Culture Digest 11.10.24
A weekly round up of some of the arts and culture stories from across the North East which have caught our attention
Debut solo album for Cornshed Sister
Liz Corney - known to many as a founding member of folk fusion quartet the Cornshed Sisters and a longtime live date and keys-playing fixture for Sunderland’s Field Music - is releasing her first solo long player later this month.
We Need New Eyes, and its first single, Ceremonies, will be out on October 18 and Liz is having a Sunday afternoon launch party to celebrate at The Cluny on October 20.
Read more here.
Read more: Curated Culture - This week’s what’s on recommendations
New audiobook studio for the North East
The North East now has its own audiobook recording studio, thanks to New Writing North (NWN) and partners Hachette UK and Northumbria University.
Sounds Good Audiobooks is situated on the university’s Newcastle city centre campus and already has its first commercial release in the bag - namely Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley which is out on October 24.
Read the full story here.
Read more: Review - My Name is Rachel Corrie at Alphabetti Theatre
Star cellist and Gateshead-born maestro to share The Glasshouse stage
Another chance to marvel at the musically gifted Kanneh-Mason family, from Nottingham, comes at The Glasshouse next week.
This time it is Sheku, whose virtuoso cello playing first came to wide public attention at the 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Earlier this year it was elder sister Isata, the pianist, who wowed a Gateshead audience.
The concert on Friday, October 18 will also feature the Sinfonia of London conducted by John Wilson, the Gateshead maestro whose appearances in his home town are always warmly welcomed.
The concert programme features two Russian masterpieces, Dimitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 and the Symphony No. 1 of Sergei Rachmaninov.
The latter, as the concert programmers delight in telling us, had a disastrous first performance in St Petersburg in 1897, bringing on a psychological collapse.
The Shostakovich was premiered in Moscow in 1966 at a concert marking the composer’s 60th birthday.
Completing the programme is PatterSongs by Liverpool-born composer Kenneth Hesketh, described as a little-known gem.
For tickets and further details go to The Glasshouse website.
Sometimes you have to bring Matilda to the North-East!*
*That headline only works for fans of the musical and/or its splendid soundtrack
The smash hit RSC production which brought Roald Dhal together with Tim Minchin is embarking on its second UK tour to celebrate its 15th anniversary… and Sunderland Empire will play host to it for more than a fortnight.
February 11-28 are the dates for your 2026 diaries if you want to see Matilda The Musical in all its glorious glory.
Composer and lyricist, Tim Minchin who wrote the songs to go with Dennis Kelly’s book, said: “When we first started working on the show, our aim was to make a lovely little jewel of a musical for the RSC’s Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. We never imagined that all these years later it would still be running in the West End, have been made into a film, and is now about to embark on its second tour of the UK and Ireland.
“I’m deeply proud of Matilda The Musical, and every single talented person who continues to work on it with passion and enthusiasm.”
Tickets on general sale at 10am on October 24 from the Sunderland Empire website.
‘Fossil fish’ collection makes poetry prize shortlist
Poet Katrina Porteous is up for the prestigious TS Eliot Prize, awarded annually for the best new poetry collection published in the UK and Ireland.
Her fourth collection, Rhizodont, is one of two of this year’s 10 shortlisted collections published by Bloodaxe Books, based in Hexham.
The other is The Penny Dropping by Helen Farish who lives in Cumbria.
The winner, judged by established poets and worth £25,000, will be announced on January 13 at the Wallace Collection in London.
Read the full story here.
The Watch House returns for national tour
A stage adaptation of Carnegie Medal-winning North East writer Robert Westall’s ghost story, The Watch House will be back in front of theatre audiences later this month (Oct).
Olivier Award winning company Papatango, which co-produced the world premiere run with Whitley Bay’s Laurels Theatre (where it enjoyed a long run last Christmas), have booked a national tour, kicking off at Alnwick Playhouse on October 24 and returning to the region for dates at the Queen’s Hall, Hexham (Nov 13-14); The Crypt, Middlesbrough Town Hall (Nov 15); and a special staged readying at Cullercoats Watch House (Nov 16).
The original cast Donald McBride, Catherine Dryden and Aoife Kennan (Anne) have all signed on for the tour.
More information and booking details from the Papatango website.
Tyne and Wear Museums spreads its wings into Northumberland
A string of heritage attractions in Northumberland are set to come under the wing of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM).
Woodhorn Charitable Trust, known as Museums Northumberland, currently operates sites across the county, including the Woodhorn Museum in Ashington, Hexham’s Old Gaol, the Moot Hall, House of Correction, Morpeth’s Chantry Bagpipe Museum and Berwick Museum and Art Gallery.
Now Northumberland County Council’s cabinet has agreed to join a local authority partnership managed by TWAM .
Read the full story here
Read more: Book - The Quiet Man of Magnum
RSC announces a North East double
North East playwright, Stewart Pringle has been announced as one of two new Writers-in-Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside London-born Zoe Cooper, who now lives in Newcastle.
Stewart, who grew up in Allendale, Northumberland, will be moving to the RSC next month (November) from his current role as a senior dramaturg at the National Theatre.
Zoe, whose plays include an adaptation of David Almond’s book, A Song for Ella Grey, will be seconded from her senior lecturer role at Newcastle University where she has worked for the past eight years since completing her PhD.
