Baked in highlights for 2025
While there's so much cultural activity yet to reveal itself in the coming year, there are many exciting things which we already know are en route in 2025. Here's a dozen to get your diaries excited
S&DR200… marking the birth of rail for passenger transport
To unravel that cryptic title, this is an ambitious nine-month festival – long in the planning – to celebrate the birth of rail travel, which is to say the 200th anniversary of the first journey on the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Delivered by Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees borough councils and Durham County Council, it is also part of Railway 200, a nationwide campaign celebrating 200 years of train travel.
The festival team has been working with renowned artists, makers, filmmakers, curators, historians and local communities to create what they promise will be a rich and varied programme across County Durham and Tees Valley.
A spectacular opening event, using technology, live performance and drones to tell the story of innovation which led to the first passenger railway and beyond, is scheduled for March 29 at Bishop Auckland.
From April, Hopetown Darlington will present a display of early locomotives while Locomotion at Shildon will host an exhibition of ‘Railway Firsts’.
Meanwhile Preston Park Museum and Grounds will be the place to see nationally important artworks related to the railways.
Check the S&DR200 website for updates.
Making Sunderland’s music a matter of Public Record
An exciting new show is set to celebrate the musical heritage of Sunderland in April.
Developed through a creative collaboration between the National Theatre, Sunderland Culture and Sunderland Empire, Public Record will feature more than 100 community performers alongside professional musicians and dancers.
It is set to turn the city’s Fire Station venue into a recording studio where a new album will be created, billed as ‘a portrait of the city through its people’.
Featuring original music by Ross Millard of The Futureheads, each of the 13 tracks will reflect an aspect of life in the city. One of the songs has been written in memory of young Sunderland singer songwriter, Faye Fantarrow who died from a rare brain tumour in 2023.
Helen Green, Sunderland Culture’s head of performance, says: “Sunderland, nor anywhere else, has ever seen anything like it. Public Record is something unique and extraordinary.
“Each of the tracks explores a theme – from birth to death and everything in between. There will be music and dancing, karaoke and DJs and a house band featuring – among others – Ross, and Dave and Peter Brewis from Field Music
“It is original, exciting and very emotional and we know people will leave The Fire Station having enjoyed an amazing experience – but also feeling very proud of our Music City.”
There will be four performances of Public Record at The Fire Station from April 25 to 27. Tickets are on sale now.
Champion… a show that promises to pack a punch
1977 was quite a year for high profile Americans visiting Tyneside.
The late US President Jimmy Carter came in May of that year and was followed in the summer by Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight boxing champ who was revered around the world.
Ali was persuaded to come by Johnny Walker, a painter and decorator – and ex-boxer – from South Tyneside and he was duly given the superstar treatment.
He was taken on an open-top bus ride around South Shields, gave a speech and even visited the Al Azhar Mosque with his new wife, Veronica, so they could have their marriage blessed.
Everywhere he went, there were adoring crowds, keen to get a glimpse or catch a word – and Ali, in turn, adored a crowd. He could turn a phrase as deftly as he could land a punch.
But how will all this manifest itself in the eagerly awaited new play by Ishy Din, the one-time cab driver turned award-winning playwright from Middlesbrough?
He has touched on sport before, in his debut play Snookered, about four young British Muslim friends reunited in a snooker hall, but his concept of winning and losing tends to extend beyond the competitive arena.
Champion, billed as a searing new drama showing the effect of Ali’s visit on a mixed-race family in South Shields, is to have its world premiere at Live Theatre on Newcastle Quayside on Thursday, February 13, running until March 8.
North Shields 800… the story of a riverside town
A year of celebration is promised as the town on the Tyne turns 800, having grown from a village of riverside huts called ‘shiels’ to today’s community of some 35,000.
Events, exhibitions and performances are on the agenda including reminders of North Shields’ role as a fishing port. A parade of sail, a blessing of the fishing fleet and a Fish Quay parade are planned, along with an event to mark the 140th anniversary of Northumberland Park.
North Tyneside Council and the North Shields 800 committee, representing various sectors, hope to inspire pride in the town, raise its profile and increase visitor numbers.
Ambitious regeneration projects nearing completion include the Riverside Embankment Walkway, linking the town centre to the Fish Quay; the restoration of Northumberland Square conservation area, the Exchange Theatre and Howard Street; the creation of a new Transport Hub and Thomas Brown Town Square; a series of public art installations; and improvements to the Bedford Street shopping area.
Sam Fender’s hat trick at St James’
It’s already waiting list only for North Shields music star, Sam Fender’s three night residency at his beloved St James’ Park in June.
And thousands were added to it last month (Dec) after the 30-year-old was forced to pull out of his December gig at the Utilita Arena on doctor’s orders to guard against permanent damage to his vocal chords.
The summer gigs will follow the release of Fender’s third album, People Watching, which is out on February 21, and it they’re anything like his last live gigs at the home of Newcastle United, the city will have a pretty special energy for the duration.
As we’ve pointed out before, we couldn’t help noticing there’s a rest day in between the confirmed dates on June 12, 14 and 15. Those still hoping to bag some tickets wil be hoping that it’ll be a case of lucky 13.
Wheels start turning for Sunday For Sammy silver anniversary return
At the end of last year - seems so long ago, doesn’t it? - a save-the-date teaser was sent out by the Sunday for Sammy Trust, trailing a year of events to mark the 25th anniversary of the popular Geordie fundraiser.
The last of biennial gigs - held in the name of late North East actor, Sammy Johnson to raise money for the region’s up-and-coming performers and creatives - took place at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena in February 2020, just weeks before the first Covid lockdown.
