What's on in the North East

Published: 16 October 2016
Reporter: Peter Lathan

The Tempest (Birmingham Royal Ballet at Sunderland Empire)
Frankenstein (Blackeyed Theatre at the Queen's Hall, Hexham, and the Gala, Durham)
The Wisdom of a Fool

Mary Poppins continues at the Theatre Royal Newcastle until Sunday 29 October.

On Tuesday and Wednesday at 8PM, the Wardrobe Ensemble presents 1972: the Future of Sex, a brisk romp through the ins and outs of those awkward first sexual encounters, in Stage 2 at Northern Stage. From Monday to Saturday at 7PM, the Shakespeare Schools Festival runs in Stage 1, featuring performances from 24 schools from across the region.

The Paines Plough/Live Theatre production of Tom Wells’s Broken Biscuits continues at Live until Saturday.

At Alphabetti on Monday, Irish Theatre presents Bernard Shaw Invites You with Paddy O’Keeffe as GBS, celebrating Shaw’s 90th birthday on 26th July, 1946. Then from Thursday to Saturday Ben Norris presents The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Family, his debut solo show in which he shares his hitchhiking journey through his father's life.

Dance Edits at Dance City at 6PM on Thursday is an evening of new work by eight dance artists based in the North East. The pieces are all short (5 to 10 minutes). There are six different pieces commissioned by Dance City in a range of styles from Charlie Dearnley, Joelene English, Jennifer Essex, Robby Graham, Peter Kerry-Forbes, Alex Rowland, Peter Groom and Viv Wood.

Twenty Seven Live’s WYTCH at the Castle Keep in Newcastle runs until 31 October (no shows on 16, 20, 22, 29 and 30).

Birmingham Royal Ballet presents The Tempest at Sunderland Empire from Thursday to Saturday.

Sunderland Stages presents Southpaw Dance Company’s Faust on level 3 of St Mary’s Car Park in Sunderland city centre on Wednesday.

The new comedy Seriously Dead comes to South Shields Customs House on Thursday.

On Saturday at 7PM, Berwick Trades Council and Banner Theatre present Chicago: The Great Teachers' Strike in the Henry Travers Studio at The Maltings, Berwick.

On Friday Blackeyed Theatre brings a new stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to the Queen’s Hall in Hexham.

Immersion Theatre’s touring production of R C Sherriff’s Journey’s End comes to the Playhouse Whitley Bay at 1:30 and 7:30 on Thursday.

Blackeyed Theatre’s Frankenstein is at Durham’s Gala Theatre on Monday and Tuesday and then on Friday and Saturday there are two TakeOff Festival productions for young children: at 10:30AM and 1:30PM on Friday and 11:30AM and 2:30PM on Saturday, Fidget Theatre Company presents Molly’s Marvellous Moustache (for ages 3 to 7) and at 11AM and 1:30PM (and 3PM Saturday) it’s the turn of participatory dance show for age 6 months to 5 years, We Dance, Wee Groove.

At Middlesbrough Theatre on Thursday and Friday, Jack Lane performs his one-man show about Norman Wisdom, Wisdom of a Fool.

At Hartlepool Town Hall on Thursday, Rumpus Theatre Company presents H P Lovecraft's The Haunting of Exham Priory, based on the story The Rats in the Walls.

At ARC Stockton at 7PM on Thursday, SBC Theatre Company presents Tanja, a play about sex trafficking and asylum seeking. Then on Saturday at 11:30 and 2:30, Filskit Theatre performs Breaking the Ice (for ages 2 to 5), part of the TakeOff Festival.

Little Frankenstein, a puppet show about puppets for age 5+, comes to the Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond at 2PM on Saturday.

In the Studio at Harrogate Theatre from Wednesday to Saturday, 6:12 presents Guy Masterson’s one-man version of Animal Farm, adapted to be performed by two actors.

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Are you sure?