Opening soon in Horden - a working class classic
The dynamic newcomers of Ensemble ’84, based in Horden, County Durham, have turned to a working class classic for their next production at The Playhouse, their church-turned-theatre.
Their production of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell, will open in Horden at the end of September.
They describe the book, which was first published posthumously in 1914, as “a story about work, poverty and standing together”.
Set in the early years of the 20th Century, it tells of a group of painters and decorators who scrape by making homes beautiful for wealthy people while struggling to heat their own homes and feed their families.
Fab Four album has £40,000 ticket to ride
A rare Beatles album will be offered for sale at between £20,000 and £40,000 in a Tyneside auction.
The album, in the Anderson & Garland Newcastle sale on August 27, links to the filming of the Beatles’ second feature film, Help!, and to the band’s return flight from the Bahamas in March 1965.
The band - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr - had travelled to the Bahamas in February 1965 to film warm weather location scenes for the movie, directed by Richard Lester.
The band spent 15 consecutive days filming across locations including Nassau, Balmoral Island and the Nassau Beach Hotel.
A BOAC Boeing 707 was chartered for the journey, a flight nicknamed by those on board the “Beatles Bahamas Express”. Read more
Blyth... still celebrating as new programme begins
They’ll be making windmills in Blyth this weekend which isn’t an inappropriate activity for a town deeply invested in renewable energy.
But these aren’t the giant wind turbines you’ll find at ORE Catapult, one of Blyth’s thriving employers and innovators.
Instead they’re the brightly coloured craft versions children will be making in the whirling windmill workshops inside Blyth’s Market Pavilion.
They are part of the ongoing legacy of last year’s Blyth Celebrates cultural programme whose many highlights are recalled in a short film which is also being released over the weekend.
The film and the workshops, run by Newcastle-based Moving Parts Arts, come exactly a year after the launch of Blyth Celebrates when nobody could know for certain how successful it would be.
Well, the stats are now in, showing that more than 90,000 people attended or took part in the various workshops and events that took place from summer 2025 and into 2026.
More cancellations hit troubled Burlesque run in Sunderland
Burlesque the Musical has suffered further disruption at Sunderland Empire, with a number of performances cancelled this week after several cast members fell ill.
The cancellations, which included Tuesday’s gala press night, are the latest setback for a touring production which has endured a difficult start.
Its original July opening in Woking was postponed due to technical issues, moving Sunderland to the beginning of the tour.
An August 6 launch at the Empire was subsequently pushed back to August 13, before that performance was also cancelled.
The musical finally opened on August 14, and played twice more the following day before this week’s cancellations.
Based on the 2010 film starring Christina Aguilera, Cher and Stanley Tucci, at the time of writing, Friday and Saturday performances were scheduled to go ahead before the tour moves to Stoke on Trent next week.
Coastal feast lined up for September weekend
Tynemouth Food Festival will return to the grounds of Tynemouth Priory and Castle for a weekend promising food, drink and general family merriment.
Taking place on September 5 and 6, the North Tyneside Council-organised event will bring together street food, pop-up bars and local artisan traders alongside live music.
Children’s activities will include cooking classes from Fun Little Foodies, ARTventurers craft and messy play sessions, family yoga, face painting and sports.
The festival runs from 10am-5pm each day. Advance adult tickets are £5 plus booking fee, with accompanied under-16s admitted free.
Public support flies the flag for Collingwood
A crowdfunding drive to raise £15,000 to permanently display the Battle of Trafalgar Union flag flown by Newcastle-born Vice-Admiral Collingwood’s warship has reached its target in just 11 days.
With the fundraise set to run to September 3, the surge of public support has left organisers “overwhelmed”.
Now North East Museums has extended its appeal target to £20,000 to create a permanent setting for the flag from HMS Royal Sovereign at the battle.
It acquired the flag for a fixed fee of £450,000 to save it for the UK, after the Secretary of State placed an export ban on it to prevent its owner selling it overseas.
