Curated Culture 10.02.26
Our weekly round-up of recommendations from North East stages and cultural venues
Hello and welcome to Curated Culture, our Tuesday serving of North East arts and culture happenings which are just around the corner - and a few which are slightly further away (we’re talking both time and distance, here).
As ever, if you’d care to take a leisurely scroll below, you will find:
🗓️ Top Picks – featured listings of things we think are worth getting in front of over the next couple of weeks
📌 Still Showing – highlights from mailouts gone by which remain available to enjoy
📅 Now Booking – things you might want to nail on sooner rather than later
🎁 Subscriber Prize Draw – this week, we’ve got 3 x £30 vouchers for Highlights Rural Touring’s spring season (for which tickets are on sale).
You’ll find details on how to enter at the end of the mailout.
Thanks as ever for your clicks, shares, comments and inbox back pats. It’s all very welcome. And don’t forget to dive into the latest Cultured. On Sunday if you haven’t already. Lots to like in there.
See you soon
Sam (Wonfor) & Dave (Whetstone)
Professionally preoccupied with North East culture
You can like/follow/high five us on our socials, on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky
MUSIC: Suede Antidepressants Tour
Where: Newcastle 02 City Hall
When: February 14
Bookings and info: academymusicgroup.com
Nineties Britpop icons Suede bring the tour marking the release of their new album Antidepressants to Tyneside this Valentine’s Day.
The band’s 10th studio release has been described as an “intensely energetic return”, with frontman Brett Anderson calling it “our post-punk record”.
Lyrically, the songs wrestle with anxiety, disconnection and the pressures of modern life - “broken music for broken people”, as Anderson puts it.
Expect a set that balances raw urgency with the theatrical sweep Suede are known for, alongside moments from a catalogue that has shaped British alternative music for more than three decades.
Only resale tickets available… but you might get lucky. We just did.
THEATRE: Live Writes Winter
Where: Live Theatre
When: February 17
Bookings and info: live.org.uk
The winter edition of Live Theatre’s new writing showcase is upon us.
Built entirely from open calls, this event aims to bring together writers, directors and actors of all experience levels to test new work in a supportive, professional environment.
Selected scripts are rehearsed, teched and performed in a scratch setting (so all done in one day), with minimal props and maximum focus on the words on the page. Each piece receives live, bespoke feedback from an invited panel of theatre experts, alongside opportunities to network and be championed.
The four scripts chosen for this event are Chopstick Dance! by Emily Low; The Keen by Carmen Marcus; Gap Widow by Georgia Nicholson; and Spare Room by Allie Carroll and Lucas Heap.
CONCERT: The Hallé
Where: Middlesbrough Town Hall
When: Wednesday, February 11, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: middlesbrough.gov.uk
A brilliant programme features Elgar’s Cello Concerto, with the spotlight falling on renowned German soloist Jan Vogler, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the ‘Eroica’.
Vogler, born in Germany but based in New York, has performed with many major orchestras and, since 2008, has been artistic director of the Dresden Music Festival.
A great champion of the instrument and a virtuoso performer, he has performed Elgar’s masterpiece many times but the Middlesbrough audience alone will hear it during his current sequence of guest appearances with Manchester’s famous orchestra.
In Nottingham and back in Manchester, its place in the programme is taken by Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 (ranked 11th in a recent BBC Classical Music magazine rating of best cello concertos topped by the Elgar).
The orchestra describe the Elgar Cello Concerto as a “powerful, poignant and ecstatic” piece that “sweeps the audience along with its straight-to-the-heart melodies”.
There are still tickets – and If you live in the North East and have never attended a classical concert, you can get in for a fiver with the code FIRSTCLASSIC.
There’s a pre-concert talk at 6.30pm.
EVENT: Embers of Byker
Where: Hadrian Square, Byker
When: February 19-20, 5.30-6pm and 6.15-6.45pm
Bookings and info: newcastleeast.commonplace.is
Elsie the dragon is limbering up for a couple of meet and greets with families in the east end of Newcastle.
Billed as a magical outdoor performance, the action begins as dusk falls over Hadrian Square in Byker when a mechanical dragon of bronze, gears and flame awakens - offering a fiery winter treat.
There are four chances to meet Elsie across two days and all performances are free.
