Curated Culture 08.07.25
Our weekly recommendations round up from North East stages and cultural venues
Hello or Geiá sou! Today’s newsletter is coming to you direct from a very sunny Rhodes, where I (Sam) am currently working through a strict schedule of beach walks, book-reading, and watermelon slicing.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t resist pulling together this week’s cultural shot in the arm for you… there’s too much excellent stuff happening to take a week off.
Whether you're sun-soaked, sofa/swivel chair-based, or somewhere in between, consider this your Tuesday scroll break. We’ve got theatre, music, exhibitions, festivals and plenty more to add a cultural glow to your calendar - last-minute plans and long-range diary entries equally welcome.
If you’re new here, a warm wave from across the Aegean! Each Tuesday you’ll find the following dropping into your inbox:
🗓️ Top Picks – Featured events coming up in the next fortnight
📌 Still Showing – What’s still running and worth your time
📅 Now Booking – Advance notice on shows you might want to get inked in
🎁 Subscriber Prize Draw – A little extra, just because we can
Speaking of which – this week’s giveaway is a pair of tickets to Ordinary Decent Criminal at Live Theatre, Newcastle (July 23-26) on the evening of July 25.
Entry details are at the end of the newsletter, but in the meantime, have a good scroll - there’s loads to dilly dally on the way.
Thanks for reading, sharing and supporting with lovely emails. It’s very much appreciated.
Sam (Wonfor) & Dave (Whetstone)
Like Chas and Dave, but with less hair and better accents
PS: If you haven’t liked/followed/high fived us on our socials, you can rectify that on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky
FESTIVAL: Newcastle Fringe
Where: Alphabetti Theatre and various venues across the city
When: July 22-August 2
Bookings and info: newcastlefringe.co.uk
Newcastle Fringe Festival returns for 2025 with its biggest programme yet - more than 110 performances across eight venues. There’s no way you won’t find something to love on the programme.
The line-up spans comedy, music, theatre, drag, dance, family shows and more, with appearances from big names including former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Inua Ellams, Dane Baptiste, Suzie McCabe, and Amy Matthews.
The festival also showcases a wide range of local talent, including Lauren Pattison, Katie Doherty & The Navigators, and emerging artists from Northern School of Art and Northumbria University.
Events will take place at established venues like Alphabetti Theatre and Dance City, alongside new additions such as The Lubber Fiend and Artisan @ The Biscuit Factory.
Despite receiving no public funding, the festival continues to grow, driven by community support and collaboration. In a bid to improve access, 10% of tickets are available at a significantly reduced price - no forms, no questions asked.
Look out for our full preview on the website in the coming days.
MUSIC: Mouth of the Tyne Festival
Where: Tynemouth Priory
When: July 10-13
Bookings and info: mouthofthetynefestival.com
Mouth of the Tyne Festival returns this week with four days of live music, street theatre, and family events centred around Tynemouth Priory and Castle.
The live music programme includes UB40 with Soul II Soul on Thursday (July 10), and Kenny Thomas, Sonique, and Marvin Humes on Sunday (July 13) — both still have tickets if you’re quick.
Friday and Saturday’s events respectively headlined by Ministry of Sound Classical and Elbow and Hector Gannet are sold out.
Away from the main stage, the festival also features free outdoor entertainment across the weekend, including international street performers, jazz musicians, and a popular children’s pageant. Basically it’s baked-in good times across the board.
FESTIVAL: Durham Brass Festival 2025
Where: Various venues across Durham
When: July 13–20
Bookings and info: brassfestival.co.uk
Durham Brass Festival returns with a week-long programme of brass-influenced performances across the city. This year’s headline act is Bill Ryder-Jones, who will perform his album Iechyd Da in full at Gala Durham with NASUWT Riverside Band. Support comes from Pet Snake, the solo project of Evelyn Halls.
Other events include a recording of BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends hosted by Stuart Maconie at Redhills, featuring guests Simon Armitage, Paula Hawkins and Ria Lina. The Party in the Park at Wharton Park and the Streets of Brass weekend bring free outdoor performances from a wide mix of UK and international street bands.
There’s also a brass-themed tea dance, brassy river cruises, a special performance from Barry Hyde with Durham Miners Association Brass Band, and a return appearance from The Fairey Band - presenting both Pictures at an Exhibition and their take on acid house classics.
