Curated Culture 07.06.26 - Festivals, footie and starry nights
Our latest collection of what's on recommendations from stages and attractions across the North East
Hello, and thanks for lending your attention for this week’s Curated Culture.
We’ve corralled another crowd of of things to see, hear and experience across the North East over the coming fortnight, with everything from theatre and exhibitions to comedy, gigs and a healthy helping of summer festivals. If we could have wrapped the newsletter in bunting and dipped it in glitter, we would have done.
In related news, Festival Watch continues, so if you’re organising or heading to a North East festival we should know about, do send the details to hello@culturednortheast.co.uk
Also below is a handy round up of stuff we’ve shouted about before (which are still available to enjoy) and a few suggestions of things you would do well to get booked in early doors.
Details of this week’s subscriber prize draw - a pair of tickets to see Lee Kyle’s new show at The Stand Newcastle on July 20 are waiting for you at the end of the newsletter.
Happy wandering and thanks as always for your support
Sam (Wonfor) and Dave (Whetstone)
Professionally pre-occupied with North East culture
SCREEN: Ashington AFC: Saving Our Club
Where: BC One and then iPlayer
When: July 10, 7pm and then available to stream
Info: bbc.co.uk
Founded in 1883, Ashington AFC has played a central role in the town's story for well over a century. and has a proud place in football history - not least as the hometown of Jack and Bobby Charlton.
This new BBC documentary, made by North East-based Rock Paper Productions, follows the volunteers working to secure the future of one of England's oldest football clubs as financial pressures mount and the threat of relegation looms.
Alongside the on-pitch drama, it introduces the people behind the scenes, from the club's first female chair to the directors and all the people keeping everything running.
Made by North East-based Rock Paper Productions, it's sounds like it’s going to be as much about community, resilience and belonging as it is about what happens on the pitch. Watch a trailer here.
FESTIVAL: In the Park
Where: Exhibition Park, Newcastle
When: July 8-12
Bookings and info: intheparkfestival.com
Exhibition Park will once again become a destination for banging live music this week as In the Park returns with a quartet of distinct headline shows across five days.
Lewis Capaldi (last seen on stage in the region during a back-of-the-net performance of Someone You Loved at the Sunday For Sammy fundraising concerts in February) gets things under way on Wednesday (July 8) with his biggest-ever outdoor headline concert, before Paul Weller offers up a career-spanning set on Friday.
Saturday belongs to Lost Minds Festival, with thousands of dance music fans expected for another huge day of DJs, before hot-to-trot alt rockers, Wolf Alice close the festival on Sunday.
Whether your tastes lean towards indie, rock, pop or dance music, there's got to be a night with your name on it.
EVENT: Beyond Van Gogh
Where: Utilita Arena, Newcastle
When: July 12 until August 9 (various time slots)
Bookings and info: beyondvangogh.co.uk
“Walk through more than 300 of Van Gogh’s most celebrated works, including The Starry Night, Sunflowers, and Café Terrace at Night,” goes the pre-publicity.
“Freed from their frames, his masterpieces surround you in a dynamic display that moves, shifts and comes alive.”
This, of course, is not the way the Dutch painter would have imagined his work to be seen – but since he never sold work during his lifetime, perhaps he didn’t imagine it would be framed at all.
Posterity has been kinder to Van Gogh’s legacy than life was to the man himself – so that now his paintings are famous and worth millions.
This marriage of 19th Century brushwork and 21st Century technology is a way to immerse yourself in his work – and if you like framed paintings, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t also enjoy this.
More than seven million people have seen Beyond Van Gogh, co-produced by Canadian entertainment enterprises Annerin Productions and Paquin Entertainment Group.
It premiered in Liverpool in 2024, attracting 60,000 visitors, and returned the following year. This is its first Newcastle showing – and you can also book yoga sessions against a backdrop of sunflowers and starry skies.
FESTIVAL: Durham BRASS
Where: Venues across County Durham
When: July 12-19
Bookings and info: brassfestival.co.uk
Durham Brass Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with another programme that stretches well beyond the concert hall.
Alongside headline performances, including Hector Gannet joining the Durham Miners' Association Brass Band at Redhills and ELVANA's one-off collaboration with Oompah Brass XXL at the Gala Durham, there are Brass Bashes of all sizes taking music into communities across the county.
