Curated Culture 28.04.26
Our regular round-up of recommendations from North East stages and cultural venues
Hello and welcome to this week’s Curated Culture – our regular collection of arts and culture pointers from across the North East.
If you’re just joining us, or returning after a short break, here’s what you have to look forward to every Tuesday:
🗓️ Top Picks – a handpicked selection of featured listings coming up over the next fortnight
📌 Still Showing – highlights from Curated Cultures gone by that are still going strong
📅 Now Booking – a sprinkling of signposts suggesting things to get in the diary
🎁 Subscriber Prize Draw – this week, you could win a pair of tickets to see comedian Kelly Rickard’s new show, Burning Love at The Stand Newcastle on June 14.
All the details on how to enter are waiting for you at the end - don’t waste the chance to soak up everything en route
As ever, thanks for reading, sharing, and keeping us in the loop
Sam (Wonfor) and Dave (Whetstone)
Professionally occupied with North East Culture
EVENT: The Late Shows
Where: Newcastle & Gateshead
When: May 8 and 9, evenings
Bookings and info: thelateshows.org.uk
It’s that time of year again, when places which show and make arty stuff extend an after-hours welcome
It began in 2007 when a steering group led by what is now North East Museums experimented by seeking new audiences with late opening.
An annual cultural highlight ever since, it boasts more than 60 places to fit into your bespoke itinerary this year.
On Friday (May 8), from 6-10.30pm, the focus will be on venues clustered around the Ouseburn Valley with Flea Circus, The Biscuit Factory, Cobalt Studios and 36 Lime Street among those laying on cool stuff.
On Saturday, Gateshead venues will open from 6pm to 10pm and those in Newcastle from 6pm to 10.30pm (last admission 30 minutes before closing).
Check out new artist commissions in Newcastle funded by Creative Central NCL.
They are Grainger Unplugged, a live music takeover of Grainger Market, Seven Bridges, an interactive music installation at Discovery Museum, and True North, a poetry trail by Amy Langdon at six city centre locations including Alphabetti Theatre and Dance City.
Stagecoach is providing free Late Shows buses to operate on both evenings (check website for timings and pick-up points).
THEATRE: Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Where: Queen’s Hall, Hexham, and elsewhere
When: May 12 (Hexham) and on tour until May 31
Bookings and info: elysiumtc.co.uk
Eugene O’Neill’s bleak, semi-autobiographical play, set in New England in the summer of 1912, is remembered as his masterpiece and has been lauded by critics.
It was premiered in 1956, in Sweden, and then opened on Broadway where it won the Tony Award for best play.
The following year it earned O’Neill a posthumous Pulitzer Prize (he’d won three others during his lifetime along with the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1936).
This 70th anniversary production from Durham-based Elysium Theatre is directed by Jake Murray and has a cast comprising Dan Bradford, Edmund Dehn, Sarah Dorsett, Macy Stasiak and Danny Solomon.
The seeds of Elysium Theatre were sown 10 years ago with a conversation in a Waterstones café between Murray and Solomon. It staged its first production in 2017.
You can also see this new production at Southpaw Dance Studios, Sunderland (May 13), Hartlepool Town Hall (May 14), Northern Stage, Newcastle (May 15), Ushaw House, Durham (May 18), Gala Durham (May 19), Alnwick Playhouse (May 21), Princess Alexandra Auditorium, Yarm (May 25), The Witham, Barnard Castle (May 26) and Washington Arts Centre (May 27).
COMMEMORATION: The General Strike
Where: The Glasshouse, Gateshead
When: Monday, May 4, 4pm and 8pm
Bookings and info: theglasshouseicm.org
Monday marks the centenary of the General Strike when more than 1.5 million British workers downed tools to support mineworkers faced with a wage cut.
Centenary, presented by Wisecrack Productions, will comprise songs, comedy sketches and stand-up.
Producer Ed Waugh says: “It’s amazing to think we’ll be performing the show 100 years to the day that the General Strike started.
“It will also celebrate other working class struggles using popular culture.”
