Curated Culture 17.02.26
Our weekly round-up of recommendations from North East stages and cultural venues
Hello and welcome to Curated Culture - your weekly signpost to things which are about to grace the region’s stages, galleries, back rooms and big rooms, with a few dates further down the track thrown in for good measure.
Before we get to the listings, we also wanted to trail our upcoming full report from the weekend’s Sunday for Sammy fundraising gigs - from both behind and in front of the stage. It was an absolute treasure of a weekend spotlighting all manner of North East talent - from cast iron legends and global superstars to teenagers enjoying their first taste of stage time. It would almost certainly be in the running for the title of Triumphant Return of the 21st century… if such a title existed. Maybe we’ll create one.
In the meantime, here’s your standard Tuesday content mix:
🗓️ Top Picks – this week there’s a baker’s dozen of featured listings spread over the next couple of weeks
📌 Still Showing – highlights from previous mailouts which remain available for diving into
📅 Now Booking - things worth locking in early
🎁 Subscriber Prize Draw - this week’s offering is a pair of tickets to Les Ballets Trockadero at Newcastle Theatre Royal on May 27.
Entry details are waiting at the foot of the newsletter.
Thanks as ever for your attention and generosity when it comes to feedback and spreading the word about what we’re doing.
Let’s keep it going!
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
THEATRE: Silence
Where: Live Theatre, Newcastle
When: Saturday, February 21, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: live.org.uk
Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the numbers of those killed, wounded, abducted, bereaved or displaced runs into millions.
It’s the ongoing major tragedy of a nation whose ‘crime’ is to be coveted by an aggressive neighbour.
An audience at Live Theatre is promised a small sense of the unfolding horror when Ukrainian actors Ivanna Nitsak and Volodymyr Piterov premiere the latter’s first play.
Telling of the pain and loss suffered particularly by Ukraine’s women, it will be performed by Ivanna - her first solo show – with Volodymyr having filled the role of director.
The pair are currently based on Tyneside and this, for the time being, is a one-off performance, a chance to share what they and their friends, families and compatriots have been going through.
A moving and informative night would seem to be in store.
COMEDY: Gavin Webster
Where: Playhouse Whitley Bay
When: February 27
Bookings and info: playhousewhitleybay.co.uk
There are gatherings, and then there are Gav-erings. Geordie comic, Gavin Webster returns to Whitley Bay Playhouse with a new show circling the many ways we assemble - from gigs and concerts to neighbourhood watch meetings, church halls and more questionable modern congregations.
Serving as the last date of a tour The Gathering Of The Gav, brings together jokes, routines and absurd diversions, all threaded through a loose narrative about why we come together (and what happens when we probably shouldn’t).
Surreal, sharp and entirely his own, this lad remains one of the North East’s most recognisable and enduring comedy voices.
LECTURE: Imagining the Olympians
Where: Lit & Phil, Newcastle
When: Thursday, February 26, 6pm
Booking & Info: litandphil.org.uk
Who knows what the gods look like? By definition, you might imagine, they’d be impossible for mere mortals to visualise.
But ‘impossible’ is a word unknown to writers and artists for whom imagination has always been key to keeping body and soul together.
In a series of three lectures, cultural historian Gail-Nina Anderson will look at how the gods of Ancient Greece (and Ancient Rome) have been envisaged in art down the centuries.
In Children of the Titans, the first, she deals the first generation of Olympians – Zeus and Hera, Poseidon, and Hades and Hestia (and their Roman equivalents, Jupiter and Juno, Neptune, and Pluto and Vesta).
How were they depicted, to survive until this day in sculptural form, in paintings and mosaics and on vases and domestic items?
Lecture number two, Gods of Our World, is at 6pm on Thursday, March 5, and the final lecture, Deceptively Human Behaviour, at 6pm on Thursday, March 12.
MUSIC: Maxïmo Park
Where: Newcastle o2 City Hall
When: February 21 and 22
Bookings and info: academymusicgroup.com
Maxïmo Park’s double date with Newcastle City Hall brings the tour celebrating the 20th anniversary their Mercury-nominated debut, A Certain Trigger, to a close.
Two decades on, the record’s nervy energy, wiry guitars and sharp-edged romanticism remain intact - a snapshot of early ambition delivered at full tilt.
