Hello, and thanks for jumping in for another Curated Culture.
We’ve sifted through another busy couple of weeks on the North East cultural calendar and come up with our latest selection of things that we think are worth your time – from theatre and live music to comedy, exhibitions and screens of all sizes.
You’ll also find another helping of STILL SHOWING, for anything you might have missed first time around, while NOW BOOKING keeps an eye on what’s coming further down the line.
And, having broken the Christmas seal last week, our FESTIVE FORECAST is back with a few more seasonal suggestions for those already making plans. No pressure on the rest of you.
Further down, this week’s subscriber prize draw offers a pair of tickets to see the premiere run of North East playwright Alison Carr’s All At Sea at Live Theatre in Newcastle on September 26.
Thanks for your continued attention and support.
Sam (Wonfor) and Dave (Whetstone)
Professionally preoccupied with North East Culture
EXHIBITION: Baltic Open Submission
Where: Baltic, Gateshead
When: From September 19 to April 4, 2027
Bookings and info: baltic.art
The Open’s back, with all its inherent variety and idiosyncrasy, and this time the work of 79 artists – from more than 1,100 who submitted – will be on show.
It was selected by a panel comprising artists Laura Lancaster, Rachel Lancaster and Will Hughes, and Baltic assistant curators Rose McMurray and Rosie Coleman Collier.
In addition, 44 artists aged 11 to 17 will be represented in the first Youth Open Call section of the exhibition, supported by Fenwick and selected by Baltic’s Young Producers group and young artist Terox.
This third iteration of Baltic Open Submission, spanning painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, film and textiles, offers a platform to those who might not have exhibited publicly before.
Rose McMurray said: “It has been incredible to see the number of submissions we have received.
“It’s so inspiring to get a glimpse of the incredible talent we have here in the North East.”
Three young artists will also see their work displayed at Fenwick, Northumberland Street. They are 17-year-old Elizabeth, winner of the Fenwick Art Award, and runners-up Henry, aged 11, and Jason, 14.
A preview party at Baltic is scheduled for Friday, September 18 from 6pm. Tickets from the website.
MUSIC: Lindisfarne
Where: Queen’s Hall Hexham and The Fire Station, Sunderland
When: September 11 and 13, respectively
Bookings and info: lindisfarne.com
Lindisfarne are back on the road this autumn, bringing more than five decades of North East folk-rock history to shows in Hexham and Sunderland.
This five-piece line-up is fronted by founder member Rod Clements on vocals, mandolin and slide guitar, alongside long-time members of the band including Dave Hull-Denholm.
The set draws on a catalogue which has become firmly embedded in the region’s musical heritage, including Lady Eleanor, Meet Me on the Corner, Fog on the Tyne and Run for Home. The tour reaches Newcastle City Hall on December 19.
In related news, the next chapter of The Lindisfarne Story - featuring the band’s founding drummer, Ray Laidlaw and Billy Mitchell who served as lead singer from 1995-2003 - will be on the road in 2027 and has a boatload of North East dates booked in.
COMEDY/SCREEN: Super 8 Flicks with Viz’s Chris and Simon Donald
Where: Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle
When: September 15
Bookings and info: tynesidecinema.co.uk
Viz founders Chris and Simon Donald are putting their film tastes on the big screen for the latest instalment of Tyneside Cinema’s Super 8 Flicks.
The brothers will join comedian and actor Dave Johns to reveal the eight films they couldn’t live without, sharing stories and clips along the way and explaining why their choices have stuck with them.
Previous guests in the series have included Christopher Eccleston, Stewart Lee and Brenda Blethyn. The evening also raises money for Tyneside Talent Unit, which helps young people from working-class backgrounds find routes into the film and television industries.
BOOKS: Val McDermid and Jo Sharp
Where: Lit & Phil Library, Newcastle
When: Tuesday, September 22, 6pm
Bookings and info: litandphil.org.uk
Two for the price of one is generally considered a good deal and that’s what you get here, whether attending the talk or buying the book – the recently published novella This Door of the Seas.
Normally we’d describe McDermid and Sharp as leading lights in their respective fields, the former as acclaimed crime writer and the latter as Geographer Royal for Scotland (the first woman to hold the position).
