, one of whom is about to get married to a ‘posh bird’. Best man, Pob, wants to give the groom, Staggy, a night to remember at the legendary gentlemen’s club The Cock’s Inn. Unfortunately, the bride-to-be forbids a traditional stag do. The compromise is a camping trip with the proviso that her uptight father, “The Judge”, goes along to supervise. Unfortunately for them the Judge is quite the raconteur, once he brings out his acoustic guitar they resort to desperate measures.
The director, American-born James DeMarco, a Gateshead resident for sixteen years who wrote the screenplay after collaborating on the story with Paterson, has gone to great lengths to capture the authenticity of the Geordie dialect and humour which he has experienced during his years of living in the North East.
“The irony of calling this authentic when it’s written by an American isn’t lost on me,” said DeMarco. “I’ve always found it odd only to see stereotypical Geordie characters on TV after you’ve hung around with the real people who are so much funnier,” he said. “From what I’ve seen, it’s not all doom and gloom – Geordies know how to have a good laugh and enjoy life.”
The filmmakers have strived to maintain authentic regional accents and much of the dialogue wound up being improvised on set, giving the film an almost punk rock feel.
“Yes, we have considered using subtitles,” said DeMarco. “Who knows, maybe we can be the first English language film to use subtitles for an English audience.”
The soundtrack features an eclectic mix of songs from a host of local unsigned bands. The filmmakers are self-releasing and plan to hold other screenings in various venues throughout the UK.
Tickets for the World Premiere are available NOW from www.thestaggdo.com or the O2 Academy Newcastle. Box Office: 0844 477 2000.
