Hello and welcome to another Curated Culture.
November is upon us, the clocks have gone back and the evenings are getting longer. All the more reason to fill a few of them with something well worth leaving the house for.
We’ve rounded up our latest picks from across the North East for the next couple of weeks, along with more recommendations in STILL SHOWING and a look further ahead in NOW BOOKING and FESTIVE FORECAST – which is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. (Look out for our Big Christmas Lists coming soon).
This week’s prize draw offers the chance to win a pair of tickets to The Scottish Christmas Songbook at Sage One, The Glasshouse on December 15, featuring Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson and a host of Scottish folk talent.
All the details you need to enter are at the end of the newsletter. Take your time getting there, though.
Thanks for reading
Sam (Wonfor) and Dave (Whetstone)
Professionally preoccupied with North East culture
ADVERT: John Lewis Christmas advert - Gloria and Pickles
Where: On screens of all kinds
When: All the time between now and Christmas
Info/orders: samfender.com
Not our usual sort of cultural recommendation, but we’re making an exception for this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, which has North East fingerprints all over it.
Sam Fender has recorded a version of The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, with help from pupils at his old school, John Spence Community High School in North Shields, and Easington Colliery Band.
The three-minute film stars Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as a grandmother struggling to find the perfect gifts for her grandchildren, until a childhood toy dog, voiced by Paul Whitehouse, springs to life and takes her on an unexpected shopping adventure.
POETRY/COMEDY: Dr John Cooper Clarke - Have It
Where: Playhouse Whitley Bay
When: November 10 (RESCHEDULED from Nov 4)
Bookings and info: playhousewhitleybay.co.uk
Punk poet, sharp dresser and master of the withering one-liner, Dr John Cooper Clarke is back on tour… and was thankfully able to reschedule his November 4 date in short order.
The Salford Bard has been entertaining audiences with his rapid-fire verse and distinctive delivery for more than five decades, earning admirers across music, comedy and literature.
Last year, he became the first poet to headline Manchester’s Co-op Live arena, adding another milestone to an extraordinary career.
His latest tour combines old favourites with new material from Have It, his latest poetry collection, following the success of 2024’s bestselling WHAT.
OPERA: Rigoletto/ Eugene Onegin
Where: Newcastle Theatre Royal
When: November 4-7 (Wed to Sat), 7pm
Bookings and info: theatreroyal.co.uk
Yes, Opera North are back for their traditional autumn raising of the Theatre Royal rafters – and with two productions, one which has been here before and one brand new.
Verdi’s Rigoletto (libretto based on a play by Victor Hugo) is a tragic tale involving the licentious Duke of Mantua, his jester Rigoletto and Rigoletto’s beloved daughter, Gilda.
The narrative is driven by a curse directed at the duke by the thoroughly disgruntled Count of Monterone (sung by Sir Willard White).
Femi Elufowoju jr’s production was a hit last time. In 2026 American baritone Blake Denson, on his Opera North debut, performs Rigoletto on Wednesday and Friday with South African Siphe Kwani taking over on Thursday.
The sole Newcastle performance of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (libretto inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s ‘novel in verse’) is on Saturday.
Re-imagined in 1980s Russia, the story of a tragic love affair is directed by Patrick Nolan and has American baritone John Brancy in the title role and English soprano Verity Wingate as Tatyana.
It’s a co-production with Irish National Opera and Opera Queensland.
FAMILY: Hexham Lantern Parade
Where: Sele Park bandstand
When: Friday, November 13, 6pm
Bookings and info: queenshall.co.uk
There was no parade last year but it’s back, presented by Queen’s Hall and sponsored by EGGER – the latest manifestation of Hexham’s self-proclaimed Arts Town status.
Children have been busy at lantern-making workshops led by Northumberland artist Elaine Porter Nelson in the run-up to the big day, which will see the first public outing of a big new lantern.
“This is my favourite kind of winter celebration, using the season to create something beautiful for people to enjoy together,” says Elaine, whose work has been seen at carnivals and outdoor festivals across the region.
“We are celebrating Kielder Forest with our lantern, bringing a little bit of the forest into the parade.”
Helping to ensure a joyous, upbeat atmosphere will be the Northern Monkey Brass Band with its repertoire of New Orleans classics, original tunes and fresh takes on familiar pop songs.