But their talents come together in this book which came about because they are also partners in life.
It came out of research Sharp was doing into the first Geographer Royal, Sir Robert Sibbald.
Just after he was appointed, Scotland embarked on an ambitious but ill-fated mission to set up a trading colony in Panama. Sir Robert sent someone to keep an eye on things.
It was all news to Jo Sharpe and having told Val that it would make a brilliant story, Val suggested they write it together.
This Door of the Seas is the seventh book in Polygon’s Darkland Tales series in which Scottish authors reimagine moments from the country’s history and legend.
SCREEN: Forever Home
Where: Channel 5
When: From September 14
Info: channel5.com
The cast and crew of new Channel 5 drama, Forever Home assembled at Tyneside Cinema last week to get a preview of the series they spent months filming across Northumberland.
An adaptation of Graham Norton’s best-selling novel - with the action moved to Northumberland from County Cork - the six-part series centres around Carol (Amy Nuttall) who falls in love with an older man (Douglas Henshall) but finds their happiness cut short when he develops dementia and she discovers a body in the basement.
Produced by Vera veteran, Will Nicholson, the wider cast includes locals Denise Welch, Kevin Whately and Lewis Cope as well as Samantha Bond who were all based at Broomley Grange, near Stocksfield for the duration of the shoot.
Forever Home is supported by the North East Production Fund, administered by North East Screen and designed to encourage more productions to shoot in the region and support its TV and film industry.
OPERA: Cosi fan tutte
Where: The Glasshouse, Gateshead
When: September 19, 7pm
Bookings and info: theglasshouseicm.org
Launching the new classical season in style is this notable production – in the newly refurbished Sage One – of Mozart’s opera of 1790 whose comic theme, it must be said, some might nowadays not find so funny.
The story hinges on a bet, two young officers insisting on the fidelity of their fiancées and an acquaintance urging them to put it to the test – resulting in a wager and a plot.
The libretto was by Lorenzo Da Ponte and this is the third of the so-called Mozart-Da Ponte operas (the others being Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro).
There was a production of it here by the Samling Institute for Young Artists back in 2005, directed by Sir Thomas Allen and with the (then) Northern Sinfonia. Don Giovanni followed in 2007.
The (now) Royal Northern Sinfonia and its Chorus will be involved again in this first flowering of a new multi-year Mozart-Da Ponte project led by music director Dinis Sousa.
The international cast includes Christina Gansch (Fiordiligi), Alexandra Oomens (Dorabella), Jonas Hacker (Ferrando), Cody Quattlebaum (Guglielmo), Rebecca Evans (Despina) and Neil Davies Don Alfonso.
THEATRE: The Wasp
Where: People’s Theatre, Newcastle
When: Until September 12
Bookings and info: peoplestheatre.co.uk
It’s buzzing at the People’s which launches its new season with this edgy two-hander from 2015.
Heather and Carla were classmates once but hardly pals. Heather was bullied and Carla was a principal tormentor.
Now, 20 years on, they’re reunited, life having treated them very differently, and Heather has a proposition.
Hattie Eason plays Heather and Annie Cairns is Carla in Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s psychological drama with twists, a dash of bile and the capacity to test audience sympathies.
The season progresses with Tom Wright’s adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsey’s novel which also became an acclaimed film in 1975 (October 12-17).
Then come 2:22 – A Ghost Story by ex-People’s member Danny Robins (October 20-24); But Why Bump Off Barnaby? by Rick Abbott (Young People’s Theatre, November 5-7); Michael Frayn’s evergreen Noises Off (November 17-21); and The Lion in Winter by James Goldman, which also became a famous film (November 23-28).
The 2026 panto is Beauty and the Beast (December 12-20) and the traditional New Year ‘Agatha’ Murder on the Nile (January 12-16).
Following that (February 9-13) comes The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with a leading role many People’s actresses would surely kill for.
COMEDY: Hear Me Roar
Where: Little Theatre, Gateshead
When: September 19
Bookings and info: ticketsource.com
After building a combined social media following of around 200,000, Gateshead’s Yvonne Vincent and Marie Thom are swapping their news feeds for the live stage.