COMEDY: Paul Sinha - 2 Sinha Lifetime
Where: The Stand Newcastle and The Witham, Barnard Castle
When: February 12 and 13, respectively
Bookings and info: thestand.co.uk and thewitham.org.uk
After a turbulent (understatement klaxon) few years, comedian and a treasure of ITV quiz show, The Chase, Paul Sinha is back on tour with the show he took to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2025.
His return to the festival followed a dramatic 2023, when two heart attacks cut short his show schedule and led to months of tests, surgery and recovery.
Now marking 30 years in stand-up, the comic, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, is bringing the show to the countrywide masses - while also continuing his radio, quizzing and writing work.
CONCERT: The Best of Tubular Bells I, II and III
Where: The Glasshouse, Gateshead
When: Friday, February 13, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: theglasshouseicm.org
If you were alive and sentient during the mid-1970s, there was no escaping Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. Well, not if you were staying at a certain very eccentric hotel on the Isle of Wight.
It wasn’t Fawlty Towers but it could have been.
In the small hotel bar, during the long hot summer of 1976, there was a cassette player and two cassettes. One was the instrumental Tubular Bells.
Customers (few but merry) were treated to repeat renditions, alternating with the other, a Johnny Cash greatest hits compilation.
We can vouch for this at Cultured. North East and for the fact that Mike Oldfield’s creation – recorded when he was just 19 and released in 1973 as Virgin Records’ first album – grows on you. (As does Johnny Cash, but he’s not on the bill).
The Glasshouse gig, put together by Oldfield collaborator Robin Smith who will lead the live group (on the album, Oldfield played all the instruments), will feature the whole of Tubular Bells I and ‘extended sections’ of II (released in 1992) and III (1998).
COMEDY: Ross Noble - Cranium of Curiosities
Where: Newcastle o2 City Hall
When: February 18-20
Bookings and info: academymusicgroup.com
North East comedy legend, (he might only be 49, but he started when he was 15, and is on tour #22, so we stand by that description) Ross Noble returns to Newcastle City Hall for three back-to-back nights, bringing his unmistakable brand of joyful chaos to a venue he grew up visiting.
Raised in Cramlington, Ross’ latest live show promises exactly what fans hope for and nothing you could ever predict - a freewheeling torrent of tangents, waffle and spontaneous wonder. Lovely stuff.
SCREEN: Banff Mountain Film Festival
Where: Playhouse Whitley Bay
When: February 12 and 13, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: playhousewhitleybay.co.uk
For 50 years the Banff Mountain Film Festival has taken place in the Canadian national park resort of Banff.
There audiences get vicarious thrills by watching the best of the hundreds of often hair-raising adventure films submitted for consideration by the selectors.
The festival takes place in the autumn but then the best of the best films are sent on a world tour, enabling audiences everywhere to enjoy perching on the edge of their seats while clenching their fists until their knuckles turn white.
This year’s films include George, about Lake District fell runner Jacob Tonkin and his dog (that’s George) who helped him through a difficult time, and Gabon Uncharted, about four kayakers who embarked on a descent of the remote Ivindo River.
Each screening in Whitley Bay will have a different selection of films but the festival on tour is hugely popular and tickets are already in short supply.
Afterwards, the festival moves on the Princess Alexandra Auditorium in Yarm on February 14 (returning there on September 26 with a different programme).
For full details of festival and films go to banff-uk.com
LECTURE: Fake News
Where: Herschel Building, Newcastle University
When: Wednesday, February 24, 5.30pm
Bookings and info: ncl.ac.uk
The new series of INSIGHTS public lectures has started with an impressive line-up of authoritative speakers – among them Jo Fox, professor of modern history at Newcastle University.
Prof Fox’s specialist area is propaganda, disinformation and psychological warfare. Could any subject be more topical or urgent?
Words and phrases such as ‘disinformation’, ‘bots’, ‘deep fakes’, ‘troll factories’, ‘post-truth’ and, yes, ‘fake news’ have become part of daily discourse over the past 10 years.
But what does history tell us about all this?
In her lecture, Prof Fox will explore how propaganda works, why it’s an inherently human behaviour and how we might be able to deal with it.
Also as part of the INSIGHTS programme, Prof Matt Cook, of Oxford University, will deliver the LGBTQ+ History Lecture, Queer Beyond London (February 12, 5.30pm).
