What's on in the North East

Published: 14 October 2018
Reporter: Peter Lathan

The Three Musketeers (Theatre Royal, Newcastle)
Clear White Light (Live Theatre, Newcastle)
Alice: The Lost Chapter (Queen's Hall, Hexham)

Northern Ballet brings The Three Musketeers to the Theatre Royal, Newcastle from Wednesday to Saturday.

The Lovely Bones continues at Northern Stage until Saturday. In Stage 3 from Tuesday to Thursday, Unlimited and RashDash present Future Bodies, bringing together science fact and fiction in a kaleidoscopic montage of words, music and movement (listen to our interview with co-creator Helen Goalen in the BTG podcast). This is followed on Friday by Playing Up 8, an evening of new writing from the region.

Live Theatre this week presents the world première of Clear White Light, written by Paul Sirett with the songs of Alan Hull of Lindisfarne, a contemporary retelling of a classic gothic story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher set against a background of cuts to the 70-year-old NHS. It runs from Thursday until 10 November.

At Alphabetti from Tuesday to Friday, Manic Chord Theatre presents The Economy of Ecology, a story about human relationships, communications and our impact on the natural world in which, travelling on a crowded plane, Steve feels dislocated and alone. In a world of touch screens and social robots, he has lost the ability to make meaningful bonds with other people. Then on Saturday, Open Heart Theatre presents the October edition of their monthly improv show Let Us Make It Up To You.

On Thursday and Friday, Timeworks Productions presents Frankenstein: A Gothic Creation, linking together the story of Frankenstein and that of his creator Mary Shelley, in the Castle Keep in Newcastle.

At Dance City on Saturday, Peter Groom presents Go Away Johnny, a blend of dance, theatre and performance exploring the nature of memory.

At Arts Centre Washington, Baby Love Productions presents Love Songs, a new play by NE writer Tom Kelly.

On Thursday at St Gabriel’s Church Hall, Kayll Road, Sunderland, Shobanna Jeyasingh Dance presents Contagion which commemorates the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed more people than the First World War itself. This Sunderland Stages production is a standing only performance.

On Monday at the Customs House in South Shields, Baby Love Productions premières Love Songs by Tom Kelly prior to a short regional tour. The play is itself set on a 'sixties tribute tour in which the seeds of romance are slowly starting to grow for two singers.

Northern Stage’s production of The War of the Worlds moves to the Phoenix Theatre in Blyth on Thursday.

At the Baptist Church, Golden Square, Berwick-upon-Tweed, on Thursday, The Wilson's Tales Project presents Tales of Torment!, stories from Berwick's own 19th century literary sensation—Wilson's Tales of the Borders—re-presented for the 21st century, including The Domestic Griefs of Gustavus McIvor—Wilson’s Tales meets the Jeremy Kyle Show in a new play by Alice Dobie. Tickets are available from The Maltings box office.

On Wednesday at the Queen’s Hall in Hexham, Joelene English Dance Theatre presents Alice: The Lost Chapter in which dance, film and theatre performance takes the onlooker through the subconscious mind of Alice.

On Sunday at 1:00 and 3:30 at Playhouse Whitley Bay, Big Wooden Horse presents MONSTERSAURUS!, a show full of thrills, spills, magic and mayhem with original music and plenty of audience participation. Suitable for ages 3+.

Three pieces of new writing and an all-female comedy sketch group make up the programme of Next Up, Durham Gala’s seasonal showcase of new work from the region on Tuesday. Tickets are free. Then on Wednesday at 1:30 and 4:30, Freckle Productions presents children’s show Tabby McTat.

At Bishop Auckland Town Hall on Wednesday, National Production Company presents Jekyll and Hyde.

Also on Wednesday at The Witham in Barnard Castle in When Did You Stop Dancing? Rachel wants to tell you a story. A true story. The story of the dancing plague of 1518. A story of 100s of women dancing in the streets. And not stopping. She also wants to tell you that in 2018 everybody is welcome on our streets but she can’t do that because, she said she’d tell the truth.

On Friday at 8:30 in Ward Jackson Park, Hartlepool, Periplum presents The Glass Ceiling, a new visual theatre work marking 100 years since the first British women were given the right to vote. Inspired by the suffragettes and suffragists, the show celebrates activists from the Tees Valley region. The event is free and non-ticketed.

At Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre on Sunday at 2:30, Théâtre Sans Frontières presents A Frog Called Woânda for ages 5 to 10. This performance is in English.

At ARC Stockton at 7:00 on Wednesday, Peter Groom presents Go Away Johnny, a blend of dance, theatre and performance exploring the nature of memory.

There are two shows this week at The Hullabaloo in Darlington. On Tuesday and Wednesday (various times), No Show (for age 7+) deconstructs superhuman circus performers and shows them as vulnerable and human. This is a production that puts female strength, skill and power centre stage and is a show for anyone who has tried, failed and failed better. Then on Friday and Saturday (various times), M6 Theatre and Andy Manley present a show for ages 3+, Little Gift, a story about an old soul who lives alone because he likes it that way. It’s quieter and safer. Then, one day, a surprise visitor plants a little seed of hope and turns this lonely life upside down.

On Tuesday, Cap-a-Pie’s production The Important Man comes to Harrogate Library at 8:00. Tickets are available from Harrogate Theatre’s box office.

At Harrogate Theatre, the Harrogate Comedy Festival continues until Saturday.

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