The women behind Growing Old Disgracefully and Midlife Dramas in Pyjamas met online in 2023, became friends and launched their Hear Me Roar podcast.
Now they’ve turned their shared take on midlife into a live show and booked a night at Gateshead’s Little Theatre. Expect comedy sketches, songs and audience games taking aim at everything from menopause to the manosphere.
THEATRE: Wilko: Love and Death and Rock ’n’ Roll
Where: Gala Durham
When: September 15 (7.30pm) and 16 (2.30pm, 7.30pm)
Bookings and info: galadurham.co.uk
Many young people must have graduated in English from Newcastle University over the years, and a fair percentage must have studied Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic sagas.
No doubt most went on to enjoy rewarding careers – though none, I bet, to match that of John Wilkinson, from Essex.
In 1971, as Wilko Johnson, he co-founded brilliant rock band Dr. Feelgood.
On stage, recalled playwright Jonathan Maitland, Wilko “jittered and jerked like a demented robot, using his guitar as a machine gun to mow down the audience.
“It was funny, scary and thrilling.”
Wilko was a charismatic one-off. In 2012, when diagnosed with cancer and given a year to live, he refused chemo, saying he didn’t want to live his last months feeling “like s***”.
But Wilko’s cancer had been misdiagnosed and after surgery he lived… or at least for longer than predicted. He died in 2022, aged 75.
Maitland’s “play with live music” first brought Wilko to life at Southwark Playhouse last year before going to the West End.
Now it’s coming to the region where Maitland’s “favourite rock star of all time” once studied learned texts.
THEATRE: The Anastasia File
Where: Newcastle Theatre Royal
When: September 16-19
Bookings and info: theatreroyal.co.uk
One of the 20th century’s most enduring mysteries takes centre stage on Tyneside next week in The Anastasia File.
Jenny Seagrove reprises her role in Royce Ryton’s drama, inspired by the story of a woman pulled from a Berlin canal in 1920 who later claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia – and therefore a survivor of the Romanov family’s execution.
Her fight for recognition and a share of the Romanov fortune continued for decades, leaving questions over memory, identity and truth in its wake. Directed by Roy Marsden, the touring production also stars Simon Shepherd, Ashley D. Gayle and Rosie Thomson.
STILL SHOWING
Music: King King, The Glasshouse, Gateshead, Sept 9
Theatre: Othello, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Sept 11-26
Exhibition: Kitchen Sink Realism, NGCA, Culture House Sunderland, Sept 12 to Jan 17
Music: Dave Stewart, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Sept 14 and 15
Lecture: The Anastasia File, Lit & Phil, Newcastle, Sept 14, 6pm
Event: Heritage Open Days, Venues and attractions all over the North East, Sept 11-20
Music: Hollywood Adventure, Gala Durham, Sept 10-11, 7pm
Comedy: Seann Walsh - This Is Torture, ARC, Stockton (Sept 12); The Witham, Barnard Castle (Sept 25); and Queen’s Hall Arts (Sept 26)
Theatre: The Departure, Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, Sept 11
Festival: WRITE Festival 2026, The Word, National Centre for the Written Word and other South Tyneside venues, until Sept 26
Audio: Music Lives Here podcast, Your ears, via wherever you get your podcasts
When: Weekly until Sept 25
Dance: The Car Man, Newcastle Theatre Royal, until Sept 12
Event: Ushaw Flower Festival, Ushaw Historic House, Chapels and Gardens, Sept 10-13
Exhibition: CHROMA: A Measure of Colour, Arts Centre Washington, until Sept 18
Screen: Poised, STV player, available now
Exhibition: Victory Over the Sun: Adventures with Light, The Light, Aykley Heads, Durham, until Jan 17, 2027
Art: Northern Summer Exhibition, Newcastle Arts Centre, Westgate Road, until Sept 12
Exhibition: Things That Go!, Discovery Museum, Newcastle, until Feb 29, 2027
Exhibition: MOXIE: Generation Alpha Curates the Middlesbrough Collection, MIMA, Middlesbrough, until Mar 28, 2027. READ MORE
Exhibition: Discovering Dark Skies, Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, until Sept 19
Screen: Ashington AFC: Saving Our Club, available to stream on BBC iPlayer
Event: Kynren – An Epic Tale of England, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, until Sept 12