Events take place city-wide, with a mix of free and ticketed entry. Full listings - and there are gloriously full - are available online.
THEATRE: Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story
Where: Live Theatre, Newcastle
When: July 9-12
Bookings and info: live.org.uk
After the success of Gwyneth Goes Skiing, Awkward Productions are en route to Live Theatre with their multi award-winning, Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show.
Do you know the story of Diana? Probably. But do you know this story of Diana? Highly unlikely. Join the People’s Princess in heaven as she retells her life story - with zero accuracy and maximum queer chaos.
Expect drag, puppetry, audience participation, multimedia madness and a whole lot of tasteless joy in this gloriously unhinged tribute to Ar Di. Visiting Newcastle for the very first time, fresh from a world tour.
FESTIVAL: GemArts Masala Festival
Where: Various Tyneside venues
When: July 14 to 20
Bookings and info: gemarts.org
Colourful, exciting, enlightening – all apt descriptions of the annual festival of South Asian arts produced by Gateshead-based Gem Arts.
On day one, July 14, you can see Songs of the Bulbul which arrives at the Theatre Royal garlanded with five-star reviews.
Supported by Dance City, it’s a new dance work from the Aakash Odedra Company choreographed by Rani Khanam and with music by Rushil Ranjan.
It was inspired by the ancient Sufi myth of a bulbul (nightingale) held in captivity. The Guardian’s reviewer called it “a song of beauty and light and life”.
On the same day Sofia Barton’s new exhibition of paintings and drawings, Death Magic, opens at Vane, Orbis Community, 65 High Street, Gateshead, and festival partner Dabbawal unveils its special festival menu at its High Bridge, Newcastle, and Jesmond restaurants.
On July 15 there’s to be a screening of Bhutan film-maker Dechen Roder’s award-winning 2024 release (her second following her 2016 debut) I, The Song.
Set in the Himalayan kingdom, it tells of Nima (Tandin Bidha), a teacher who is summarily fired when a scandalously explicit video appearing to show her appears online. How will she clear her name?
EVENT: The 11th Annual Cluny Duck Race
Where: The Cluny, Ouseburn, Newcastle
When: July 20, 11am-3pm
Bookings and info: thecluny.com
The Cluny’s legendary Duck Race is back for its 11th year - and for the uninitiated, it’s exactly as joyful as it sounds.
There are 350 ducks up for grabs - it’s £5 a duck (available at the bar), and it’s all in aid of the RSPCA. Whether you're in it for glory - someone will go home with the golden duck trophy - costume prizes, or just to watch plastic ducks race down the Ouseburn, it's never not smashing.
Duck gathering starts at 11am; Best Dressed judging at 1pm; Race begins at 2pm.
EXHIBITION: Three artists
Where: National Glass Centre, Sunderland
When: Until January 10, 2026
Bookings and info: sunderlandculture.org.uk
If you haven’t visited the National Glass Centre (NGC), don’t dawdle. It opened in 1998 as a millennium project but is due to close a year from now with Sunderland University citing prohibitive repair costs.
It’s a sad demise for something that promised much. But as you’ll see from these three individual exhibitions, part of a programme celebrating its achievements, the NGC has delivered much too.
Zac Weinberg and Joanna Manousis, partners in life and art, moved to Sunderland because of its glass-making reputation and facilities. Zac, an American, came far indeed.
Both are based at the NGC, as is fellow well-travelled exhibitor Anthony Amoako-Attah who studied glass and ceramics at Sunderland University (a course now discontinued) where he attained his MA and PhD.
He earned his BA in Kumasi, Ghana, in 2013 and traditional Ghanaian textile designs are one source of his inspiration.
“As individuals they are receiving increasing international acclaim and together they represent Sunderland’s strength in supporting artists working in glass,” stated the NGC, announcing the exhibition.
The extent of that support remains a subject of heated debate, with opponents of closure claiming the proposed alternative, Glassworks: Sunderland, bolstered by a £5m Government grant, represents a downgrade.
For now, the displays by Weinberg, Manousis and Amoako-Attah show what wonders can be achieved in glass when conditions are right.
EXHIBITION: Pursued By Bulldozers
Where: Gateshead Central Library
When: July 12 to September 27
Bookings and info: gateshead.gov.uk
The title describes both a new book by Gateshead gallery owner Brian Rankin about artist Charlie Rogers (1930 to 2020) and an exhibition of the late artist’s work.
