Hello and welcome to this week’s Curated Culture, where we’ve been back among the listings in search of things worth getting in front of, from across the North East.
Our featured picks cover the next fortnight, while STILL SHOWING offers a second nudge for previous suggestions you can still catch, NOW BOOKING gets ahead of ourselves and FESTIVE FORECAST points a tinsel-wrapped telescope towards Christmas.
Prize draw wise, this week, we have a pair of tickets to see Jane Eyre at Northern Stage, Newcastle on November 4 at 7.30pm. Entry details are at the end.
Enjoy the scroll – and thanks, as always, for reading and supporting what we do.
Sam (Wonfor) and Dave (Whetstone)
Professionally preoccupied with North East Culture
THEATRE: The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists
Where: The Playhouse, Horden, County Durham
When: September 30 to October 10
Bookings and info: ensemble84.com
The latest from Horden’s extraordinary Ensemble ’84 theatre company is an adaptation by Stephen Lowe of this famous tale of the downtrodden working class.
The novel was written under the pen name Robert Tressell by Irish painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who died of TB in 1911, a year after he had completed it and had it rejected by several publishers.
His daughter did manage to get it published in 1914, though heavily abridged and with a substitute ending.
It didn’t appear as Noonan had intended until 1955, when George Orwell hailed it as a book everyone should read.
It tells of the painters and decorators who are paid a pittance by ruthless employers and live in fear of summary dismissal.
They know the unfairness of the system but only one among them, Frank Owen, believes it can be changed.
Ensemble ‘84 promise to tell the story through a contemporary lens, asking: Who creates the wealth? Who takes the profit? Why are the people doing the work still expected to be grateful?
The first two performances are billed as previews.
MUSIC: African Soul Rebels
Where: The Glasshouse, Gateshead
When: Friday, October 9, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: theglasshouseicm.org
A lively night seems in prospect when the African Soul Rebels tour hits Tyneside.
The initiative was started in 2005 (it came here on its inaugural tour with headliners Tinariwen) by Music Beyond Mainstream to show the best of contemporary African music across the UK.
On the bill this time are Les Amazones d’Afrique, a music and dance collective started in Mali in 2014 by three musical stars and social change activists to champion the rights of women and girls.
It has expanded since then to involve female artists from across the continent, including Angélique Kidjo, Nneka and rising Malian star Rokia Koné.
You will also hear Gasper Nali who usually performs solo, singing songs in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, but is accompanied on this tour by Luhangah, on additional vocals and percussion, and Mattias Stålnacke on guitars.
Completing the line-up is N’famady Kouyaté, an energetic young master musician from Guinea, now based in Cardiff, who has been hailed as a rising star.
A talented multi-instrumentalist, he won Glastonbury’s emerging talent competition in 2023.
LITERATURE: Durham Book Festival
Where: Gala Durham and elsewhere
When: October 9-11
Bookings and info: newwritingnorth.com
Three days of gloriously bookish activities lie in store with the return of this red letter event on the cultural calendar.
Founded in 1990, the festival is deeply rooted – and produced these days by New Writing North for Durham County Council with support from Durham University and Arts Council England.
The opening evening’s programme features two Durham Uni profs and published authors, Naomi Booth and Kayo Chingonyi; a tarot evening with novelist Jill Dawson (her new one is called Pixie); a session with poet Hollie McNish and Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen; and a poetry scratch night.
And it gets busier. Saturday’s attractions include Edith Hall on Medea; Sunderland-based Holly Sterling reading from her Karate Kids; Anna Hedworth and Kit Fan on food; and Newcastle-born Times columnist James Marriott on the effects on reading of the digital age.
On Sunday Dan Jackson will discuss new footy book Howay the Lads! while Sophie Irwin and The History Gossip discourse on Regency romance and Christopher Eccleston contributes to a homage to the late Tony Harrison, one of our finest poets.
Many events (Neil Tennant chatting to Fiona Hill, for example) will also be live-streamed.
EVENT: The Alnwick Garden 25th Anniversary Celebration Weekend
Where: The Alnwick Garden, Northumberland
When: October 2-4
Bookings and info: alnwickgarden.com
There’ll be fire, lasers, fairground rides and even a bubbleologist as one of Northumberland’s best-known visitor attractions celebrates its 25th birthday.
A three-day anniversary weekend will mix live music, games and street food with a look back at how the Garden came to be, including previously unseen footage from its creation.
Things crank up after dark, when fire jugglers and LED performers take over before the Grand Cascade provides the backdrop for a water, light and laser show topped off with fireworks from the pyrotechnic team behind Kynren.
CEO, Mark Brassell said: “Marking a quarter of a century is a momentous occasion which deserves a celebration to match, and I believe the team have outdone themselves with our anniversary weekend.
“From enchanting entertainers to a dazzling firework and light display after dark, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.”
Day tickets include the evening programme, with evening-only tickets also available.
THEATRE/RADIO: The Archers: Live at 75
Where: Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle
When: Tuesday, October 6, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk
This is definitely one for the fans – and it seems many of them have already snapped up tickets. Remaining availability is pretty much limited to the theatre’s vertiginous realms, which is to say upper circle and above.
The famous BBC Radio 4 soap opera first aired nationally in 1951 (pilot episodes were broadcast the previous year in the Midlands).
It was billed as “an everyday story of country folk” and while arguably that’s still the case, its storylines tend to have more universal appeal some 21,000 episodes down the line.