The anniversary shows see the band revisiting the album in full, alongside selected b-sides and era-defining favourites, reconnecting with material that first propelled them from North East practice rooms onto national stages.
You can read our interview with Billingham-born lead singer, Paul Smith, here:
FESTIVAL: Bay Tales 2026
Where: Whitley Bay Playhouse
When: February 28, 9.25am to 6.10pm
Bookings and info: baytales.com
Now firmly established on the crime fiction calendar, Bay Tales returns with a full day of panels, conversations and signings bringing together some of the genre’s most recognisable names.
Festival patron Ann Cleeves joins Belinda Bauer for an in-depth discussion spanning award-winning careers that have shaped contemporary British crime writing.
Simon & Schuster explore high-stakes thrillers with Katherine Bradley, Ruth Ware, A.K. Benedict and Jenny Morris; Transworld spotlights striking debuts from Tanya Sweeney, Rebecca Philipson and Frances Crawford; while Penguin Michael Joseph examines modern villains and twists with Mark Edwards, Leodora Darlington, Ragnar Jónasson and S.M. Govett, moderated by North East author Trevor Wood.
Special guests include Elly Griffiths and Steph McGovern.
Fringe events including a quiz and pitching session extend the weekend. Full details on the website.
THEATRE: Cinderella Ice Cream Seller
Where: Gosforth Civic Theatre
When: February 21, 11am and 2pm
Bookings and info: gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk
Glass slippers, palace balls… and ice cream? This family musical promises to give the Cinderella story a fresh churn, tracing how a penniless ice cream maker built the kingdom’s most beloved dessert empire.
Narrated by loyal employees Talvi and Caldwell, the show revisits the familiar rags-to-riches tale while also exploring ambition, loyalty and the sweet taste of success.
Blending original songs, playful humour and colourful staging, it’s a light-touch retelling that keeps one foot in fairytale and the other in the parlour.
COMEDY/FOOD: Matt Reed - Come and Get Your Tea
Where: ARC, Stockton
When: February 20
Bookings and info: arconline.co.uk
Teatime gets a thoughtful (and occasionally chaotic) reworking in comedian Matt Reed’s live and chat-heavy cookery show.
The premise is simple: professional chefs join familiar local faces to revisit the childhood meals that shaped them – for better or worse. Expect plenty of storytelling and lots of laughs alongside the cooking.
This week’s menu brings North East chef and food entrepreneur James Tulley, of Deja Street Food and Soosh Sushi School to the table.
EXHIBITION: Out of the Darkness
Where: Mining Art Gallery, Bishop Auckland
When: February 18 to December
Bookings and info: aucklandproject.org
A century after his birth, the Mining Art Gallery honours Tom McGuinness with Out of the Darkness, a major retrospective opening this week.
Born in Witton Park and sent underground as a Bevin Boy in 1944, McGuinness spent 39 years in the mines, painting daily what once seemed an indestructible industry. His bowed figures, shaped by tunnels and lit by distinctive green and blue glazes, capture not just the labour of coal mining but its emotional weight.
“I find it difficult to express any feelings in words; that is why I paint… my art mirrors my life in the mining community,” he once said.
Spanning more than half a century, the exhibition will fill the gallery’s first floor and extend throughout the building, bringing together oils, sketches, etchings and rarely seen loans. Tender family portraits will sit alongside scenes of the pit and later reflections on the industry’s decline.
THEATRE: Noughts and Crosses
Where: Northern Stage, Newcastle
When: February 27 to March 7
Bookings and info: northernstage.co.uk
Sephy and Callum sit on a beach and fall in love. In their world, that simple act carries consequences.
She is a Cross; he is a Nought. Around them, a segregated society strains under racial and social division, edging ever closer to unrest.
This stage adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s novel, presented by Pilot Theatre in association with Northern Stage, traces a relationship shaped - and threatened - by the politics of its time. Adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz and directed by Esther Richardson, expect a thoughtful, urgent take on first love in a divided society.
CLASSICAL: Dido and Aeneas
Where: The Glasshouse, Gateshead
When: Friday, February 21, 7.30pm
Booking & Info: theglasshouseicm.org
The Royal Northern Sinfonia and Chorus will be joined by top soloists for a performance of Henry Purcell’s groundbreaking 17th Century opera, directed by Norwegian baroque violinist Bjarte Eike.
