What's on in the North East

Published: 11 March 2018
Reporter: Peter Lathan

The Bobby Thompson Story (Theatre Royal, Newcastle)
Leviathan (Queen's Hall, Hexham)
Aston's Stones (Theatre Hullabaloo)

At Newcastle’s Theatre Royal on Tuesday and Wednesday Ballet British Columbia presents a triple bill of 16 + a room by artistic director Emily Molnar inspired by the work of Jeanette Winterson and Emily Dickinson, Solo Echo by Sadler's Wells Associate Artist and former Ballet BC dancer Crystal Pite and Bill by Tel Aviv-based choreographer Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar. Then on Friday and Saturday, Pete Peverley revives his Bobby Thompson Story for the 30th anniversary of the popular NE comedian’s death.

Sting's musical play The Last Ship, about the demise of shipbuilding in his home town of Wallsend, has its UK premiere at Northern Stage from Monday until 7 April.

It’s the Elevator Festival of new writing at Live Theatre this week, with a double bill of Spoon Theory by Rebekah Bowsher and Rat Boy by Christina Dawson and Lee Mattinson on Tuesday, Paper.Scissors. Stone.—a work-in-progress by Katie Bonna on Wednesday, a scratch night of Composed by Rosa Postlethwaite, Preconceived by Jonluke McKie, Two Heads, One Shirt by Jake Jarratt & Andrea Scrimshaw, The Crowd by Kate Craddock and Shine by Kema Sikazwe on Thursday and Nuclear Future presented by Gameshow on Friday and Saturday.

On Tuesday at Alphabetti, there will be a rehearsed reading of short plays developed during the Write Something workshops over the last six weeks. On Wednesday and Thursday, Me Me Me Theatre presents Clonely, a nonsense existential sci-fi party, a blend of theatre, comedy and sci-fi with DIY props. On Friday, Curious Arts presents Curious Festival Fundraiser, a night of queer cabaret and comedy to launch Curious Arts 2018 programme. Finally on Saturday, Alphabetti Theatre invites you to “join us for Paddy's Night Parlour Games to raise funds to replace our stolen tools!”

On Friday, the Breaking Tradition Dance Company brings the comical new version of its folk and hip hop dance show The Lock In Folk Fairy Tale to the Tyne Theatre & Opera House.

Best in the World from Unfolding Theatre, in which performer Alex Elliott takes audiences on a journey to discover what it really means to be ‘best in the world’, comes to Daltons Suite at the Customs House in South Shields on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, James Wilton Dance brings Leviathan to the Queen’s Hall in Hexham. On Thursday, Théâtre Sans Frontières presents La Chanson du Retour, an interactive theatre performance in simple French for 8- to 12-year-olds with funky songs, rhythms and raps.

On Friday, Blackeyed Theatre, in association with South Hill Park, presents The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at Middlesbrough Theatre.

Lighthouse, which comes to ARC Stockton on Wednesday at 7:00, is the third and final professional piece of disabled-led theatre commissioned by Cultural Shift and written and directed by Vici Wreford-Sinnott. It tells the story of a d/Deaf mother and daughter, exploring the tensions and comforts within, and is performed by two d/Deaf actors in both BSL and English. Then on Thursday at 8:00, a combined cast of professional and community performers presents Of Rogues and Of Honest Men, the history of Teesside from the viewpoint of the Irish Community who made their way to the area in the wake of the Great Famine.

From Monday to Wednesday, A Spoonful of Sherman, celebrating the life and music of multi-award-winning Disney songwriters The Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh), Tin Pan Alley songwriter Al Sherman (writer for artists including Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald) and present day composer Robert J Sherman comes to Darlington Hippodrome.

On Saturday (11:00 and 1:30) and Sunday (11:00) Teater Pero presents Aston's Stones, for age 3 to 7, at Theatre Hullabaloo in Darlington. Aston is a little dog who wants to take care of all the stones he can find. Some are big and some are small. One is sad, another feels cold. All of them need to be taken care of.

At the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond on Friday, Odd Doll takes a trip to the seaside in puppet and clown show Seaside Terror, featuring evil seagulls, zombie donkeys, and bingo hairballs.

At Harrogate Theatre on Tuesday, Dryad Productions presents Jane Eyre: An Autobiography and on Wednesday and Thursday Blackeyed Theatre brings The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.

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