What's on in the North East

Published: 15 March 2020
Reporter: Peter Lathan

The Taming of the Shrew (RSC at Newcastle Theatre Royal)
Here (Northern Stage)
FRESH NE (Dance City)
Beautiful - The Carole King Musical (Sunderland Empire) Credit: Helen Maybanks
Smile Club (Arts Centre Washington) Credit: Robling Photography
VERVE (Queen's Hall, Hexham)
The Cat and the Canary (Darlington Hippodrome)

The Royal Shakespeare Company continues at Newcastle Theatre Royal with As You Like It on Thursday, Measure for Measure on Friday and Saturday, and The Taming of the Shrew on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Pull the Trigger, a show about queer discovery set in an Indian corner shop, an unsettling journey of what it means to be queer and Indian, a shopkeeper and artist comes to Stage 3 at Northern Stage on Wednesday at 8:00. Then in Stage 2 from Thursday until 28 March, Northern Stage & Curious Monkey present Here, new play set in Byker by Lindsay Rodden, which is about finding sanctuary in the unlikeliest of places, about dancing on rooftops, blossom in winter and rewriting the story of the city as your own. It’s a story of two best friends with a library card and the power they summon through friendship and books to make something magical. To say WE WERE HERE.

At Live Theatre this week, the Elevator Festival continues with, from Tuesday to Thursday, Getting Away With It by Ed Edwards, directed by Cressida Brown, set in 1981, with hunger strikes in Ireland, mass uprisings in Britain and rebellion everywhere, and Dawn, by Rachael McGill, directed by Ruth Mary Johnson and performed by Hannah Walker, the story of a hairdresser who likes to rap and whose life changes after an unexpected encounter and the discovery of a surprising skill. Then on Friday and Saturday, there‘s another double bill: Snatched, co-devised by Melissa Johns (who is also the lead performer) and Lily Levin, who also directs. In 2018, disabled actor Melissa Johns's iCloud was hacked and explicit photos of her released online. A young disabled woman with a history of body dysmorphia comes to terms with her body becoming public property. This is coupled with Magic Bus, written and performed by Sian Armstrong. It’s 1978. Simon, a 17-year-old lad from Yorkshire, is running away from home on the Magic Bus, a pirate bus service that travels the world.

At Alphabetti from Tuesday to Thursday, Operating Theatre presents Deep Mind and the Great Puzzle, which examines the impact of technology on the human body and the human mind. In the future, will we be able to call ourselves human? Will we want to? On Saturday at 7:30, Alphabetti and PP Productions present The 40 Kola Comedy Rola, a high-octane live comedy sketch show / competition set in a mock-wrestling ring. Then at 9:30, The Suggestibles' School of Improv presents Rat Race, a knockout impro comedy game show fought out between two teams of improvisers.

At Dance City on Thursday at 7:00 (free refreshments from 6:30), five North East dance artists—Uncaged Aerial Theatre, Chris Fonseca, Lorraine Smith, Dora Rubenstein & Jane Park and Catherine Muckle—will present new works in progress at scratch platform FRESH North East.

From Tuesday to Saturday Beautiful—The Carole King Musical comes to Sunderland Empire.

On Thursday, Smile Club, set in a dystopian future where a government drive exists to tame unruly women, a satirical new one-woman show from writer-performer Andrea Heaton (Fidget Theatre) and writer Adam Z Robinson (Shivers, The Book of Darkness and Light), comes to Arts Centre Washington.

At The Customs House in South Shields on Wednesday and Thursday at 8:00, it’s The Return of the Revenge of Tommy in which former children’s entertainer and now director of the Customs House Tommy the Trumpeter, aka Ray Spencer, recreates his famous Tommy’s Parties but for a strictly adult audience. Then on Friday, there's a double bill of Macho and One of The Lads, in which Michael Heatley from Hit the Ground Running Dance Company has been exploring concepts of masculinity, mental health and stigma through dance and physical theatre with a group of young men from Epinay School.

VERVE, the internationally touring postgraduate company of Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD), brings a programme of four new works to The Queen's Hall in Hexham on Thursday.

At 7:00 on Saturday at The Exchange, North Shields, the North East Stephen Sondheim Theatre presents Birthday Bash, celebrating Sondheim’s 90th Birthday.

On Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 and 2:00, Freckle Productions and Rose Theatre Kingston present Zog by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler at The Gala Theatre in Durham.

On Tuesday and Wednesday (various times) The Tiger Who Came to Tea (for ages 3+) comes to Billingham Forum.

On Thursday at 7:00, at ARC Stockton, Vital Xposure presents Medicine's Monstrous Daughters, two plays by Julie McNamara and Omikemi, inspired by real life events, woven together across time to expose unpalatable truths about the treatment of people deemed ‘different’ or ‘damaged’ and ask, how much of our humanity do we lose in search of the cure? Then on Saturday at 11:30 and 2:30, Shaper Caper presents Paper Moon (for the under-5s). The moonlight is beautiful, shining across the bedroom floor as Poppy Diddle dozes off. But is all as calm as it seems? Suddenly, Poppy wakes up to discover that the MoonMoo (the cow that jumped over the moon) has got stuck on the Moon! Poppy’s mission is clear. And she really needs your help to rescue MoonMoo.

On Wednesday, NTC brings Angels of the North to Middlesbrough Theatre and on Thursday, Beyond Eternity presents The Wit and Songs of Noël Coward, performed by Peter Gill.

From Tuesday to Saturday, Britt Ekland, Mark Jordon, Ben Nealon and Marti Webb star in The Classic Thriller Company's production of The Cat and the Canary at Darlington Hippodrome.

On Thursday, Round the Horne, based on original scripts by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, comes to Harrogate Theatre.

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