Culture Digest 05.04.25
Our regular (if slightly late*) round up of some of the arts and culture stories from across the North East, which caught our attention over the past seven (or eight!) days
*Apologies for the 24-hour delay on getting this week’s Culture Digest out to you. I spent yesterday afternoon and evening hosting and nattering with the cast and production crew of new 5 drama series, The Feud, which was all shot in Newcastle. More on that below. A separate piece on how bloody lovely Larry Lamb is, is highly likely to follow at some point soon. Normal Friday service will be resumed next week.
Folio, folio, where for art thou folio?
Durham University’s copy of the First Folio took centre stage at the Palace Green Library this week as a new exhibition opened to the public.
Shakespeare Recovered explores what happened when the literary treasure - a copy of the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623 - was stolen and found again between 1998 and 2008… and how it is being preserved.
Amongst the Folio’s 36 plays are 18, such as Twelfth Night, Anthony and Cleopatra, The Tempest and Macbeth, which would have been lost to history, along with their enduring influence on the English language.
The exhibition is on until November 2. Tickets - which are free but need to be booked - are being released in seven-week blocks.
Read more: Curated Culture 01.04.25 - Our what’s on recommendations
Preview screening of The Feud is a friendly affair
New domestic thriller, The Feud isn’t scheduled to hit our screens until later this month, but a special event in Newcastle gave those involved in making it happen the chance to get a preview.
Snow White in Get Carter’s footsteps
Ever-inventive dance company balletLORENT is venturing into feature film territory, reimagining its Benwell base as ‘Benywood’ - after Hollywood - and claiming to be following in the footsteps of Get Carter.
The Mike Hodges thriller, they say, was partly shot in Benwell in 1971 with a Victorian terraced house on Frank Street, long since demolished, serving as the home of Jack Carter’s brother (Carter being the gangster memorably played by Michael Caine).
Benwell is perhaps the only thing in common between Get Carter and balletLORENT’s Snow White: The Sacrifice, an 80-minute screen version of the dance company’s stage show of the same name.
But with tongue possibly in cheek, the company reckons the Newcastle suburb of Benwell has been overlooked by filmmakers for far too long.
A tribute to John Fox of Welfare State
The artist, poet, filmmaker and musician John Fox died at home at The Beach House, near Ulverston, Cumbria, on March 14.
Read more: Review - Goodnight Mister Tom, The People’s Theatre
When David Almond joined Clare Balding for a blowy Bamburgh walk
A delightful episode of BBC Radio Four series, Ramblings featuring North East author, David Almond came to our attention this week.
First broadcast in 2024, the recording finds David joining presenter Clare Balding on a very windy day on the Northumberland coast.
During their chat, which takes them from Seahouses to Bamburgh Castle, the multi-award-winning and internationally-celebrated children’s writer, who brought the world Skellig more than quarter of a century ago, talks about a landscape which has long inspired his writing.
Lovely way to spend half an hour if you didn’t catch it first time around. Listen here.
Work of Tyneside photo artist goes to auction
Born on Tyneside in 1856, Lyddell Sawyer went on to play a key role in transforming photography into an art form.
Rosie Ramsey signs on for Newcastle Theatre Royal fundraiser
Performer and record-breaking podcaster, Rosie Ramsey is the latest North East star to be added to the line-up of Something in the Water - two performances of top drawer entertainment at the Theatre Royal on May 18.
Presented by singer and musical theatre star, Joe McElderry - with funk-soul outfit, groovetrain serving as a pretty special house band - the event promises to ‘blend the charm of cabaret-style revue with a live music concert’
Rosie, who co-hosts award-winning podcast Shagged. Married, Annoyed with her husband, comedian Chris Ramsey, will join the already-announced bill which includes host Steph McGovern, Sonny Tennet and Jill Halfpenny.
Proceeds from the show will be donated to Newcastle Theatre Royal Trust and North East Music Opportunities (NEMO) CIC to help more children and young people experience music and the performing arts.