Wisecrack has produced Ed Waugh plays including Hadaway Harry, Wor Bella and, most recently, The Cramlington Train Wreckers, telling of the miners who derailed the Flying Scotsman during the General Strike.
That play, well received in 2024, comes to the Theatre Royal on July 12 (performances at 3pm and 7.30pm).
The General Strike will also be remembered at Redhills, Durham, on Sunday, May 3 (2.30pm) with Voices from the Coalfield featuring poetry, storytelling and live performance with poet and playwright Tom Kelly as special guest and an open mic session.
It’s the culmination of a creative writing course led by writer-in-residence Andy Willoughby shaped by the experiences of coalfield communities. Book via the Redhills website.
SCREEN: This Is Not A Murder Mystery
Where: UTV and streaming on Channel Four
When: From April 29
Info: channel4.com
Set amid the glamour and excess of the 1930s art world, This Is Not a Murder Mystery promises a stylish twist on the classic whodunnit.
When a young artist is found dead at an English country estate, North East actor Stephen Tompkinson steps in as Scotland Yard’s DCI Thistlethwaite, tasked with restoring order among a houseful of eccentric suspects.
The guest list reads like an art history roll call, with figures including Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and René Magritte drawn into an increasingly macabre series of murders inspired by their own work.
Trailed as unashamedly lavish, witty and knowingly offbeat, this European import blends real-life artistic lore with playful fiction.
This is cosy crime with a distinctly continental edge.
THEATRE: Legally Blonde - The Musical
Where: Newcastle Theatre Royal
When: May 12-17
Bookings and info: theatreroyal.co.uk
Amber Davies steps onto Tyneside in Elle Woods’ iconic pink heels next month (May) as Legally Blonde The Musical arrives in the region for the first of two 2026 North East tour stops.
Best known to many as the winner of Love Island in 2017, Davies has since carved out a successful career in musical theatre, originating the role of Jordan Baker in the London production of The Great Gatsby; starring as Vivian Ward in the UK tour of Pretty Woman, Lorraine Baines in the West End production of Back to the Future The Musical, and Campbell in Bring It On.
Based on the hit film starring Reese Witherspoon, the musical adaptation charts Elle’s journey from fashion-loving ‘It Girl’ to determined law student, as she heads to Harvard to win back her man, but finds something much more important along the way.
Promising a fast-moving mix of sharp humour, catchy numbers and a steady stream of feel-good moments, it sounds like it’s going to be very easy to love for fans of the film… and not hard to enjoy for those encountering Elle for the first time.
The production will be back in the region from December 1-5 at Sunderland Empire.
SCREEN: Sunderland Shorts Film Festival
Where: David Puttnam Media Centre and various other venues in the city
When: May 11-17
Bookings and info: sunderlandshorts.co.uk
Now in its 11th year, the Sunderland Shorts Film Festival returns with a packed programme celebrating all manner of filmmaking from the North East and beyond.
Kicking off with an opening night showcase of 2026 submissions, the BIFA-qualifying festival spans everything from Film Hub North’s Northern Exposure selections and RTS student award winners to international shorts, documentaries and music videos.
The schedule is brimming with genre-spanning screenings including sci-fi, thriller, horror, LGBTQIA+ and comedy alongside animation and experimental work.
There’s live music in the mix too plus a feature presentation of Red Riding, the debut film from North East actor-turned-director Craig Conway.
EXHIBITION: Eugene Schlumberger
Where: RePUBlic Gallery, Blyth
When: May 9 until June 13
Booking & Info: republicgallery.co.uk
Next up at the pub-turned-gallery (with a nice café by way of an entrance) is an exhibition called Time Was Away & Somewhere Else by North East-based photographer Eugene Schlumberger.
It is described by Claire and Mags, who run the place (formerly The King’s Head at 85 Bridge Street), as comprising work from two new bodies of the photographer’s work which continue to investigate his preoccupation with memory and urban landscapes on the cusp of erasure.
They are Painterly Alignments in The Fabric Of Reality, urban landscape studies in which space, weather and the effects of time combine to make the world look like a painting, and As It Is When It Was, described as “snatches and fragments of the city, initially created in response to seeing the colourful Polaroid work of Walker Evans”.