The closing weekend also sees the return of Streets of Brass, when Durham City fills with roaming musicians, pop-up performances, Brass Boat Cruises and free outdoor events, including the Party in the Park at Wharton Park on July 18.
Whether you're after a ticketed concert or a chance encounter with a brass band around the next corner, there's plenty to discover
EVENT: Kynren – An Epic Tale of England
Where: Bishop Auckland, County Durham
When: From Saturday, July 18 (first performance)
Bookings and info: kynren.com
No-one forgets their first trip to Kynren but many make repeat trips to the park below Auckland Palace.
The spectacular pageant, first performed in 2016, relies on a huge cast of volunteers to bring 2,000 years of history to life before an 8,000-seat grandstand.
Horses, sheep and geese remain firm favourites although the show is regularly refreshed.
Eleven performances are scheduled this year until September 12 (nine on Saturdays and two on Fridays).
Gates opens on July 18 at 6.45pm and the show starts at 9.15pm but start times get earlier as the nights draw in.
New this year is Kynren – The Storied Lands, a daytime attraction offering five shows you can see with a single ticket.
They are The Lost Feather (telling a story of flight and conservation), Land of the Vikings, The Trusty Steed (knights on horseback), Legend of the Wear (re-telling the legend of the Lambton Worm) and Victorian Imaginariums (a maze with surprises from the Victorian era).
Billed as the UK’s first live action show park, it will be open Tuesday to Sunday (10.30am to 4.30pm) from July 18 to September 12.
FESTIVAL: Masala Festival
Where: Various Tyneside venues
When: July 13 to 19
Bookings and Info: gemarts.org
This year’s GemArts Masala Festival marks a decade of celebrating South Asian arts, culture and creativity in the North East.
The 10th anniversary festival begins at Dance City with a new solo dance show called Bulleh Shah: Seeker of Light by renowned Kathak artist Gaurav Bhatti.
It was inspired by the life and poetry of 18th Century Sufi mystic Bulleh Shah who challenged authority and championed tolerance at a time of division.
It will be performed to a dynamic soundscape rooted in North Indian classical music but textured with modern electronics.
Other attractions include an exhibition at VANE gallery (65, High Street, Gateshead) by Sunderland-born Nayeema Ahmed, a recent fine art graduate of Northumbria University.
Her paintings explore the relationship between gender, ethnicity and labour. The exhibition, called Care/Work, runs from July 9 until August 1 (preview on July 8, 5-8pm).
The festival also promises music at The Cluny, screenings at Tyneside Cinema, spoken word events at Live Theatre, a club night at Zerox, outdoor dance beneath Grey’s Monument, a closing mini mela at Bensham Grove Community Centre and much more.
THEATRE: The Cramlington Train Wreckers
Where: Newcastle Theatre Royal
When: July 12
Bookings and info: theatreroyal.co.uk
The team behind Wor Bella, Carrying David and Hadaway Harry return with another story drawn from the North East’s rich history.
The Cramlington Train Wreckers marks the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, telling the remarkable true story of the day striking miners inadvertently derailed the Flying Scotsman.
After selling out venues across the region last year, the production now transfers to its biggest stage yet. Blending humour with heartbreak, it shines a light on an extraordinary episode of working-class solidarity and the lasting consequences faced by the eight men imprisoned in its aftermath.
FESTIVAL: Music at Paxton
Where: Paxton House, Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 1SZ
When: Friday, July 17, 7.30pm (and throughout July)
Bookings and info: paxtonhouse.co.uk
The 20th anniversary summer festival of chamber music begins on July 17 with a recital by acclaimed Scottish pianist Steven Osborne who will perform works by Schubert and Beethoven.
Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli was called by Alfred Brendel, the piano legend who died a year ago at 94, “the greatest of all piano works”.
It was composed in answer to a challenge, to create a single variation on a trifling waltz that Beethoven once belittled as a “cobbler’s patch”. Steven Osborne will show why it earned Brendel’s praise.
Subsequent concerts include Glasgow-based Eleanor Dunsdon (harp) and Gregor Black (bodhrán, percussion) on July 18, 1.30pm; Dunedin Consort on July 18, 7.30pm; the Gould Piano Trio on July 19, 3.30pm; Roderick Williams (baritone) and Iain Burnside (piano) on July 24, 7.30pm; and pianist Angela Hewitt (July 26, 3.30pm).
Artistic director Angus Smith hopes the programme of established and emerging talents will “stir emotions and bring many smiles to faces”.