Brian, who runs the Come View My Art Gallery in Low Fell, Gateshead, has worked tirelessly to win posthumous recognition for an artist whose modesty meant he passed largely under the radar.
Charlie was as prolific as he was talented, leaving a vast legacy of work in oils and watercolours, including sketchbooks filled with accomplished pictures of people and places done ‘on the hoof’.
He lovingly recorded his beloved Tyneside, while claiming to be always just ahead of the bulldozers, and also travelled more widely than many would imagine, hitch-hiking to Paris, says Brian, on several occasions.
Brian has uncovered evidence that Charlie was championed by Norman Cornish, who was also a friend, and also most probably by LS Lowry, a frequent North East visitor.
This promises to be a fabulous eye-opener of an exhibition in the gallery at Gateshead Central Library and Brian will be signing books there on Saturday (July 12) from 10.30 am to 12.30pm, seated in Charlie’s own chair and at his desk.
AUTHOR TALK: Eirinie Lapidaki
Where: Jesmond Library, Newcastle
When: Wednesday, July 9, 7pm
Bookings and info: jesmondlibrary.org
Eirinie, whose debut novel The Wives of Halcyon was published last May, will discuss her work with Dr Deniz Yonucu, senior lecturer at Newcastle University.
The novel takes us to a remote farm in the Scottish Highlands which has become home to a cultish religious community and named Halcyon.
Its leader is a domineering fellow called Elijah and the story is told from the perspective of his ‘wives’.
“A powerful story of coercive control, motherhood and extraordinary women,” say publishers Legend Press.
“A captivating literary page turner” declared the Edinburgh Evening News.
Eirinie lives in Gateshead. She went to school in Blaydon and read English at the University of St Andrews before returning to the region to study for an MLitt at Newcastle University.
Agents Jenny Brown Associates say she is working on a second novel about the wellness industry and its impact on women’s bodies.
This is one of a series of author events at the library organised by New Writing North.
On July 16, award-winning Scottish performance poet Len Pennie will perform and discuss her debut collection, Poyums, with fellow poet Christine Fowler.
Then on July 23 it’s the turn of crime writer Robert Rutherford, author of last year’s Sunday Times bestseller, Seven Days.
MUSIC: The Levellers
Where: The Fire Station, Sunderland
When: July 11
Bookings and info: thefirestation.org.uk
Brighton folk-punk veterans the Levellers bring their acoustic project, The Levellers Collective, to Sunderland’s Fire Station this week.
This performance is part of a 17-date theatre tour coinciding with the release of a live album and DVD recorded at London’s Hackney Empire in 2023. The evening will also feature support from The Bar Stool Preachers.
CLASSICAL/FOLK: Music at Paxton Festival
Where: Paxton House, Berwick
When: July 18 to 27
Bookings and info: musicatpaxton.co.uk
The summer music festival has become a feature at Paxton House, the imposing 18th Century property on the north bank of the Tweed, just west of Berwick.
“We warmly invite you to immerse yourselves in an array of glorious music,” says artistic director Angus Smith.
The festival opens with an introductory talk on July 18, followed by a recital in Paxton’s picture gallery by pianist Yevgeny Sudbin featuring works by Bach, Liszt, Scarlatti, Scriabin and Prokofiev.
Born in Russia in 1980, Sudbin emigrated with his family to Germany as a child and has lived in Britain since 1997. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2008 and is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music.
The festival also features concerts by the Consone Quartet who are into their third and final year as Paxton House associate ensemble. On July 19 they will perform pieces by Robert and Clara Schumann and will be joined by Katherine Spencer for the Brahms Clarinet Quintet.
STILL SHOWING
Theatre: The Skriker, The Studio, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Jul 8-11
Music: Katie Doherty and the Navigators, Green Croft Arts, Gilsland; Hive in Nenthead; Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle; Jul 11, 12 and 26, respectively
Theatre: A Room of One’s Own, Alnwick Playhouse, Jul 17
Exhibition: Magna Carta and the North, Durham Cathedral, July 11 to Nov 2
Event: Art Car Boot Fair, BALTIC, Gateshead, Jul 12
Music: George Boomsma, watersmeet & Nadia Kadek, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Jul 9
Exhibition: Where Were You Last Summer? Arts Centre Washington, until Aug 30
Event: With A Little Help from Their Friends - Stuart Maconie in Conversation, Tyneside Cinema, Jul 15
Comedy: Chris Cantrill and Elaine Robertson, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Jul 10
Screen: Transaction, ITV2 and ITV X, Full series now available
Dance: Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Jul 8-12
Exhibition: Works by Nathan Coley, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Mar 1, 2026
Exhibition: Light Takes The Tree, RePUBlic Gallery, Blyth, until Aug 7
Screen: 28 Years Later, Cinemas all over the place, on general release now at most cinemas. 🎥 Read our report from Newcastle gala screening
Exhibition: The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists, Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Gardens, near Durham, until Aug 31
Musical: Hamilton, Sunderland Empire, until Jul 26. 🎭 Read our review.