On February 17 (6.30pm, same venue) poets Karen McCarthy Woolf and Jennifer Wong will be in conversation with Sinéad Morrissey, Newcastle University professor of poetry, in an event with the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts and the Poetry Book Society.
All lectures are free but pre-booking is required online or call 0191 208 6136.
MUSIC: Florence + the Machine
Where: Utilita Arena Newcastle
When: February 11
Bookings and info: utilitaarena.co.uk
Musical treasures Florence + the Machine return to the North East in celebration of sixth studio album, Everybody Scream.
Florence Welch leads the tour to the Arena, continuing a career defined by scale, emotion and a distinctive artistic vision. Since Lungs first landed in 2009, Florence has balanced arena-sized drama with intimacy and vulnerability, earning multiple chart-topping albums along the way.
Expect a set that moves between new material and familiar touchstones, delivered with signature intensity and theatrical flair.
EVENT: Diagnosis: Human by Elly Chapple book launch
Where: The Alnwick Garden, Northumberland
When: February 14, from 11am
Bookings and info: alnwickgarden.com
Northumberland author, campaigner and TEDx speaker, Elly Chapple is launching her new book Diagnosis: Human at an event on Valentine’s Day.
Drawn from life with her eldest daughter, Ella who is deaf and blind, the book is described as ‘A compelling read for anyone interested in reimagining a more inclusive world.’
Part memoir, part manifesto, it challenges how society understands difference and belonging, with Elly describing it as ‘a call for collective compassion’.
The launch event will take place the Atrium of The Alnwick Garden and will include a reading by actor and presenter, Joe Rooke who is currently recording the audio book, a conversation with Elly and a book signing.
Elly says: “Inclusion does not come with conditions. It does not mean ‘most people’, ‘some people’ or ‘people who fit neatly into systems’. Inclusion means every human. We have been sold the idea that to be different is to have a deficit, that it is something to manage or minimise, when in fact difference is what strengthens us.”
THEATRE: Mamma Mia!
Where: Newcastle Theatre Royal
When: February 11-28
Bookings and info: theatreroyal.co.uk
Here we go again… the on-stage vehicle for an evening dripping in the joy of ABBA, all wrapped up in a smash hit feel-good musical romcom is back for an elongated stay on Tyneside.
Sun-soaked, joyous and packed with wall-to-wall bangers, the Greek island-set action tells a warm, witty story of love, friendship and identity, which has gone on to charm cinemagoers just as much as theatre ones with two hit movies starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and more.
For the uninitiated, the tale finds imminent bride to be, Sophie searching for her father on the eve of her wedding. Cue long-buried romances bubbling to the surface as a trio of paternal possibilities arrive for the big day.
STILL SHOWING
Theatre: Mary Shelley, People’s Theatre, Newcastle, until Feb 14
Theatre: Matilda the Musical, Sunderland Empire, Feb 11-28
Music: Lynne Jackaman, The Cluny, Newcastle, Feb 12
Dance: Poppy – Eliot Smith Dance, various North East venues from Feb 12
Comedy: Jason Cook, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Feb 13
Theatre: Bill and Teddy’s Amazing Adventure, Live Theatre, Newcastle, Feb 13-14
Film: Fantaisie, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, Feb 13, 6.45pm
Exhibition: William Heard - Landscapes and Lullabies, rePUBlic Gallery, Blyth, Feb 14-21
Event: Sunday for Sammy, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Feb 15
Exhibition: Northumberland Open Exhibition, Woodhorn Museum, Feb 14 to May 10
Comedy: Zoe Explains it All (Work in progress), The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Feb 15
Comedy: Cally Beaton - Namaste Mother F*ckers, Alnwick Playhouse (Feb 17); Queen’s Hall, Hexham (Feb 19)
Music and Light: Litany for the Border, Berwick (various locations), until Feb 22
Film: Blyth Festival of Film, Various venues across the town, until March 21
Comedy: Sara Pascoe - I Am A Strange Gloop, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Gala Theatre Durham on Mar 27
Exhibition: Feeling Into The Unknown, Hartlepool Art Gallery, until Apr 18
Screen: Doppelganger, BBC iPlayer
Exhibition: Between Work and Play, Globe Gallery, 97 Howard Street, North Shields, until Feb 14
Theatre: Matilda The Musical, Sunderland Empire, Feb 11-28
Music: The Friday Night Club With The Unthanks, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Feb 13
Comedy: Chris Ramsey - Here Man, Stockton Globe and Newcastle 02 City Hall, Feb 26-27 and April 17-19, respectively
Theatre: The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle, Mar 5
Theatre: Celebrating 100 Years of Laurel and Hardy - The Centenary Tour, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Mar 10
Theatre: Hidden Biscuit, Queen’s Hall Hexham and Live Theatre, Newcastle, Mar 20 and Apr 2, respectively
Screen: Torvill and Dean - The Last Dance, streaming on ITVX,
Exhibition: Going Back Brockens, Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, until Jan 31 (10am to 5pm)
Exhibition: Desire Lines, MIMA, Middlesbrough, until Apr 12
Theatre: I, Daniel Blake, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Mar 20 to April 4
Theatre: Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Apr 6-11
Theatre: Sunny Afternoon, Stockton Globe, April 14-18
Screen: Jools Holland’s New Orleans Jukebox, BBC iPlayer
Radio: Tom and Lauren Are Going OOT!, BBC Sounds
Exhibition: Miniature Worlds - Little Landscapes from Thomas Bewick to Beatrix Potter, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, until Feb 28, 2026. Read our report.