All are welcome and people can bring their own lanterns (battery-operated lights only). If you want to make one, there’s still time – and there’s a ‘how to’ guide on the Queen’s Hall website (Look for Lantern Making Workshops under ‘What’s On’).
MUSIC: Squeeze plus very special guest Billy Bragg
Where: Newcastle o2 City Hall and Stockton Globe
When: November 16 and 17 respectively
Bookings and info: squeezeofficial.com
More than 50 years after Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook formed Squeeze, the band are in the throes of what they’re calling their most ambitious tour yet.
There are two North East dates, at Newcastle’s O2 City Hall and Stockton Globe, although anyone hoping to get tickets will need to keep an eye on returns.
The shows will draw on a back catalogue packed with familiar songs, including Cool for Cats, Up the Junction, Tempted and Labelled with Love, alongside material from their new album, Trixies.
Singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg joins them as special guest.
CLASSICAL: Martinů Quartet
Where: The Glasshouse, Gateshead
When: Saturday, November 7, 7pm
Bookings and info: theglasshouseicm.org
Next up in the Newcastle International Chamber Music Series (2026-7) is a quartet dedicated to the music of the Czech Republic.
The Martinů Quartet has a history going back 50 years although its current line-up includes only one founder member.
This is violinist Lubomír Havlák who started the ensemble in 1976 as the Havlák Quartet but later changed the name to honour the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890 – 1959).
The quartet will open Saturday’s concert in Sage Two with his String Quartet No. 2, the piece, dating from 1925, which made his name.
You will also hear String Quartet No. 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’, by Leos Janáček and String Quartet No. 1 in E minor ‘From My Life’ by Bedřich Smetana.
Joining Havlák on stage will be violinist Adéla Štajnochrová, who joined the quartet in 2020, viola player Martin Stupka, who joined in 2023, and cellist Jitka Vlašánková, a member since 1987.
They all studied in Prague at some time in their lives and between them they have won more awards than you could shake a bow at.
THEATRE: Stones In His Pockets (Reading)
Where: Live Theatre, Newcastle
When: Saturday, November 7, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: live.org.uk
Marie Jones’ theatrical tragi-comedy tells what happens when a Hollywood film company descends on a small Irish town and hires many of the star-struck locals as extras.
There are a lot of characters in Jones’s play but all are played by the two actors whose principal roles are friends Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn.
The play was first performed in Dublin in 1996 and was a hit. It went to the Edinburgh Fringe, to London’s West End and to Broadway. In London it won two Olivier awards, one for best new comedy.
It has been performed all over the world since then and is probably on somewhere as I write this.
To mark its 30th anniversary, North East actors David Nellist and Patrick Kelly will be reading it in this special event.
Directed by Bex Bowsher, they’ll take on the multiple roles between them and there will also be live music performed by Kelly.
An actor, musician and composer originally from Bangor, Northern Ireland, he has been in Newcastle since 2014 and is a graduate of Northumbria University’s sadly defunct performing arts BA course.
DANCE: Pitman
Where: Alnwick Playhouse
When: November 11, 11.30am and 7.30pm
Bookings and info: alnwickplayhouse.co.uk
The remarkable story of the Ashington Group, the Northumberland miners who found international recognition as artists, returns to the stage in dance form.
Eliot Smith Dance is marking the 10th anniversary of PITMAN, one of its best-known productions, with a new version featuring six dancers and an expanded theatrical design.
Inspired by 10 paintings created by the group, also known as the Pitmen Painters, the work explores the lives and creativity of men who swapped their mining tools for paintbrushes.
The soundtrack moves between folk, jazz, swing, classical and brass band music, while the production also marks Eliot Smith Dance’s 15th anniversary.
SCREEN: Baltic Cinema: Two Days, One Night (15)
Where: Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
When: Thursday, November 5, 6.30pm
Bookings and info: baltic.art
This acclaimed film, premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, stars Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard as Sandra, a young mother who works at a factory in a small Belgian town.
When she’s on sick leave for depression, her boss gives her colleagues a choice – to retain her position or receive a bonus for taking over her workload.
Sandra, at home, learns that only two of her 16 co-workers voted for her to stay. What will she do now?