THEATRE: The Girl on the Train
Where: People’s Theatre, Newcastle
When: July 14 to 18, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: peoplestheatre.co.uk
Obsession, truth and illusion are the buzz words chosen to promote this stage adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel of 2015.
And if they don’t do the trick, the People’s are also calling it “a sharp psychological thriller packed with suspense, intrigue and unexpected twists”.
Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel took on the task of making the novel’s tricksy storyline work on stage and the result was first put before an audience at Leeds Playhouse in 2018.
The play tells of Rachel (played here by Kate Plass – it was Jill Halfpenny in the original professional production) who becomes captivated by the seemingly perfect couple she glimpses every day from the train.
She idealises their imagined lives. They seem so happy together… but then the woman disappears.
Rachel, a troubled individual with myriad problems of her own, is suddenly drawn into a mystery where the line between fact and fantasy blurs.
SINGING: Samling Academy – The Party
Where: The Glasshouse, Gateshead
When: July 11 and 12 (Saturday and Sunday), 7.30pm
Bookings and info: theglasshouseicm.org
The young North East singers who train with the Samling Academy will be getting their glad rags and dancing shoes on to celebrate 30 years of the Samling Institute for Young Artists.
With balloons, banners, exceptional musicianship and a nod to The Great Gatsby, The Party promises an exuberant evening’s entertainment.
Special guests include former Samling Academy singers Camilla Harris and Zoë Jackson (both soprano) and Samling Artists Ted Black (tenor) and Sid Ramchander (pianist and music director).
Miranda Wright, a Samling Artist herself having attended one of the academy ’s first masterclass weekends, is to direct.
Also involved, as choreographer and movement director, is Desirée Kongerød who grew up in Norway, moved to London to study dance and has a background in dance, yoga and circus.
She is also co-director of a comedy magic and variety show called Norvil & Josephine.
Among the varied fare offered to Party-goers will be works by Eric Coates, Noel Coward, Verdi, Purcell, Kurt Weill and Gilbert and Sullivan.
The performances, experience tells us, will be thrillingly precocious; the singing, exquisite.
🎉 FESTIVAL WATCH 🎉
In the Park Festival, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, July 8-12
Mouth of Tyne Festival, Tynemouth Priory and Castle, July 9-12
Durham Brass Festival, various venues, July 12-19
Newcastle Pride, Newcastle City Centre, July 25-26
Durham Fringe Festival, various venues, July 29-August 2
Kendal Calling, Lowther Deer Park, July 30-August 2
GCT Beer Festival, Gosforth Civic Theatre, July 31-August 2
NOVUM, Newcastle city centre, August 7-9
Saltburn Folk Festival, various venues, August 7-9
Cosmic Frequencies Festival, Forum Cinema, Hexham, August 8-9
New Horizons, The Grove, Newcastle, August 14-16
Berwick Food and Beer Festival, August 14-16
Derwent Fest, near Consett, August 14-15
Coast Fest, North Shields, Aug 28-30
Noughty 90s Festival, Leazes Park, Newcastle, August 29
Newcastle Mela, August 29-31, Grey’s Monument and Exhibition Park
Northern and Modern Soul All Dayer, The Glasshouse, August 30
Lindisfarne Festival, Beal Farm, Northumberland, September 3-5
Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage, Tees Valley, various locations, September 11-13
Hexham Abbey Festival of Music and Arts, Hexham, Northumberland, September 23-26
Can’t see your festival here? Send us the details
TALK: Sacriston, 1926 - A lecture by Professor John Tomaney
Where: Sacriston Working Men’s Club, County Durham
When: July 9, 6pm
Bookings and info: eventbrite.co.uk
What was a County Durham pit village’s unique role during the turbulent period of the 1926 General Strike?
North East Professor John Tomaney, whose family worked for generations at Sacriston Colliery, will explain all in a free public talk at the village’s workingmen’s club on Thursday.
Prof Tomany has researched the remarkable but largely forgotten life of Annie Errington, wife of a Sacriston miner, whose exploits included being part of a delegation which in 1926 toured Russia to collect funds for the families of UK miners locked out by coal owners after refusing demands for a cut in pay and a longer working day.
This lecture will tell the story of Sacriston in 1926. In addition to Annie Errington’s story, the event will address: who are the people on the Sacriston Lodge Banner, and why are they there?
