Hello and welcome to another edition of Cultured. On Sunday.
We’d like to think we’re serving up stories to get you thinking this week, starting with a question we probably ask several times a day without giving much thought to the answer.
Are You Alright? is the title of an exhibition at Darlington Library Art Gallery, where nine Black artists from the Alchemy of Minds collective are exploring identity, vulnerability and the importance of being heard. It’s part of the wider Turner on Tees programme, and we’ve been finding out more about the artists and their work.
Meanwhile, David Whetstone has been considering how cities change, and what gets lost along the way, after visiting Under Development at Newcastle Contemporary Art. The exhibition brings together photography from Newcastle’s AmberSide Collection and London’s Four Corners Archive, offering two perspectives on urban change and the communities affected by it.
There’s dance on the agenda, too, as choreographer Eliot Smith revisits Pitman a decade after its premiere. The anniversary production is heading to Alnwick in its most ambitious incarnation yet, ahead of a planned national tour in 2028.
And at Newcastle’s Live Theatre, artistic director Jack McNamara has been talking about an upcoming mini-season exploring groundbreaking and diverse American voices.
Elsewhere, our latest For Your Bookshelf selection comes courtesy of Sunderland author Glenda Young, whose new cosy crime paperback is getting a hometown launch with a charitable twist.
And finally, Sunday Plate takes us to the coast, where a seasonal menu is bringing together traditional flavours and a few more contemporary ideas.
As ever, thanks for reading. We hope you find something to enjoy over your Sunday cuppa.
Pitman springs from frames to stage in landmark year
Coalfield memories are fading fast. You would have to be in your twenties even to have been alive when the last North East deep mine (Ellington) closed in 2005.
The industry which helped to shape a region and its culture has become part of history, the preserve of museums like Woodhorn where the paintings of the Ashington Group are a major attraction.
These were the Ashington men who, inspired by a 1930s art appreciation course, gathered regularly to paint pictures of their village and way of life.
Not all were miners but they were immortalised as the Pitmen Painters in a 1980s book by art critic Bill Feaver and then in a hit play by Lee Hall.
But it’s the pictures that come to life in Pitman, a piece premiered 10 years ago by Eliot Smith Dance (ESD) and to be performed in Alnwick, in its most ambitious version yet, ahead of a planned national tour in 2028.
“It’s all really exciting,” says North East choreographer Eliot Smith who founded his company in 2011, making this a double anniversary year – a decade of Pitman and 15 years of ESD.
Timely mini-series to probe American psyche
Christopher Eccleston, renowned for a host of stage and screen appearances, will summon the spirit of Walt Disney in a timely mini-season of American play readings in Newcastle.
The question of what makes America tick arose with the recent mid-term elections, seen as a gauge of the Trump administration’s popularity and revealing that it’s not as popular as it once was.
In advance of the poll, Jack McNamara, artistic director of Live Theatre, said: “The current American administration has seemed intent on rolling back on the diversity that has always seemed part of that country’s dynamism.
“Part of the purpose of the readings is to delve into the psyche of the place and question how we got here because Trump and his team aren’t wholly an anomaly.
“They’ve come from somewhere, so the guiding light with these three plays, in addition to them being brilliantly entertaining, is what do they say about America?”
The season of “groundbreaking” readings opens on November 12 with Topdog/Underdog, a play that in 2002 made writer Suzan-Lori Parks the first female African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
The art of asking how we really are
We’re very good at asking people how they are. Whether we’re quite so good at listening to the answer is another matter.
In the North East, ‘Are you alright?’ is practically a form of punctuation in everyday conversation. A greeting, an acknowledgement, a few words exchanged in passing. Rarely an invitation to tell someone what’s really going on.
But what happens when we take the question at face value?
That’s the starting point for Are You Alright?, an exhibition at Darlington Library Art Gallery which was presented as part of Black History Month in October and the wider Turner on Tees programme. It continues until November 25.