Directed by Belgian film-making brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the film kicks off a Baltic Screen season called Together! Solidarity & Community on Screen, inspired by the Close to Home exhibition of photos by Tish Murtha and Kuba Ryniewicz on Level 3.
All the films in the season deal with ideas of community and solidarity and ask key questions about the limits of each.
There’s another screening on November 19 (Panelstory, or How a Housing Development is Born, a 1979 satire by Czech director Věra Chytilová) to be followed by monthly screenings through until March.
TALK: The Jesmond Pioneers
Where: St George’s Church Hall, Jesmond
When: Wednesday, November 4, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: stgeorgesjesmond.org.uk
It’s Remembrance Sunday this weekend, the national commemoration of the contribution made by British and Commonwealth personnel (military and civilian) in two world wars and later conflicts.
The first such act of remembrance was in 1919, on Armistice Day (November 11), which ended the First World War.
During the Second World War the commemorations were moved to the Sunday before November 11 and nowadays Remembrance Sunday is always the second Sunday in the month.
Millions of lives were lost and to each was attached a story, some of which will be shared in the coming days.
At St George’s Church Hall, retired university lecturer Dr Kevin Burn will celebrate the courage and good humour of the 19th (2nd Tyneside Pioneers) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers in the First World War.
Tickets (£5) are available on the door for the event in aid of the St George’s community hub appeal.
Then on Thursday (November 5, 6pm) at Jesmond Library, local historian Keith Jewitt will tell of the men and women from his family who were caught up in the two world wars.
EXHIBITION: Are You Alright?
Where: Darlington Library Art Gallery
When: Until November 25
Bookings and info: anne.art
A question most of us ask without expecting much more than a quick ‘fine, thanks’ provides the starting point for this group exhibition.
Are You Alright? brings together nine Black artists from the Alchemy of Minds collective, whose work explores the more complicated realities behind everyday conversations about how we’re doing.
Curated by Angela Thomas, the exhibition features painting, drawing, digital art and installations, touching on personal experiences, relationships, faith and mental wellbeing.
Originally presented for Black History Month, it is part of Turner on Tees, the wider programme of exhibitions and events taking place alongside the Turner Prize at MIMA.
Look out for a bigger feature on the exhibition in the coming days.
STILL SHOWING
Music: Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Nov 4
Theatre: Billy Elliot the Musical, Sunderland Empire, Nov 4-28
Music: The Shires, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Nov 5
Comedy: Susan Calman - Tall Tales, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Nov 6
Art/Pop: Pop Goes the Prism, The Light, Aykley Heads, Durham, Nov 6 from 7-10pm
Exhibition: By One’s Light, VANE, Gateshead, Nov 11 to 14 (preview: Nov 10, 5-10pm)
Talk: Finding Audrey Amiss, Culture House Sunderland, Nov 12 at 6pm
Theatre: It’s a Wonderful Us, Queen’s Hall, Hexham (Nov 12); and Washington Arts Centre (Nov 19)
Screen: The Northumbria Mysteries, BBC One and BBC iPlayer, Fridays at 2pm until Dec 18
Exhibition: Pre-Raphaelites: Art and Poetry, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, until Feb 13
Event/Screen/Radio: Mercury Prize 2026, Utilita Arena Newcastle, BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer
Exhibition: Under Development, Newcastle Contemporary Art, High Bridge Works, until Nov 29
Exhibition: Impressions of Light, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Mar 14, 2027 Read more
Exhibition: Keiken: Seeds, Stones and Future Bones, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until Jan 17
Exhibition: Turner Prize 2026, MIMA, Centre Square, Middlesbrough, until Mar 29, 2027. Read our report from the opening
Exhibition: Baltic Open Submission, Baltic, Gateshead, until Apr 4, 2027
Screen: Forever Home, Channel 5
Exhibition: Kitchen Sink Realism, NGCA, Culture House Sunderland, until Jan 17
Audio: Music Lives Here podcast, Your ears, via wherever you get your podcasts
Screen: Poised, STV player
Exhibition: Victory Over the Sun: Adventures with Light, The Light, Aykley Heads, Durham, until Jan 17, 2027
Exhibition: Things That Go!, Discovery Museum, Newcastle, until Feb 28, 2027
Exhibition: MOXIE: Generation Alpha Curates the Middlesbrough Collection, MIMA, Middlesbrough, until Mar 28, 2027. Read more
Screen: Ashington AFC: Saving Our Club, available to stream on BBC iPlayer
Exhibition: Norman Cornish – A Life in Sketchbooks, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Jan 3. Read our full report
Exhibition: Mourning Tea Tyne & Lost Frequencies, Globe Gallery, North Shields, ongoing
Screen: The Fortune, Channel 5
Screen: Smoggie Queens, BBC Three and BBC iPlayer, available now
Screen: This Is Not A Murder Mystery, UTV and streaming on Channel Four, available now.
