What's on in the North East

Published: 30 June 2019
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Rent Party (Northern Stage)
Scratch and Lemon (Alphabetti)
EDGE 2019 (Queen's Hall, Hexham)

This week is the Curious Festival 2019 and there are two events at Northern Stage on Saturday: at 10:30 in Stage 3, Ben and their Grandma Gladys invite everyone aged 3–7 (and their families) to a storytime like no other, a Spectacular Drag Storytime, where everyone is welcome and every story is fabulous. Then at 7:15 in Stage 2, adults are invited to Rent Party, inspired by the Harlem rent parties of the 1920s, an immersive night out in 21st-century Austerity Britain.

"Come to a party in our flat so we can make this month’s rent. We're going to vogue, we’re going to party and we’re going to create a kaleidoscopic picture of what it means to be young, gifted, and black… and poor, and gay. And if you arrive an hour early, you can learn the Rent Party Hustle!”

There are more Curious Festival events at Alphabetti. On Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:15, Curious Arts and Dandysocpic present SPACE: A Herstory, about queer spaces; the clubs, squats, cruising areas, support groups, the protests, the vigils. It’s about places that have gone before us, the memories that live in these places that no longer exist. What would queer spaces look like if our history was rewritten?

On Tuesday at 7:30, Curious Arts and Melody Sproates present *gender not included, a one-person non-binary cabaret performance exploring gender identity, self-discovery and acceptance, using the personal experiences of writer and performer Melody Sproates. And on Wednesday at 7:30, Curious Arts and Lucy McCormick present Post Popular, which crawls through the annals of history in an enthusiastically humiliating exploration of power and purpose, a concoction of dance, song, absurdist art and minor breakdowns.

Then on Friday at 8:00, Curious Arts and Harry Clayton Wright present Sex Education, which blends performance, storytelling, a no-holds-barred interview with Harry's mum and some good old-fashioned gay porn that his dad bought when he was 14. A show for anyone who's wondered why they want what they want. It’s followed at 9:30 by Scratch and Lemon, a platform of experimental and entertaining queer performance hosted and featuring a performance by Ginny Lemon, showcasing works in development from Curious Arts Development Bursary recipients exploring and celebrating LGBTQ themes.

The Curious Festival culminates on Saturday at 9:00 at Dance City with The Annual Curious Vogue Ball. For 18+ only, this is the ultimate celebration of North East LGBTQ and Vogue Culture, an evening of Vogue from community participants and professional Vogue Houses from across the North.

On Friday and Saturday, Nevill Holt Opera presents Mozart’s Così fan tutte at The Sage Gateshead.

Kinky Boots continues at Sunderland Empire until Saturday.

At the Queen's Hall in Hexham on Tuesday, EDGE Dance Company presents a Triple Bill of new works choreographers Hagit Yakira, Fabio Liberti and Jorge Crecis.

Curious Arts presents ARC is Curious on Thursday at ARC Stockton, an evening of live performance, comedy and cabaret exploring and celebrating LGBTQ culture, featuring Lucy McCormick, Melody Sproates, Jamie Tansley and a screening of STEALTH, a short film by Saffron Mee exploring the diversity of gender non-conformity. Then on Saturday at 2:30, Ben and their Grandma Gladys invite everyone for age 3–7 and their families to a storytime like no other, their Spectacular Drag Storytime.

Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope, written and performed by Mark Farrelly and directed by Linda Marlowe, comes to Middlesbrough Theatre on Wednesday.

The Spectacular Drag Storytime (for age 3–7) moves to The Hullabaloo in Darlington on Sunday 7 July at 11:00 and 1:00.

Another England, a Little Cog Production in association with ARC Stockton, comes to The Royal Hall in Harrogate on Monday. In England 2024, Murphy and Rat are being erased, scratched out, invalid, told they don’t actually exist by the state and so take refuge in an empty house on the outskirts to avoid being sent to holding camps. Forced together, the pair must find common ground to survive. (Tickets should be booked through Harrogate Theatre.)

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