As ever, an army of North East performers took to the stage for what had become known as the Geordie Command Performance.
Since then, organisers, including founder Tim Healy and show producer, Ray Laidlaw have been looking for ways to bring the event back. And it sounds like the quarter of a century marker will be the time to do it.
On February 6, ‘exciting news’ will be shared at a Breakfast for Sammy event, laying out plans for its return.
Lit & Phil 200… bicentenary of a much-loved landmark
A year-long programme of events is planned to mark the 200th anniversary of the venerable Lit & Phil library which opened in 1825 as the home of the Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne (founded: 1793).
One to look out for is the ‘Inspired By…’ series of lectures delivered by scientists and researchers at Northumbria University in response to ones given by 19th and 20th Century speakers with titles such as Recent Astronomical Discoveries (1857-8), The Detective Story (1928) and Why Read Modern Poetry? (1937).
The Lit & Phil are also seeking sponsors for a dramatic monologue, Mrs Affleck’s Affliction, inspired by a woman who worked in the building in its early years, which is to be presented as part of a bicentenary birthday party on July 18, 2025.
Laura and Rachel Lancaster… Baltic showing for artist twins
Among the exhibitions opening at Baltic Centre Contemporary Art in 2025 is this treat for people who love paintings.
It is billed as the first institutional exhibition displaying the sisters’ work together and shows you don’t have to cross continents to find exceptional art for a Tyneside venue of international renown – crossing one river will do it.
The Lancasters, who grew up in the North East and studied at Northumbria University, share a studio in the Ouseburn Valley, just over the Tyne from Baltic.
Laura’s work centres on the figure, often abstracting its presence, and inspiration is taken from found photographs, cine film and slides of strangers. The results are often shimmering and surreal.
Rachel uses painting as a means to slow down the act of looking, focusing the gaze on often overlooked scenes. She depicts detailed fragments of imagery disconnected from greater narratives, revealing beauty and quiet spectacle.
Both are superb painters, as you will see when the exhibition opens in Baltic’s Northumbria University Gallery, Level 3, on April 12, running until October 12, 2025.
Royal Northern Sinfonia at The Glasshouse
Our professional chamber orchestra gets around the region and further afield but hearing it perform at home, in the big concert hall of The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead, is the bee’s knees.
And which of its scheduled concerts there in 2025 will create a buzz?
It’s down to personal choice, of course, but a performance of the beautiful Fauré Requiem – climax of a concert dedicated to the work of the French composer on February 16 – stands out early in the year.
Roderick Williams (baritone) and Hilary Cronin (soprano) are the soloists and Sofi Jeannin will conduct the orchestra with the RNS Chorus directed by Tim Burke.
But if you like to see our versatile orchestra beneath the big screen look out for it providing the famous soundtrack to Singin’ in the Rain on March 30 and Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (100 years old in 2025) on April 6.
And as if they can’t get films out of their system, the orchestra and Chorus will reconvene on May 4 to perform epic Star Wars scores by John Williams – in fancy dress and with film buff Stephen Bell conducting.
Miss Saigon… one not to be missed in Newcastle
A new production of the 1980 blockbuster musical is to open at the Theatre Royal on October 4, running for three weeks before heading off on an extensive tour.
The show’s company, assembled by Michael Harrison in association with Cameron Mackintosh, will actually be in the city prior to that, putting the finishing touches to this new telling of the story.
From the same creative team as Les Misérables, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, it tells a dramatic story of love and betrayal set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.
The stirring numbers in a show whose plot is based loosely on the opera Madame Butterfly, include The Movie in My Mind and The American Dream.
Key roles include Kim, a 17-year-old Vietnamese girl, American marine sergeant Chris Scott, who falls for her, and ‘Engineer’, the sleazy boss of the nightclub where Kim works.
Casting details are yet to be released but Michael Harrison, who produces the hugely successful Theatre Royal panto, promises a memorable spectacle and he’s known to deliver on promises.
Bookings and more info via the Theatre Royal website.
10th anniversary North East tour for Hadaway Harry
A decade since the story of Victorian sporting superstar, Harry Clasper was told on the stages across the North East, the production is returning for a special regional tour.
Award-winning actor, Jamie Brown is back in the leading role, telling the story of a working class pitman from Jarrow who became multiple rowing champion of the world.
Crowned the King of the Thames and the Tyne, the Blaydon Races was written for him while 130,000 people attended funeral.
Written by Ed Waugh, the one-man play gathered five star reviews and accolades after its first outing, which included national dates as well as extensive North East ones.
For the 10th anniversary, a raft of performances have been booked all over the region from February 5-22. Visit the website for a full list of dates and booking details.
28 Years Later released in cinemas
North East cinema goers who go and see Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later this summer will get more out of the film than most… because they can play games of ‘spot the location’ and ‘spot the supporting artist’ in amongst the dystopian and apocalyptic action.
The film - the third in an unsettling trilogy following 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later - was shot in and around Northumberland and the wider North East throughout 2024.
Trailer note: IT’S A HORROR FILM, so proceed with caution.
Hundreds of people from the region signed up to be involved - and they’ll all be able to see what, where and who made the cut when the film is released on June 20.
In other film news, we might see Berwick appearing in another much-anticipated sequel in the next year or so.
The follow up to the cult classic mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap is currently being filmed, with director Rob Reiner revealing a bit about what the key members of the band David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) have been up to.
In an interview with film magazine Empire, Reiner says, "Nigel has been running a cheese and guitar shop in Berwick-upon-Tweed. He’s also been performing with a local folk band in the village that play penny whistle and mandolin, and he plays electric guitar with them. We show a little clip of that.”