Radio: Si King on Desert Island Discs, BBC Sounds/iPlayer
Exhibition: Picture This: Someone Like Me, Great North Museum: Hancock, until Jan 2027
Exhibition: Enigmas, RePUBlic Gallery, Blyth, ongoing
Radio: Tom and Lauren Are Going OOT!, BBC Sounds
Exhibition: Out of the Darkness, Mining Art Gallery, Bishop Auckland, until December
NOW BOOKING
Festival: Books on Tyne, Lit and Phil, Newcastle, Nov 19-28
Theatre: My Name is Rachel Corrie, Live Theatre, Nov 20-21
Music: Royal Blood, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Nov 25
Music: Shed Seven, Stockton Globe, Dec 3
Comedy/Music: Bill Bailey - Vaudevillean, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Dec 5
Music: Jess Gillam Ensemble, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Dec 10
2027
Theatre: Mean Girls, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Jan 18-23
Music: Nerina Pallot, Playhouse Whitley Bay, Jan 27
Music: Hannah Laing presents doof, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Feb 6
Music: Editors, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Mar 4
Comedy: Scott Bennett - Stuff, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Mar 12
Theatre: This is The Life by John Godber, Gala Theatre Durham, Mar 22-23
Festival: Catherine Cookson Festival, Assemble Rooms, Newcastle, Apr 29-May 14
Music: Richard Thompson - Hippies, Thugs and Heroes, Sage One, The Glasshouse, May 5
🎄 FESTIVE FORECAST 🎄
Family Theatre: The Puppet Folk Experience: The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppets greatest hits!, The Assembly Rooms, Newcastle, Nov 19-20
Family: Christmas Chill, Queen’s Hall, Hexham, Dec 5-Jan 9
Dance: Xmas on the Dancefloor, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Dec 7
Family: Elf Express, Stephenson Museum, North Tyneside, Various dates in Dec
Music: Christmas Ceilidh, Northern Rock Foundation Hall, The Glasshouse, Dec 19
Market: Blackfriars Christmas Market, Blackfriars Restaurant, Newcastle, Dec 5-6
Screen: Ghost Stories for Christmas, Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, Dec 12
Panto: Robin Hood, Bishop Auckland Town Hall, Dec 5-6
Family: Festive Tales, Woodhorn Museum, Ashington, Various dates in Dec
Comedy: The Big Christmas Comedy Club, Middlesbrough Town Hall, Dec 4 and 12
COMPETITION TIME
Welcome to our latest newsletter prize draw – offering our subscribers an exclusive chance to win tickets to see or do something great.
This week, we’ve got a pair of tickets to The Scottish Christmas Songbook at Sage One, The Glasshouse on December 15.
Promising more than the usual Christmas singalong, the concert brings together some of Scotland’s best-known folk musicians, including Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson, John McCusker and Kris Drever.
The programme mixes traditional winter songs with familiar festive favourites, drawing on the musicians’ considerable experience across folk, roots and contemporary music.
We’re told there’s also room for quieter, reflective moments as well as more rousing numbers, with the emphasis on musicians coming together to share songs and a bit of seasonal cheer.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: ‘Have yourself a tuneful Scottish Christmas’ by 5pm on Sunday, November 8.
The winner, who will be selected at random, will be notified within 24 hours of the entry deadline.
Terms and conditions: Only subscribers to the Cultured. North East newsletter are eligible to enter the Newsletter Prize Draw competition. Prizes are as stated - subject to availability - and non-transferable. No cash alternatives will be offered. You must be over 18 years of age to enter. The Editor’s decision is final.