Tickets for both performances on May 18 are available from the Theatre Royal website.
Late artist’s work to be auctioned
The chance arises this month to acquire a painting by a talented artist whose career was cut short – and in so doing support health and wellbeing projects at a North East gallery.
Rashida Davison, who founded the Globe Gallery in North Shields, has championed the work of the late Stephen McGinty since being approached by his brother, Graham, who had been alerted to work she’d done to raise awareness of mental health issues.
Stephen struggled with his own mental health and abandoned his fine art studies at Newcastle University after two years when he became too ill to proceed.
He died in 2016 at just 56, following a severe reaction to long-term medication.
An exhibition at the Globe will be open until April 16 when an auction of his work will take place.
Cast on board for Dogs on the Metro
Rehearsals for the play which caught the attention of judges for the inaugural North East Playwriting Award get underway in the next few days - and Live Theatre has revealed the cast who will bring winner Emilie Robson’s characters to life.
South Shields actor, Sarah Balfour (Dead Canny) and Wallsend’s Dean Logan* (Gerry & Sewell) will play friends Jen and Dean as we follow their journeys back and forth on the Metro system over a series of days, months and years in a “gripping portrait of young lives”.
The play, which will premiere at Live from May 1 to 17, will be directed by Maria Crocker.
Live Theatre’s artistic director, Jack McNamara said: “From its very first line it’s clear that Dogs On The Metro is written by a major new voice.
“The dialogue is electrifying and deeply of the region. To pull something off this sharp, focused and intense you need a star director and two star actors and luckily we have all three here in Maria, Sarah and Dean."
Tickets and more information available from www.live.org.uk
*Point of interest: The casting of Dean in Dogs on the Metro follows his Gerry and Sewell co-star Jack Robertson play one of three roles in Live’s recent premiere production, Champion.
Award for North East audio play
Newcastle-based Gabriele Heller’s latest work was chosen from 64 shortlisted productions to win the category of Full Length Drama at the UK International Audio Festival in Canterbury.
Combining written text with a live, improvised musical score, Gabriele’s play, UTOPIA More and More asks “what do Thomas More, Plato, the mysterious radio voice, Robert Owen and the miracle of Wörgl have in common?”
Inviting us into a landscape of “aspiration, dreams, political activism, philosophical dispute, spiritual belief, scepticism and hope” the work, which was recorded at Blank Studios in Newcastle, was born out of a long term collaboration between the German/British artist and jazz musicians John Garner, John Pope and Tobias Illingworth.
Meet the writers who aim to scare you silly
Soon to cast a pall over the Theatre Royal is a show that people of a nervous disposition are being advised not to see unless they’ve thought about it very carefully.
New anniversary exhibition digs into the history of Arbeia
There was only one show in town in South Shields 150 years ago.
Plans to build houses on fields at the Lawe Top overlooking the Tyne, where Roman objects had been found over the years, prompted a campaign to excavate the area.
South Shields Council stepped in to buy some of the land and in 1875 digging began which would eventually result in what is now the Arbeia Roman fort attraction, run by North East Museums
Now the 150th anniversary of the start of the exploration of the site is being marked by an exhibition at the fort.
Trio of Northumberland museums fold come under new umbrella
From April 1, popular Northumberland attractions, Woodhorn Museum in Ashington, Hexham Old Gaol and Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum will be managed by North East Museums on behalf of Northumberland County Council.
The organisation - formerly Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums - now manages 12 venues including Arbeia, South Shields Roman Fort, Discovery Museum, Great North Museum: Hancock, Hatton Gallery, the Laing Art Gallery, Segedunum Roman Fort, Shipley Art Gallery, South Shields Museum and Stephenson Steam Railway.
Keith Merrin, Director of North East Museums, said: “We’ve been working closely with the team at the Northumberland museums and with Northumberland County Council over the last six months on the transition of management arrangements and we’re looking forward to putting it all into action today.
“Visitors should be assured that they can continue to use their annual passes and should expect the same high-quality experience they’ve always received.”