It has been said of Eugene Schlumberger that he “works in the space where the shadow of popular culture falls on concrete surfaces”.
One of his projects was Haçienda Landscapes, a book exploring the aesthetic of the iconic Manchester nightclub made with its designer, Ben Kelly.
There’s a preview of the Blyth exhibition on Friday, May 8 (6-8pm) to which all are welcome.
The gallery opens Tuesday to Friday (9am to 3pm) and Saturday (10am to 2pm).
MUSIC: Nigel Kennedy - A Virtuoso Concert Performance
Where: Darlington Hippodrome
When: May 8
Bookings and info: darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk
Nigel Kennedy brings his Virtuoso tour to Darlington Hippodrome, marking a rare set of UK dates after more than 15 years away from large-scale touring.
Note: Looking for a YouTube clip to go with this listing, I stumbled across this collection of highlights from the film my Mum and Dad (Andrea and Geoff Wonfor) made when Nigel recorded and released Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Didn’t take long to remind me why it won the Golden Rose of Montreux. Lovely stuff.
Known for moving comfortably between classical repertoire and looser jazz and contemporary influences, the programme for this tour draws on Bach alongside original material and Kennedy’s own interpretations.
He’s joined by regular collaborators Alec Dankworth and Peter Adams, keeping things rooted in a small ensemble setting rather than a traditional concert hall format.
FILM: There’s Still Tomorrow
Where: Redhills, Durham
When: May 10, 7.30pm
Booking & Info: redhillsdurham.org
Where better to see a black and white Italian film with subtitles than in the grand setting of the Miners’ Hall?
Released in 2023, the film – the directorial debut of its star, Paola Cortellesi – became a huge hit in Italy, picking up a clutch of awards and becoming one of the country’s highest ever earners at the box office.
Billed as a comedy drama, it is set in post-war Rome where Delia (Cortellesi) is a working class mother who dreams of a better life for herself and her daughter while suffering abuse at the hands of her bullying husband.
When a mysterious letter arrives, she musters the courage to change her circumstances for the better.
Cortellesi had the idea for the film and co-wrote the screenplay, basing it on the lives of women, especially her grandmother and great-grandmother, after the Italian campaign in the Second World War.
At Redhills they’re calling it a beautifully crafted film which is “hugely poignant and empowering”.
THEATRE: Waitress
Where: Sunderland Empire
When: May 4-9
Bookings and info: atgtickets.com
Ten years after its Broadway debut, Waitress is preparing for service at Sunderland Empire with Les Dennis among the cast.
The production tells the story of Jenna - a waitress and gifted pie-maker navigating life, work and complicated relationships.
Written by Jessie Nelson with music by Sara Bareilles, the show has built a lasting following.
Bareilles has described its staying power as rooted in “heart, humour, community”, with audiences returning to a story about flawed people doing their best and leaning on each other when it counts.
FESTIVAL: What Are Words Worth 2U2?
Where: Northumbria University
When: April 28 to May 8
Bookings and info: northumbria.ac.uk
What Are Words Worth 2U2? is described by the university programmers as an interdisciplinary, cross-artform festival that asks what language does, who it belongs to and what it costs.
It follows a pilot event last year called What Are Words Worth 2U? Hence, we assume, the second numeral.
Much of the action is focused on Gallery North where an exhibition runs throughout the festival featuring work by university staff, students and alumni along with exhibits by invited artists and writers.
Among them is George Shaw who, in 2022, had an exhibition at Cherryburn, the National Trust property and birthplace of Thomas Bewick, and in 2009 was one of the four Turner Prize nominees who exhibited at Baltic.
George will be giving a talk in the gallery at 3.30pm on Wednesday (April 29).
A host of other language-related talks and events is taking place, including – it caught our eye – one by Emma Patchett called Creative Loitering: The Art of Going Nowhere?
You’ll find Gallery North in the Sandyford Building, Sandyford Road, Northumbria University, Newcastle NE1 8QE.