Exhibition: For All At Last Return and first major UK exhibition by filmmaker and artist Saodat Ismailova, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until Jun 7, 2026
Exhibition: The Light of Days Past, Granary Gallery, Berwick, until Feb 22, 2026
Exhibition: Joséphine: A Woman of Taste and Fashion, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until March
Exhibition: Works by Nathan Coley, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Mar 1
Exhibition: Pippa Hale: Pet Project, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Mar 1
NOW BOOKING
Theatre: Noughts and Crosses, Northern Stage, Feb 27-Mar 7
Event: Discovery Nights - Wonder Women, Discovery Museum, Newcastle, Mar 6
Comedy: Russell Howard - Don’t Tell The Algorithm, Sunderland Empire, Mar 14; and Newcastle o2 City Hall, Mar 28-29
Music: Vitamin String Quartet, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Mar 22
Music: Washington Folk Festival, Arts Centre Washington, Apr 2-4
Dance: Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Apr 28 to May 9
Classical: Nigel Kennedy - A Virtuosos Concert Performance, Darlington Hippodrome, May 8
Event: Midnight Callers - Peter Brewis and Paul Smith, Gosforth Civic Theatre, May 8
Music: Kiefer Sutherland/Colin Andrew, Boiler Shop Newcastle, May 17
Music: Ray LaMontagne - Trouble 20 Anniversary Tour, Newcastle o2 City Hall, May 28
Music: Rebecca Ferguson - 15 Years Stripped Back, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Jun 4
Comedy: Rich Hall - Chin Music, Darlington Hippodrome, Jun 6
Music: Amy McDonald, Stockton Globe, Jun 19
Music: The Human League (In The Park series), Leazes Park, Newcastle, Aug 30
Comedy: Susan Calman - Tall Tales, Sunderland Empire, Oct 2
Music: Jack Savoretti, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Oct 24 and 25
Event: An Intimate Evening with Trevor Horn, The Witham, Barnard Castle, Oct 30 and Gala Durham on Oct 31
Music: Deep Purple, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Nov 18
2027
Theatre: Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical, Sunderland Empire, Jun 8-12
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 3 x £30 vouchers for Highlights Rural Touring’s spring season (for which tickets are on sale).
From comedy and Canadians to bingo calls and bluegrass riffs, this season’s programme brings an impressively varied line-up to village halls and community venues across Cumbria, County Durham and Northumberland from March to May.
Expect sharp comedy from David Eagle, Canadian folk from Rube & Rake, and a playful comedy thriller in Eyes Down from Just Some Theatre. There’s toe-tapping bluegrass courtesy of Old Baby Mackerel, Turkish folk dance in Kizlar, and a locally resonant highlight in On Sycamore Gap - words and music of loss, hope and renewal from Kate Fox with musicians Staithe.
With national and international artists performing in intimate rural settings, this season offers a rare chance to catch outstanding live work close to home. Full listings and tickets are available via the Highlights website.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: Highlights for Me! by noon, (12pm) on Sunday, February 15, 2026.
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.