Read the full story here
It’s playtime again at Baltic with an exhibition aimed at kids
An exhibition described as ‘tactile’ and ‘interactive’ will make Baltic regulars’ eyes light up, especially if they’re parents of young children – or indeed young children with long memories.
Opening this weekend is Play Interact Explore, the latest in a string of popular exhibitions which invite audiences not to admire but to get stuck in.
Occupying the now traditional spot on the ground floor, it is the work of Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie, a couple who came to visual art from the worlds of film and theatre and set up their artistic enterprise, Leap Then Look, in 2019.
Read more here.
Read more: Funding for restoration of Keelmen’s Hospital
Progress in ‘Production Village’ plans for Hartlepool
Hartlepool’s burgeoning film and TV sector should be given a boost next week when plans to fund its studio expansion are tabled at a meeting of the Hartlepool Development Corporation.
The Corporation is joining forces with Hartlepool Borough Council to help realise ambitions to create a Production Village in the Lynn Street and Whitby Street areas of the town.
The latest development will build on the success of The Northern Studios, which opened in November 2022 after the former bus sheds were converted by The Northern School of Art, with support from the Council and Tees Valley Combined Authority.
Working with North East Screen,The Northern Studios have already welcomed several high profile productions, including Jamie Childs’ directorial debut thriller, Jackdaw.
Alison Gwynn, chief executive of North East Screen, said: “The development of the Production Village in Hartlepool will strengthen our region’s ability to welcome incoming productions all year round and provide more opportunities for the brilliant companies and talent here.
“The Production Village will create a creative cluster that can provide world-class accessible and sustainable services to the industry, pipelines for local talent and ensure our region is a great place to live and work.”
Read more: Exhibition for the ears at eyes at Woodhorn
New season on sale at Newcastle Theatre Royal
The Book of Mormon and SIX are both making a return to Newcastle Theatre Royal in 2025 (Jul 22-Aug 9 and Aug 12-23 respectively) with tickets now on sale alongside a melting pot of new season productions including dance, powerful drama and family hits.
A few highlights include an exploration of behind the scenes of Jaws in The Shark is Broken (Mar 18-22); Boys from the Blackstuff (May 20-24); Nikita Kuzmin’s first solo tour, Midnight Dancer (Apr 27); and Dance Consortium’s Dragons (Mar 14-15).
And Shrek the Musical (Jul 1-5) together with King Arthur (Mar 10-12) are sure to bring the families flocking.
Full details and bookings at theatreroyal.co.uk
Luxmuralis lights up Durham Cathedral
There may be no Lumiere for 2024, but the lights are firmly on in Durham City this week as Luxmuralis returns for the third consecutive year.
Space is the simple name of the “immersive, intergalactic and sound experience” which is lighting up Durham Cathedral until Sunday (October 13).
Visitors are invited to “ponder our relationship with planet Earth within the universe” among the large-scale light projections, which feature galaxies and stars, music soundscapes and original footage of a rocket launch.
Read more here.
Read more: Surveying the landscapes at The Laing
Talent of a ‘Bevin Boy’ to be exposed at Mining Art Gallery
Next up at the Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland is an exhibition of Ted Holloway’s paintings and drawings reflecting his journey from miner to art teacher to professional artist.
Eighty years ago Ted became a ‘Bevin Boy’, one of the young men conscripted to work as miners by Ernest Bevin, wartime Minister for Labour. By 1981 he had retired from teaching art to paint full time.
The exhibition, Ted Holloway: A Bevin Boy Remembered, opens on Saturday, October 19.
Key works will include Miners’ Head No 2 (1958), with boot polish used to depict a group of miners, and The Bevin Boys (1964), showing a group of apprehensive young men entering the mines.
Read more here.
Read more: Celebration of dialects comes to Toon
Baghdaddies book dates with Glittering North as part of their big farewell
North East treasures, the Baghdaddies will be taking centre stage at Raby Castle’s Glittering North events this autumn as they enter the final stretch of a near-30-year career.
Members of the band, who are known for showcasing world music including Balkan melodies, ska tunes and brass delights will be taking turns to take over the Dutch Barn and dance on the table - providing the live music element to the celebration of the region’s Viking and Nordic heritage, which also includes dance, puppetry and light installations.
Tickets for the band’s farewell shows in the North East at the Ouseburn’s Cobalt and The Cumberland Arms in Newcastle sold out in minutes, so if you didn’t manage to get one - this is your chance to soak up the magic.
Ziad Jabero from the Baghdaddies said: “We always enjoy injecting a theatrical performance into our sets, thanks to our extensive street theatre show background, so being able to do this at The Glittering North is right up our street.”
The Glittering North kicks off this weekend (October 12-13) and will be continuing on selected dates up to November 3. Visit the website for more details and bookings.
And finally….
We couldn’t let this week go by without marking what must be one of the best Northern Lights displays the North East has ever been able to enjoy as one.
Our Thursday night social media feeds were beautifully bursting with stunning photos from all over the region.
One of our favourites came from, North East stargazer and astro-photographer, Wil Cheung. He kindly said we could share it with you here.
You can see more of Wil’s Northern Lights - and much more besides - by following his Facebook page.
Doing a great job here Sam - covering a lot of arty stuff I was not aware of ..,KEEP GOING !