Exhibition: Guiding Entities, MIMA, Middlesbrough, until Nov 23
Exhibition: Cedric Morris, Artist, Plantsman & Traveller, Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed, until Oct 12
Exhibition: The Coal Town Collection – Mik Critchlow Gallery, Woodhorn Museum, Ashington, permanent display
Exhibition: With These Hands, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, until September 27
Exhibition: Shakespeare Recovered, Palace Green Library, Durham, until Nov 2
Audio-Visual: The Mother Goose Series, The Glasshouse, Gateshead, until July
Exhibition: Richard Hobson retrospective, South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, until Nov 2
Exhibition: Ali Cherri/Laura and Lancaster, BALTIC, until Oct 12
Exhibition: Joséphine: A Woman of Taste and Fashion, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until March 2026
Exhibition: Magna Carta and the North, Durham Cathedral Museum, Jul 11 until Nov 2
Music: Nick Cope – I’ve Lost My Bobble Hat, The Glasshouse, Gateshead at 11am on Oct 29
Theatre: Mary Poppins, Sunderland Empire, Oct 1-25
Music: The Young’uns Big Boro Bash, Middlesbrough Town Hall, Nov 15
Big screen: Expo Sunderland Pavilion, Keel Square, Sunderland, throughout 2025
NOW BOOKING
Event: Gosforth Beer Festival, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle, Aug 1
Theatre: SIX, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Aug 12-23
Music: Tom A Smith, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Aug 15
Theatre: 2:22 A Ghost Story, Sunderland Empire, Sept 8-13
Theatre: Detention, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Sept 16-17
Music: Self Esteem, Newcastle 02 City Hall, Sept 18
Comedy: Kiri Pitchard-McLean and Louise Young, The Exchange 1856, Oct 11
Comedy: Suzi Ruffell, Gala Theatre Durham, Oct 15
Event: Mercury Music Prize 2025, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Oct 16
Music: The Boomtown Rats - Happy Birthday Boomtown, Celebrating 50 Rat Years 1975-2025, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Nov 8
Music: Mumford and Sons, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Nov 29
2026
Music: Nashville in Concert - The Encore Tour, Newcastle 02 City Hall, Feb 6
Theatre: Inspector Morse - House of Ghosts, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Feb 3-7
Event: Sunday for Sammy, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Feb 15
Theatre: Noughts and Crosses, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Feb 27-Mar 7
Dance: Diversity - Soul 2026, Stockton Globe, Mar 10
Comedy: Mark Simmons - Jest to Impress, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Mar 13
Comedy: Gary Delaney Work in Progress, The Witham, Barnard Castle, Apr 2
Music: Ludovico Einaudi - Solo Piano, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Gateshead (Tickets on sale July 10)
COMPETITION TIME
Welcome to our latest newsletter prizedraw, 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 Ordinary Decent Criminal at Live Theatre, Newcastle (July 23-26) on the evening of July 25.
The new play by Ed Edwards, writer of England & Son and A Political History of Smack & Crack is presented by Paines Plough, Live Theatre and Ellie Keel Productions, in association with Synergy Theatre Project.
Set in the aftermath of the Strangeways Prison Riot, Ordinary Decent Criminal follows recovering addict Frankie as he enters a liberal prison experiment where not everything – or everyone – is quite what they seem.
Performed by political comedian Mark Thomas and directed by Charlotte Bennett, the play explores ideas of revolution, freedom and unlikely love in unexpected places.
The run begins at Live Theatre from July 23-26 and there will be a free post-show talk with Ed Edwards, Mark Thomas and Charlotte Bennett after the 7.30pm performance on July 24.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: Stick ‘em up punk, it’s the Ordinary Decent Criminal by noon, (12pm) on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
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.