What's on in the North East

Published: 19 May 2019
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Newcastle Theatre Royal)
The Cult of K*NZO (Northern Stage)
This Time (Ockham's Razor at Dance City)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Arts Centre Washington)
A Machine They Are Secretly Building (Harrogate Theatre Studio) Credit: Proto-type and Fenia Kotsopoulou

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin comes to Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday to Saturday.

At Northern Stage this week, Abbott Dance Theatre presents Deeds Not Words at 7:45 in Stage 2 on Tuesday while the same day in Stage 3 at 8:00, Jade Byrne performs her story of living with Type 1 Diabetes, Pricks, in Stage 3. Also in Stage 3 on Wednesday, Paula Varjack performs The Cult of K*NZO, a critique of consumer culture through the lens of high fashion. There are two shows on Thursday: in Stage 2 at 7:45, the twin juggernauts of Hip-Hop and Feminism collide in Woke, created by Testament in association with LittleMighty, and at 8:00 in Stage 3, British-Romanian political theatre collective BEZNA Theatre presents ILLEGALISED, protest-theatre that journeys through the Home Office's human rights abuses against 'the other' inspired and informed by interviews with migrants, refugees and those seeking asylum.

Last week, we said that Shakespeare’s Speakeasy was coming to Alphabetti Theatre on Wednesday 15 May. That was a mistake; it is, in fact, this Wednesday (22) when a group of actors will attempt to produce a Shakespeare play in a day. Then on Thursday, it’s FLIM NITE presents...Matilda in which comedians, theatre-makers, writers and musicians chew up and spit out the classic film, making of it what they will. On Friday, all-female comedy sketch group Your Aunt Fanny, which originated at Live Theatre's youth theatre, presents Minge Unhinged and on Saturday, The Suggestibles School of Improv presents Rat Race.

Smack That (a conversation), devised by Rhiannon Faith and the company, an investigation into domestic abuse in the form of a party which involves the audience in the party games, comes to Gosforth Civic Theatre on Friday.

Circus theatre company Ockham’s Razor presents This Time at 7:30 from Thursday to Saturday and 2:30 on Sunday at Dance City.

Club Tropicana, starring Joe McElderry, comes to Sunderland Empire from Monday to Saturday.

On Monday at 7:00, Newcastle dance company Fertile Ground begins its Twilight Dances tour at the Arts Academy at Sunderland College.

On Thursday at 10:30 and 1:30, 404 Productions presents Journey to the Centre of the Earth at Arts Centre Washington.

At the Customs House in South Shields from Wednesday to Saturday, local theatre company Boyle Yer Stotts presents Everywhere We Go, a comedy about the fans who travelled to Wembley to watch South Shields FC win the FA Vase in 2017.

Leah Bell presents a new musical adaptation of Catherine Cookson’s The Cinder Path at the Phoenix Theatre in Blyth from Thursday to Saturday.

At the Queen’s Hall in Hexham this week, The November Club presents a work-in-progress production of Foods and Feuds: Two Cooks of Hexham which brings together two cooks of Hexham—and sworn enemies!—Hannah Glasse and Ann Cook. This is in the Queen’s Hall Café on Tuesday at 6:30 and 8:00. Then in the Main Theatre on Wednesday (1:30 & 4:00) and Thursday (10:30 & 1:30), David Wood directs his own adaptation of The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Finally on Friday, Giles Shenton plays Jerome K Jerome in Three Men in a Boat.

At ARC Stockton on Wednesday and Thursday, Little Cog in association with ARC presents Another England. It’s England in 2024. Rat and Murphy are two disabled people who find themselves running for their lives, but the odds are against them.

On Thursday at Middlesbrough Theatre, Giles Shenton stars in My Dog’s Got No Nose, a full-length one-man play by Ron Aldridge produced by Kick In The Head.

From Tuesday to Saturday, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat comes to Darlington Hippodrome.

On Friday (1:30) and Saturday (11:00 and 2:00), Slingsby presents Emil & the Detectives for age 8+ at Theatre Hullabaloo in Darlington.

In the Main House at Harrogate Theatre from Tuesday to Saturday, Northern Broadsides and New Vic Theatre present Much Ado About Nothing. On Wednesday, Jade Byrne brings Pricks to the Studio and on Thursday, also in the Studio, Proto-type presents A Machine They're Secretly Building.

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