“One of the greatest operas in the English language, and arguably the single greatest opera by any composer between Monteverdi and Handel,” the programme notes tell us.
First performed at a London girls’ school, Purcell “clearly wrote with the girls of the school in mind, creating a range of lively female roles…”
With a libretto by Irish dramatist Nahum Tate, who also penned the words of While Shepherds Watched, it tells of Aeneas, hero of Virgil’s Aeneid, and his passion for, and betrayal of, Queen Dido of Carthage.
The young singers of the Samling Academy (established by Hexham-based music charity the Samling Institute for Young Artists) also performed the opera last year in Sunderland and Saltburn.
Friday’s cast includes former Samling Artists Rowan Pierce (soprano), from Saltburn, and Lea Shaw (mezzo-soprano), an American now based in Scotland.
On stage for an evening’s wallow in Purcell, they will join multi-award-winning Katie Bray, fellow mezzo Myrna Tennant and baritone Jonathan McGovern.
ART: Bright Lights Youth Arts Exhibition
Where: Arts Centre Washington
When: February 17 to March 14
Booking & Info: sunderlandculture.org.uk
The exhibition at Arts Centre Washington (ACW) has the theme ‘Connections’ and features the creations of young people aged 11 to 19 from across Washington and Sunderland.
It has been curated by the Celebrate Different Collective, a bunch of young bright sparks who are supported by Sunderland Culture to run programmes, collaborate with artists and generally shape culture across the city.
And it is just one element of the Bright Lights Youth Arts Festival, now in its fifth year, which includes events, exhibitions and workshops at ACW, Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens and across the city.
A varied and busy programme has attractions to suit all ages, so check the website.
There’s to be a student-led takeover of the Museum & Winter Gardens on February 23 for Secrets and Shadows – Sunderland’s Dark Past, an event supported by Sunderland Heritage Partnership.
On February 26 and 27 a two-day Animation Bootcamp will be led by artist and animator Sheryl Jenkins.
And part of the ACW offer are music workshops for children aged eight to 10 and a Washington Emerging concert for young performers on February 27.
WORDS & MUSIC: Nocturne
Where: Alnwick Playhouse
When: Sunday, March 1, 2.30pm
Booking & Info: alnwickplayhouse.co.uk
Pianist Lucy Parham will be joined on stage by actors Patricia Hodge and Michael Maloney to tell the story of the “tender but volatile” relationship between Frédéric Chopin and novelist George Sand (pen name of Aurore Dupin).
It will be delivered, we are told, as a seamless narrative with extracts from letters and diaries read aloud and interspersed with some of Chopin’s best-loved solo piano works.
Lucy Parham has carved a niche for herself with this sort of words-and-music entertainment, working with an impressive list of famous actors along the way.
In 2002, in Beloved Clara, she told of the friendships between Robert and Clara Schumann and the younger Johannes Brahms. Nocturne followed in 2010, then featuring Harriet Walter and Samuel West.
She has also drawn inspiration from the lives and music of Fransz Liszt, Claude Debussy and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
As well as being a celebrated pianist, performing with a host of top orchestras, she is an experienced broadcaster and academic, holding the post of professor of piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
THEATRE: The SpongeBob Musical
Where: Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle
When: February 18 to 21
Booking & Info: tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk
There’s a long, if occasionally interrupted, tradition of musical theatre at the Grade I listed venue on Westgate Road.
This week the troupers of Tyne Theatre Productions, the in-house amateur company formed when the theatre became independent, tread the boards in an underwater adventure featuring a sponge, a starfish, a squid and other marine creatures.
All are residents of Bikini Bottom, as any fan of the animated Nickelodeon series, which first aired in 1999, will tell you.
The musical, which had a successful run on Broadway, sees SpongeBob, friends and fellow citizens facing the prospect of a volcanic eruption. To save their underwater home, they must unite and pull together.
The first Tyne Theatre Productions annual offering was The Pirates of Penzance back in 2015, a guaranteed box office winner when the late Jack Dixon was running the show.
