What's on in the North East

Published: 20 October 2019
Reporter: Peter Lathan

An Inspector Calls (Theatre Royal, Newcastle)
I Have Met The Enemy (And The Enemy Is Us) (Byker Community Centre)
Nuclear Future (Live Theatre)
Romeo a Juliet (Ballet Cymru at Dance City)

Stephen Daldry’s production of An Inspector Calls returns to the Theatre Royal in Newcastle from Tuesday to Saturday.

I Have Met The Enemy (And The Enemy Is Us), a Common Wealth and Northern Stage co-production in association with Chapter and Southbank Centre, continues at Byker Community Centre until Saturday.

At Northern Stage this week on Wednesday in Stage 3, Ursula Martinez presents My Stories, Your Emails. In Stage 2 on Friday (11:00 and 6:00) and Saturday (1:30 and 4:30), Anders and Aurora stumble across an enchanted object and find themselves in the middle of an adventure in The Gingerbread Witch, a show for ages 4+. Finally in Stage 1 on Friday, Frisky and Mannish present PopLab in which they ask questions like, "how can Coldplay be so popular even though everyone you ask says they hate them?"

At Live Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday, Breach Theatre presents It’s True It’s True It’s True, which tells the story of the 1612 trial of Agostino Tassi for the rape of baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Blending myth, history and contemporary commentary, this is the story of how a woman took revenge through her art to become one of the most successful painters of her generation. In the Studio on Friday, Gameshow presents Nuclear Future, which previewed at the Elevator Festival 2018 and shines a light on how one person’s actions can lead to catastrophe for the whole planet. On Friday and Saturday, Box of Tricks presents Under Three Moons, which takes place on three nights across three decades of two friends’ lives; from a school trip to France as teenagers, to a surf shack in their twenties, to Christmas in their thirties (hear writer Daniel Kanaber and director Adam Quayle talking about this play in the BTG podcast).

On Wednesday at Alphabetti, Steve Arran presents another Shakespeare’s Speakeasy in which a group of actors meet for the first time to put on a Shakespeare play in a day. What the play is will only be revealed on the night. On Friday at 7:30, The Suggestibles' School of Improv presents For One Night Only followed by Improv Jam, where more improvisers from the School of Improv and the local scene get up to experiment and play together. Entry is free. Priority seating and/or to perform will be given to 4 1 Night Only ticket holders.

Freckle Productions present children's show Tabby McTat, from the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, at the Tyne Theatre and Opera House on Tuesday (11:30 and 4:00) and Wednesday (11:00 and 2:00).

On Friday (7:30) and Saturday (2:30), Ballet Cymru presents Romeo a Juliet at Dance City.

Motown the Musical continues at Sunderland Empire until Saturday.

At Arts Centre Washington on Thursday, Box Tale Soup present a new adaptation of Henry James’s disturbing story The Turn of the Screw, featuring puppetry and an original soundtrack. Then on Saturday, Find The River Productions presents There’s Someone Coming Through, a new comedy. Neville Vaughan, a celebrity psychic medium whose star has very much begun to fade in recent years, comes to the realisation that his career is in rapid decline which is beginning to affect his psychic ability.

On Thursday at the Phoenix Theatre in Blyth London Classic Theatre presents Pinter’s No Man’s Land.

This week at the Queen’s Hall in Hexham: on Monday (11:30 and 1:30), Andy Cannon presents Is This a Dagger? The Story of Macbeth, one of the TakeOff Festival shows. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, London Classic Theatre presents Pinter’s No Man’s Land, and on Thursday, Ballet Cymru presents Romeo a Juliet. On Friday, there are a few tickets left for An Evening with Eric and Ern, which is followed on Saturday by Dorian, a contemporary retelling by Proper Job Theatre Company of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Hormonal Housewives comes to Playhouse Whitley Bay on Monday.

The TakeOff Festival of children’s theatre plays in numerous NE venues, especially in County Durham, during the week. There are full details in our news story of 21 September.

There are four TakeOff shows at the Gala Theatre in Durham during the week.

Athol Fugard’s Playland is at the City Theatre, Durham from Thursday to Saturday.

Sky, for children aged 2–4 years, is at The Witham, Barnard Castle at 11:00 on Tuesday (Part of the TakeOff Festival).

Oi Frog and Friends, for ages 3+, is at Billingham Forum on Tuesday (1:30) and Wednesday (10:30 and 1:30).

Hormonal Housewives is at Middlesbrough Theatre on Tuesday, followed on Wednesday by Dracula: The Bloody Truth.

Theatre Hullabaloo is at the centre of the TakeOff Festival this week. Full details are in our news story of 21 September.

Kick in the Head Theatre presents Fagin at the Majestic Theatre, Darlington on Friday.

User Not Found is about our digital identities after we die. The show is performed in Harrogate Theatre Circle Bar: audience members receive a smartphone and a pair of headphones and are immersed in one man’s story as he’s faced with keeping or deleting his partner’s online existence. Then, inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s hair-raising horror story, The Body Snatcher runs from Wednesday to Saturday in the Studio.

In Harrogate's Royal Hall, the Russian State Ballet and Opera House presents The Nutcracker on Thursday and Swan Lake on Friday.

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