Why were local councillors threatened with jail by the government? And it will tell the tale of the extraordinary occasion that marked the “truce” opening of the Aged Miners’ Homes in the village in August 1926.
THEATRE: The Karate Kid The Musical
Where: Sunderland Empire
When: July 14-18
Bookings and info: atgtickets.com
If the words ‘Wax on. Wax off’ are enough to spark equal measures of nostalgia and involuntary mime, chances are you’ll be more than tempted by this musical adaptation of classic eighties movie, The Karate Kid.
Telling the familiar story of Daniel LaRusso, Mr Miyagi and the lessons that prove karate is about much more than fighting, the production boasts an original score and - as you would expect - promises some dynamic choreography.
STILL SHOWING
Theatre: Unearthed Festival, Live Theatre, Newcastle, until Jul 11
Theatre: Derren Brown - Only Human, Stockton Globe, until Jul 11
Festival: Mouth of the Tyne Festival, Tynemouth Priory and Castle, Jul 9-12
Music: The Water of Tyne - Reimagined, The Glasshouse, Gateshead, from Jul 11
Carnival: South Tyneside Summer Parade, South Shields, Jul 11, 1-5pm Read our preview
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
Music: Pitmen Poets, various North East venues until Jul 12. Read our preview
Exhibition: Joan Eardley, Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed, until Oct 11
Screen: The Fortune, Channel 5, from Jun 2, 9pm
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.
Exhibition: Foundation Press – Starting Lines, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until Aug 30.
Exhibition: The Graduates, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, until Jul 31.
Radio: Si King on Desert Island Discs, BBC Sounds/iPlayer
Exhibition: Vivienne Westwood: Rebel – Storyteller – Visionary, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Sept 6
Exhibition: Following the Eagle, Segedunum Roman Fort, Wallsend, until Oct 3
Exhibition: Picture This: Someone Like Me, Great North Museum: Hancock, until Jan 2027
Exhibition: Portrait Award 2025, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, until Sept 5
Exhibition: Enigmas, RePUBlic Gallery, Blyth, ongoing
Exhibition: Rebel Women of Sunderland, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, until Aug 1
Screen: Torvill and Dean - The Last Dance, streaming on ITVX
Screen: Jools Holland’s New Orleans Jukebox, BBC iPlayer
Radio: Tom and Lauren Are Going OOT!, BBC Sounds
Exhibition: Out of the Darkness, Mining Art Gallery, Bishop Auckland, until December
NOW BOOKING
Music: BBC Proms, various venues and dates, Jul 23-25
Comedy: The Nearly Naked Show, Live Theatre, Newcastle, Jul 29
Music: Summer Parties at The Fire Station, Sunderland, Jul 31 to Aug 30
Music: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Newcastle, Sept 4
Music: Niall Horan, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Sept 23
Music: Elephant Kind, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Sept 25
Comedy: Daniel Kitson - Thrum, Gala Theatre Durham, Oct 15
Theatre: Our Friends in the North, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Oct 15-24, Find out more about the cast
Theatre: Billy Elliot the Musical, Sunderland Empire, Nov 4-28
Comedy: Laura Smyth - Born Aggy, ARC Stockton (Nov 13) and The Stand Newcastle, (Nov 14)
Comedy/Theatre: Your Aunt Fanny presents You’re Not Me Ma, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Dec 18-19
2027
Comedy: Andrew Bird - On Edge, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Jan 24
Theatre: The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Feb 3-6
Theatre: Annie, Tyne Theatre Productions, Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, Feb 17-20
Poetry: Hollie McNish - The Paperback Tour, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Apr
Comedy: Matt Bragg - Stand Up Comic, The Stand Newcastle, Apr 8
COMPETITION TIME
Welcome to our latest newsletter prize draw - offering our subscribers an exclusive opportunity to win tickets to see or do something great.
This week, we’ve got a pair of tickets to see comedian Lee Kyle’s new show (take a deep breath): I Shot A Man In Chinos Just to Watch Him Die But I Did Not Shoot the Deputy (I Did Shoot the Deputy) at The Stand Newcastle on July 20.
Rescheduled (from July 19), the comic who lists ’former wrestler’ on his CV (we don’t know whether he actually does, but he was definitely once a wrestler) is back with a show that promises to leave the thoughtful introspection to one side in favour of something a little more gloriously daft. Sounds like bliss.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: CHINOS by 5pm on Sunday (July 12)
The winner, who will be selected at random, will be notified within 48 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.