Bringing together nine artists exploring emotional wellbeing, vulnerability, identity and the importance of being heard, the exhibition is the work of Alchemy of Minds, a collective of Black artists and creatives based across the North East.
Through sculpture, visual art and personal reflection, the exhibition considers the feelings people keep to themselves, the effort involved in appearing fine when they aren’t, and what can happen when somebody takes the time to listen.
Compelling exhibition spans North-South divide
The latest exhibition at Newcastle Contemporary Art is called Under Development and it poses the question: What happens when cities change?
There are many answers, of course.
A survey done in Newcastle in 1963 found that 28,820 households had no bath, 4,350 had no kitchen sink and 2,840 had no internal water supply.
That’s within my lifetime and worth bearing in mind next time you hear someone say Britain is “broken”.
It might not be perfect but in Newcastle, at least, some things have changed for the better.
The exhibition will spark memories for some and be an eye-opener for other, perhaps younger visitors.
A murder mystery with a musical twist
Sunderland author Glenda Young is preparing to launch the paperback edition of her latest cosy crime novel at a hometown concert raising money for a North East children’s charity.
Music to Die For at the Seaview Hotel, the fifth book in her popular series of Scarborough-set mysteries, will be published on December 3, with a special launch taking place three days later at The Fire Station in Sunderland.
The launch will coincide with the Music Against Child Poverty concert on December 6, with all profits from the gig, along with proceeds from Glenda’s book sales on the night, going to Love, Amelia, a North East baby bank charity supporting families in need.
The new novel sees hotel landlady Helen Dexter and her rescue greyhound Suki caught up in another mystery when an eighties pop band reunites for a comeback concert at Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre. Old tensions resurface, secrets emerge and, inevitably, there’s a body to be accounted for.
Glenda’s Seaview Hotel series was shortlisted for Best New Crime Series at the 2022 Dead Good Readers Awards, alongside books by Richard Osman and Val McDermid.
New-look Dolphin makes a splash
Tynemouth’s oldest surviving pub dusts off the past as new owners reveal new look and tempting seasonal menus.
Records suggest that The Dolphin first began serving the thirsty folk of North Tyneside as far back as 1869 and the King Edward Road staple has been a popular stopping off point for those heading towards Tynemouth Village ever since.
Last year licensee Charlie Paterson partnered with Admiral Taverns for a combined £168,877 investment in a site dating back to 1801. And earlier this year the family-friendly pub opened the doors to a fully refurbished bar and lounge area — adding new outdoor seating and lighting.
Now attention turns to the festive period and Charlie and The Dolphin team unveiled their Christmas menu at a special invite-only event. VIP guests were offered a taste of what’s to come when the new menu kicks in on December 1 and given a glimpse into the newly decorated lounge with a seasonal twist.
“The Dolphin’s always had a special place in the hearts of the people of Tynemouth and Christmas is a great time to celebrate the pub’s future and its past,” said Charlie. “It’s always been a key part of the community and we want to be somewhere that local people are proud of and somewhere visitors keep coming back to.
“The seasonal menus that we’ve been working on mix the traditional with the modern and that’s exactly how we approached the refurbishment. The reaction to our food and to how we look was really positive when we staged the Christmas launch event and we’d love more people to see what’s been happening behind the scenes.”
Diners choosing the Christmas menu can plump for a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings or go for the beef goulash — a distinctly Tyneside take on the Hungarian classic. Salmon fillet and beetroot Wellington round off the main courses.
Two and three course options are available with starters including a classic prawn cocktail, butternut squash-based winter soup and chicken liver pate on toasted bread with chutney. Christmas pudding, chocolate torte and a wonderful winter berry meringue sundae cap off this year’s festive choices.
The dog-friendly Dolphin serves food from 12-8pm Monday-Friday and focuses on a traditional Sunday menu from 12-5pm (including December). The Christmas menu will be served from December 1-20. Visit thedolphintynemouth.co.uk to make a booking.