On Tuesday and Wednesday, SPID Theatre presents The Burning Tower by Helena Thompson, an interactive response to the Grenfell Tower. The show explores the history of social housing in order to make sense of the tragedy. Inspired by interviews with those affected, it happens site-specifically at Meadowell Connected, a community hub serving local residents from Riverside and Chirton Wards of North Tyneside and beyond and based at The Meadows, Waterville Rd, North Shields. Tickets for the two shows, at 1:30 on Tuesday and 4:30 on Wednesday, are £10 and available from Northern Stage.
From Tuesday to Saturday in Stage 3 at Northern Stage, The Royal Court Writers’ Group: North, organised by The Royal Court, New Writing North and Northern Stage, presents rehearsed readings of nine new plays by northern writers. Full details and the performance schedule are in our news story of 19 August.
From Tuesday to Friday at Alphabetti, Jess Green presents Burning Books, a look at an education system buckling under government cuts and targets, a story of protest and the teachers who choose to fight back. On Friday at 6:30 in the upstairs rehearsal room, Circ Motif presents The Art of Cuddling and Other Things for age 11+, a show which explores topics such as human touch, connection, loneliness and isolation using high level acrobatics, dance and theatre, combining art forms to produce images that "allow us to look into ourselves and each other".
At Sage Gateshead on Saturday at 2:00, Breaking Tradition presents Quest. See our news story for full details.
Wicked runs at Sunderland Empire from Thursday until 29 September.
On Saturday at 11:00 and 2:00, Noisy Oyster present The DaSilva Marionette Circus Troupe for age 3+ at Arts Centre Washington. See our news story for full details.
At ARC Stockton on Thursday, Steelworks Theatre Company presents the première of Gordon Steel’s new play, The Fulstow Boys. For details of the play, see our news story of 27 June.
On Friday and Saturday, The Great Joe Wilson, a new play about the 18th century NE songwriter, comes to Darlington Hippodrome.
On Sunday at 2:00, The DaSilva Marionette Circus Troupe comes to the Majestic Theatre in Darlington.
The Russian State Opera returns to Harrogate Royal Hall on Monday with Carmen and on Tuesday with La Traviata.
From Tuesday until Saturday, the specially created Harrogate Rep Company will perform the first of three different plays in three weeks, Marc Camoletti’s Boeing Boeing. Meanwhile in The Studio on Tuesday, Proto-type Theatre presents The Audit (Or Iceland, a Modern Myth), the story of how, when the global economy collapsed in a mess, a nation raised their voices in protest and railed against the currents. Then on Friday, writer and performer Cheryl Martin presents Who Wants To Live Forever? about one woman’s life-long love for Billie Holiday’s music, for the stars and for her lost baby brother.