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
Exhibition: Joan Eardley, Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed, until Oct 11
Screen: The Fortune, Channel 5, available now
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: Following the Eagle, Segedunum Roman Fort, Wallsend, until Oct 3
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: Hexham Abbey Festival, Hexham, Sept 23-27
Comedy: Susan Calman - Tall Tales, Playhouse Whitley Bay (Sept 20); Sunderland Empire (Oct 2); Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Newcastle (Nov 6)
Music: Grace Petrie, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Oct 8
Music: African Soul Rebels featuring Les Amazones d’Afrique, Gasper Nali and N’famady Kouyate, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Oct 9
Music: The Hoosiers, Newgate Social, Newcastle, Oct 9
Folk Festival: Beyond the Moor, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle, Oct 10
Music: Mercury Prize Fringe, venues across Newcastle and Gateshead, Oct 15-22
Theatre: Our Friends in the North, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Oct 15-24
Event: An Intimate Evening with Trevor Horn - Adventures in Modern Recording, Gala Theatre Durham, Oct 31
Music: Friday Night Club with The Unthanks, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Nov 6
Theatre: A Mini Series of Groundbreaking American Play Readings, Live Theatre, Newcastle, Nov 11-14
Music: Squeeze plus guest Billy Bragg, Newcastle o2 City Hall (Nov 16) and Stockton Globe (Nov 17)
Festival: Books on Tyne, Lit and Phil, Newcastle, Nov 19-28
Comedy: The Comic Strip Presents… Film Screening and Live Q&A, The Witham, Barnard Castle, Nov 25
Music: An Evening with Lambchop, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Nov 26
Music: The Damned - Final Damnation 50, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Dec 1
2027
Theatre: Annie, Sunderland Empire, Jan 18-23
Music: Robben Ford, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Jan 28
Music: James Blunt, Utilita Arena Newcastle Mar 28
Theatre: Jesus Christ Superstar, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Mar 16-27; and Sunderland Empire, Sept 14-18
Comedy: Matt Forde, Alnwick Playhouse (Apr 28); and The Witham, Barnard Castle (Apr 29)
Music: The Lindisfarne Story Episode VII: The Road to Kingdom Come, various North East venues from Apr 9 to May 1
Music: Simple Minds + Gary Numan, Utilita Arena Newcastle, May 13
🎄 FESTIVE FORECAST 🎄
Music: The Funk Collective - The Funk Before Christmas, ARC Stockton, Dec 5
Panto: Aladdin, Middlesbrough Town Hall, Dec 5-31
Family Theatre: The Elves and the Shoemaker, Gala Theatre Durham, Dec 8-24
Music: Smoove and Turrell Christmas Party, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Dec 11
Music: Kate Rusby at Christmas, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Dec 14
Panto: Cinderella, The WItham, Barnard Castle, Dec 18-19
Screen/Classical: Disney’s The Muppet’s Christmas Carol in Concert, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Dec 22
Music: The Young ‘Uns at Christmas, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Dec 23
Music: Christmas Rocks, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Dec 27-30
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 two pairs of tickets to see the premiere run of All At Sea at Live Theatre, Newcastle on September 26.
North East playwright Alison Carr takes the extraordinary ‘Canoe Man’ case as the jumping-off point for All At Sea – but don’t expect a straightforward retelling.
Written during lockdown, Carr’s fictional version follows Colin and Deborah, a married couple in a northern coastal town whose spiralling debts prompt an audacious solution: fake Colin’s death at sea and claim the insurance. From there, as Carr puts it, “This is a wild story. Let’s tell a wild story.”
Directed by Maria Crocker and performed by Phil Corbitt and Sarah Belcher, the two-hander explores marriage, money and the increasingly complicated consequences of one very big lie.
All At Sea runs at Live Theatre from September 24 to October 10. Visit the website for booking.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: ‘YOU COULDN’T MAKE IT UP’ by 5pm on Sunday, September 13.
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.