MUSIC: James Morrison
Where: Stockton Globe
When: May 6
Bookings and info: stocktonglobe.co.uk
Singer songwriter James Morrison is marking 20 years since the release of his debut album Undiscovered with a tour bound for Stockton next month (May).
Released in 2006, the record saw Morrison move from open mic nights to chart success, producing hits including You Give Me Something and Wonderful World.
The setlist for this tour sees him performs the album in full, alongside a selection of tracks from across his career. Support comes from emerging artist Cordelia.
STILL SHOWING
Theatre: The Unfriend, People’s Theatre, Newcastle, until May 2
Film: Underland, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle; Forum, Hexham, April 24-30 (Tyneside); April 22 and 23 (Forum)
Exhibition: Foundation Press – Starting Lines, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until Aug 30
Festival: Hexham Book Festival, Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, until May 3
Exhibition: The Sheer Brass Neck, Newcastle Contemporary Art, 39 High Bridge, until May 9
Theatre: Hold The Line, Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, Apr 29-May 2
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
Exhibition: Northumberland Open Exhibition, Woodhorn Museum, until May 10. Read more.
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: 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: Out of the Darkness, Mining Art Gallery, Bishop Auckland, until December
NOW BOOKING
Music: Duke Special + Conchur White, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle, May 28
Theatre: Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Sunderland Empire, Jun 5-27
Music: Midge Ure - A Man of Two Worlds Tour, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Jun 5
Theatre: Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse for England, Live Theatre, Newcastle, Jun 11-13
Theatre: Austentatious - An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Newcastle, Jun 26
Music: MusicManMike - Memory Lane UK Tour, The Cluny, Ouseburn, Jul 12
Event: Beyond Van Gogh, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Jul 12-Aug 9
Theatre: 9 to 5 The Musical, Darlington Hippodrome, Aug 4-8
Music: Maximo Park, Parade Ground (The Fire Station, Sunderland), Aug 28
Music: Morpeth Music Society 26/27 season, dates from Oct to April 2027
Poetry: Rowan McCabe - Hard Knocks and Special Guest, Queen’s Hall Arts, Hexham, Sept 8
Talk: Susie Dent - Word Perfect, Gala Durham, Sept 12
Comedy: Maisie Adam - Whatsherface, Tyne Theatre and Opera House (Sept 27); Middlesbrough Town Hall (Oct 8);
Music: Transvision Vamp, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Oct 6
Music: Hayseed Dixie, Boiler Shop Newcastle, Oct 22
Theatre: balletLORENT’s Hansel and Gretel and the Witch, Northern Stage, Oct 29-Nov 1
Theatre: The Hollow (A Hercule Poirot Mystery), Newcastle Theatre Royal, Nov 10-14
2027
Comedy: Andrew Bird - On Edge, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle, Jan 24
Theatre: The Picture of Dorian Gray - A New Musical, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Jan 31
Theatre: Dirty Dancing, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Feb 9-13
Music: Stornoway, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Feb 18
Music: Editors, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Mar 4
Comedy: The Eternal Shame of Sue Perkins, Stockton Globe, Mar 19
Music: Laurence Jones, Cluny 2, Ouseburn, Mar 27
Music: Metropolis in Concert, The Glasshouse, May 8
Theatre: Jersey Boys, Sunderland Empire, May 25-Jun 5
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 Kelly Rickard’s new show, Burning Love at The Stand Newcastle on June 14.
Kelly, who recently made a triumphant debut as the MC for the Sunday for Sammy fundraising concerts, describes it as a stand-up show built around a “sliding doors moment” that saw her join an Elvis theatre tour for what she calls the “most rock and roll summer of my life”.
At the centre is the show’s Elvis impersonator - remembered as a “big old hunk of rhinestones and misogyny” - and the long tail of that experience.
Blending storytelling with sharp observations, the audience will be let into a web of revenge which is “what happens when you’re Welsh and a Scorpio”… and willing to bide your time for 15 years.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: I feel my temperature risin' by 5pm on Sunday (May 3)
The winner, who will be selected at random, will be notified within 24 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.