Opera North returns to Newcastle's Theatre Royal this week with Verdi's La Traviata (Wednesday and Friday), Smetana's The Bartered Bride (Tuesday and Thursday) and Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea (Saturday).
At Northern Stage, The Shakespeare Schools' Festival runs from Tuesday to Saturday and on Saturday, the theatre's Christmas show for the under-6s, The Christmas Grump, opens, running until 3 January.
There are two preview shows of Caroline Horton's Islands prior to its London opening at Live Theatre on Friday and Saturday.
Red Road Dance Theatre presents The Sense of an Ending, the first full-length dance piece by local choreographer Nadia Iftkhar and commissioned by Dance City, at Dance City on Saturday.
Riverdance runs at Sunderland Empire from Monday to Saturday, followed on Ha Ha Hood on Sunday.
At Arts Centre Washington on Tuesday (10:30 and 1:30), Thingumajig Theatre presents puppet show A November Day, a story of World War 1 for age 10+. Then on Thursday the venue presents its regular scratch night, Greenhouse.
On Wednesday, Sunderland Stages presents Rashdash in Oh I Can't Be Bothered at the Bonded Warehouse, University of Sunderland Students Union.
On Friday at 4PM, Tall Stories presents Emily Brown and the Thing for age 3+.
On Tuesday at 1:30, Théâtre Sans Frontières brings Heaven Eyes to the Phoenix Theatre in Blyth, followed on Friday evening by Two Bit Classic’s Pride and Prejudice.
On Monday and Tuesday, it's The Shakespeare Schools' Festival at the Playhouse Whitley Bay.
From Tuesday to Thursday (various times) children's show Room on the Broom comes to Billingham Forum.
Tall Stories' Emily Brown and the Thing comes to ARC Stockton on Saturday.
Nicholas Wright's stage version of Pat Barker's Regeneration is at Darlington Civic Thetare from Tuesday to Saturday.
The Shakespeare Schools Festival is at the Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, on Tuesday.