This more modern fare, directed by Sonia Hernandez, sees Ben Stoddart as SpongeBob, Zachary Douglas as Patrick, Corey Clarke as Squidward, Carol-Ann McConnellogue as Sandy, Finn Younger as Plankton, Grace Bain as Karen, Sam Honour as Mr Krabs, Devon Dolman as Pearl and Dan Ellis as Patchy the Pirate.
May they break a leg/fin/tentacle (delete as appropriate).
STILL SHOWING
Theatre: Matilda The Musical, Sunderland Empire, until Feb 28. Read our review
Event: Embers of Byker, Hadrian Square, Byker, Feb 19-20, 5.30-6pm and 6.15-6.45pm
Comedy: Cally Beaton - Namaste Mother F*ckers, Queen’s Hall, Hexham, Feb 19
Theatre: Mamma Mia!, Newcastle Theatre Royal, until Feb 28. Read our review
Lecture: Fake News, Herschel Building, Newcastle University, Feb 24, 5.30pm
Dance: Poppy – Eliot Smith Dance, various North East venues until Feb 28
Exhibition: William Heard - Landscapes and Lullabies, rePUBlic Gallery, Blyth, until Feb 21
Exhibition: Northumberland Open Exhibition, Woodhorn Museum, until May 10
Music and Light: Litany for the Border, Berwick (various locations), until Feb 22. Read our review
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
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: 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: Our Little Hour, Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, Mar 5-7
Comedy: Keep Standing Up! (Tyne to Stand Up 4), Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Mar 8
Theatre: Hamlet (The Royal Shakespeare Company) Newcastle Theatre Royal, Mar 31-Apr 4
Dance: KIZLAR by Ceyda Tanc Dance, Gilsland Village Hall, Mar 14
Theatre: I, Daniel Blake, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Mar 20-Apr 4
Event: RnB Classics: Day Time Clubbing, The Exchange 1856, North Shields, Mar 21, 2pm to 6pm
Theatre: Mean Girls, Sunderland Empire, Apr 6-11. Also coming to Newcastle Theatre Royal, Jan 18-30, 2027
Music: The Bros. Landreth, The Cluny, Newcastle, Apr 14
Music: The Pale White/Scott Hepple and the Sun Band, Boiler Shop, Newcastle, Apr 17
Music: Kate Rusby, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Apr 28
Music: James Morrison, The Stockton Globe, May 6
Theatre: Glorious! Darlington Hippodrome, May 12-16
Music: The Manfreds: Get Your Kicks on Tour, Queen’s Hall Arts, Hexham, May 16
Music: Beverley Knight - Born to Perform, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Jun 12
Comedy: Lee Kyle - I Shot A Man Just to Watch Him Die But I Did Not Shoot the Deputy (I Did Shoot the Deputy), The Stand Newcastle, Jul 20
Comedy: Susan Calman - Tall Tales, Playhouse Whitley Bay (Sept 20); Sunderland Empire (Oct 2); and Tyne Theatre and Opera House (Nov 6)
Comedy: Nish Kumar - Angry Humour from a Really Nice Guy, Gala Durham, (Sept 24); and Tyne Theatre and Opera House (Sept 25)
Music: The Blow Monkeys, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Oct 7
Music: Little Angels - Big Bad and Back Tour, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Nov 17
2027
Comedy: Jack Whitehall - Bad Influence, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Jan 7 (Tickets on sale Feb 20 at 10am)
Comedy: Romesh Ranganathan Will Change Your Life, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Feb 4-6
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 Les Ballets Trockadero at Newcastle Theatre Royal on May 27, where they will be celebrating 50 years of being the world’s foremost gender-skewing comic ballet company.
They’re marking the half-century milestone with a programme that balances razor-sharp technique and affectionate satire.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – affectionately known as The Trocks – delight in playfully upending the grand traditions of classical dance, from Swan Lake to The Dying Swan and Paquita, with immaculate timing and formidable skill.
Alongside these lovingly reimagined classics, the anniversary tour includes excerpts from Metal Garden, a contemporary work by Seán Curran, adding a fresh edge to the repertoire. High camp meets high art in a performance that’s as technically impressive as it is knowingly ridiculous.
The Trocks are performing at Newcastle Theatre Royal on May 26 and 27.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: It’s Time to Trock! by noon, (12pm) on Sunday, February 22, 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.