From Tuesday to Saturday, the Open Clasp and Live Theatre co-production don’t forget the birds, a follow-up to Key Change at the end of which four women walk towards the prison gates, comes to Live Theatre. This is the true story of what happened next for one of the original collaborators on Key Change, now released and working with Open Clasp, showing how prison took a mother from a daughter and their journey to find each other again.
At Alphabetti on Tuesday Open Heart Theatre presents Let Us Make It Up To You, its monthly improv show. This is followed on Wednesday by Shakespeare's Speakeasy which asks, "can a group of strangers successfully stage a Shakespearean play in a day?" Then on Friday, it’s Showaoke! which is karaoke with a piano instead of tracks and live backing singing. Finally at 8:30 on Saturday, The Suggestibles School of Improv presents Rat Race in which The Suggestibles play host to a very silly improv comedy gameshow where two teams of improvisers scramble to win the audience's laughter, applause and votes.
On Saturday at Dance City, to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People’s Act 1918 (where some women over 30+ won the right to vote in the UK), Abbott Dance Theatre presents Deeds Not Words, dance theatre highlighting and commemorating women’s suffrage in the UK.
At Sunderland Empire from Wednesday to Saturday, Horrible Histories presents The Terrible Tudors and The Awful Egyptians (various times).
At the Queen’s Hall in Hexham on Thursday, Choreocracy uses innovative mobile technology, enabling dance artist Tim Casson and BAFTA-winning digital artist Seb Lee-Delisle to give the audience control over the three highly-skilled dance performers in real-time—with no experience of dance required. Then on Thursday, Half Moon present an immersive production, Off the Grid, about brother and sister Connor and Kelly who share the same birthday, but ten years apart. Since the disappearance of their parents, when Kelly was three, they have been dependent on each other for survival. But what happens when you discover you've made the wrong decision? Forced to back down, do you sacrifice your beliefs in order to stay together? The audience stands during this 60 minute production.
The Gala, Durham, panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, opens on Thursday and runs until 5 January (various times).
Chapterhouse Theatre brings its version of A Christmas Carol to Consett Empire on Friday.
The Russian State Ballet and Opera House presents Swan Lake at Billingham Forum on Wednesday.
On Monday from noon to 5:00 at ARC Stockton, it’s ARCADE Platform, an opportunity for artists to test new work and ideas in front of an audience of peers and venue programmers. This event will consist of six pieces of work in progress performance split across two sessions.
Cilla - the Musical comes to Darlington Hippodrome from Tuesday to Saturday.
Drip Drop Theatre presents Pecking Order, a new musical featuring 15 original songs accompanied by a live band, on Wednesday at All Saints, Kirkby Overblow, on Thursday at St John's, Sharrow, on Friday at the Town Hall, Ripley and on Saturday at The Mechanics Hall, Kirkby Malzeard (all North Yorkshire). 17-year-old Amy and her parents have moved from the city to rural North Yorkshire but how can she find her place in the rural pecking order? Tickets from Harrogate Theatre box office.