The museum is now raising funds to house and display the flag at Discovery Museum in Newcastle. Read more
Folk favourite gets a contemporary reimagining at The Glasshouse
One of the North East’s best-loved folk songs has been given a new interpretation in a permanent audio installation at The Glasshouse, in Gateshead.
The Water of Tyne: Reimagined, by British-Bengali artist, composer and performer BISHI, opened this week and is free for visitors.
The specially commissioned work takes The Water of Tyne, the beloved traditional song telling of two lovers separated by the river, and brings it into the present through a three-part composition combining North East folk traditions with Raag Durga, new music and field recordings made in and around The Glasshouse itself.
BISHI, who is classically trained in Western and Hindustani music, has written, composed and produced the work, with contributions from Brian Eno, Jennifer Reid, ILĀ, Ian Bruce and Genevieve Dawson. Read more
Sam Fender concert film gets big screen outing at Tyneside Cinema
Sam Fender’s triumphant London Stadium concert is heading to the big screen for a special screening at Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema on October 17.
Filmed in front of more than 80,000 fans in June 2025, the concert captures the North Shields star at one of the biggest headline shows of his career, including a performance of number one hit Rein Me In with Olivia Dean.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Toby L and Kit Monteith, producer Josh Connolly and Polydor Records creative director Semera Khan.
Chorus of birdsong offers a new way to remember loved ones
An evolving chorus of birdsong dedicated to people who have died will fill Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens as part of a new immersive artwork opening this week (August 21).
Memorial Birdsongs, by American artist and designer Scott Hessels, invites visitors to choose a bird and its song to represent someone they have lost.
They can explore a collection of 200 field recordings and original bird paintings by Chinese artist Li Changan using their phones. Their selection is then played through one of 50 speakers positioned around the Winter Gardens, gradually creating a communal soundscape of remembrance.
Visitors can also receive a digital memento featuring the chosen artwork and song alongside the name of the person being remembered. Read more
Deadline approaches for two Newcastle public art commissions
Artists have until Monday to apply for two new public art commissions aimed at transforming sites around Newcastle Central Station.
Creative Central NCL is seeking artists for two projects on Forth Street, both responding to the theme Nature vs Industry and drawing on the area’s industrial heritage and relationship with the natural environment.
The larger, £7,000 commission will see eight artworks created for window boards across the empty frontage of the former Royal Mail building. Artists can approach the panels as one continuous composition or a series of connected works.
A second commission, worth £3,000, is for a mural painted directly onto a wall behind The Telegraph pub, facing Newcastle’s historic City Walls.
Both form part of the Central Gateway Connectivity project, which is improving routes around Central Station, and are open to artists across the UK, with particular interest in those with North East connections.
Applications close at 9am on Monday, August 24, with the successful artists completing their work between September and December. More details here
RAF man’s wartime souvenir heads to auction
At the end of the Second World War, a Northumberland woman’s RAF grandfather brought home a “souvenir” of his service in the conflict.
It was a signed copy of Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf which was given to the British corporal by a surrendered German officer who had buried it in a container in his garden.
The officer had served in Hitler’s bodyguard unit in 1933 and was presented with the signed copy, with inscribed provenance in ink dated 1934, by the German dictator.
The book is being sold by Wooler auctioneer Jim Railton today (August 21), with an estimate of £8,000-£12,000. Read more
Newcastle students turn city subway into urban art gallery
A Newcastle subway has become an unlikely gallery space, with 39 artworks by students now lining its walls.
The 75-metre display beneath the 55 Degrees North roundabout in the city centre features work by Newcastle College students, who were recruited by Business Improvement District, NE1 and encouraged to take inspiration from 1960s pop art and respond to a theme of ‘spaces and places’.
The project forms part of a wider effort to brighten up the pedestrian routes between the city centre and Quayside.
Around 100 volunteers have also been helping to repaint three subways, while 22 young people have gained work experience through the project.