Marking the 75th anniversary is this live show, notionally set in the Ambridge Flower & Produce Show, hosted by comedian and superfan Angela Barnes.
Starring (although a crisis in the milking parlour could force a change) will be Timothy Bentinck, who plays David Archer, Charlotte Martin (Susan Carter), Ben Norris (Ben Archer) and Annabelle Dowler (Kirsty Miller).
On-the-spot sound effects will be provided (so that’s how they do it!) by Vanessa Nuttall and there will be a chance to relive moments from the BBC archives.
MUSIC: Grace Petrie
Where: The Fire Station, Sunderland
When: October 8
Bookings and info: thefirestation.org.uk
Folk singer Grace Petrie marks 16 years of politically charged songwriting with a show looking back across her career – and stripping things back to where it began.
The Leicester-born performer will present a show of two distinct halves to mark her debut at The Fire Station… opening with an intimate solo set before being joined by her full band for songs spanning her back catalogue.
That includes LGBTQ anthem Black Tie and material from 2024 album Build Something Better, produced by Frank Turner and a number one on the UK Folk Albums Chart.
This is an evening offering a lovely chance to see Petrie’s sharp, politically engaged songwriting in both its most stripped-back form and with the weight of a full band behind it.
THEATRE: A View from the Bridge
Where: People’s Theatre, Newcastle
When: September 29 to October 3, 7.30pm
Bookings and info: peoplestheatre.co.uk
Arthur Miller’s play, set in 1950s Brooklyn, introduces us to Eddie Carbone, a proud Italian American longshoreman (docker).
His sorry story is narrated by Alfieri, born in Italy but now an American lawyer and the ‘bridge’ between the communities who frequent the teeming riverside.
He tells how Eddie and wife Beatrice welcome two Italian illegal immigrants, Marco and Rodolpho, into their home but then how tensions rise as one of them falls for Eddie’s niece, Catherine, for whom he also has strong feelings.
Say the People’s: “What begins as an act of generosity and family duty soon becomes a dangerous struggle with jealousy, desire and betrayal”.
The play, directed for the People’s by Eileen Davison, is billed by the company as an “absorbing modern classic” and “a gripping exploration of honour, justice and love, building with devastating inevitability towards tragedy”.
A View from the Bridge began as a one-act play which opened unsuccessfully on Broadway in 1955.
Miller’s extended two-act version premiered in London’s the following year, directed by Peter Brook.
THEATRE: Jack Rooke’s Good Grief
Where: Northern Stage, Newcastle
When: October 1
Bookings and info: northernstage.co.uk
A decade after Good Grief helped launch his career, Jack Rooke is returning to the show which started it all.
The creator of Channel 4 comedy Big Boys – and now a BAFTA-winning writer – revisits his debut comedy-theatre piece, originally co-written with his then 80-year-old Nan Sicely.
The original show is joined by 10 years’ worth of hindsight, as Rooke considers grief, ambition, becoming a “class traitor” and the consequences of turning his dead dad into material for professional gain.
There’s even room for the trauma of Geri leaving the Spice Girls.
TALK: Eardley and the Scottish Gallery
Where: Salvation Army Hall, Berwick TD15 1EE
When: Tuesday, October 6, 12pm
Bookings and info: maltingsberwick.co.uk
Time’s running out if you want to see the Joan Eardley exhibition at Berwick’s Granary Gallery.
Joan Eardley: The Sea at Catterline, highlighting the artist’s love affair with this rugged part of the Scottish coast, closes on October 11 (entry’s free on October 4).
The exhibition, curated with The Fleming Collection as part of RSA200: Celebrating Together, marking the 200th anniversary of the Royal Scottish Academy, has been popular.
As part of Berwick Literary Festival, Christina Jansen, managing director of The Scottish Gallery, will be at the Salvation Army Hall to offer an insider view of Eardley in an illustrated talk looking at her career and working methods.
Jansen, who has been involved with Scotland’s oldest commercial art gallery (founded: 1842) for nearly 30 years, has long been a keen and knowledgeable Eardley fan.
Unfortunately, with the Granary Gallery closed on Monday and Tuesday, there’s no chance of combining talk and exhibition visit on the same day.
THEATRE: Twelve Angry Men
Where: Darlington Hippodrome
When: October 6-10
Bookings and info: darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk
Reginald Rose’s famous jury room drama is back on the road, courtesy of Bill Kenwright Ltd.
Rose wrote it first as a TV play in 1954, inspired by his experiences as a juror in New York, and it became a stage play the following year.
Rose then wrote the screenplay for Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film version and later turned that into a stage play which premiered in London’s West End in 1964. He tinkered with it subsequently.
The story invariably holds audiences in a vice-like grip as the 12 disparate characters on the jury (all men, in a sign of the times) determine the fate of a teenager accused of killing his father.
The cast of this production has Gray O’Brien (Coronation Street, Peak Practice) as Juror 8, Bill Ward (Emmerdale, Coronation Street) as Juror 3, Ricky Norwood (EastEnders) as Juror 7, Tristan Gemmill (Casualty, Coronation Street) as Juror 10 and Ben Nealon (Soldier Soldier) as Juror 12.
Can they be trusted to come to the right verdict?
The production’s also due at Newcastle Theatre Royal in early spring (February 16-20).
MUSIC: The Blow Monkeys
Where: Sage Two, The Glasshouse
When: October 7
Bookings and info: theglasshouseicm.org
More than 40 years after making their debut, The Blow Monkeys are still adding to a catalogue which gave them some of the defining pop-soul hits of the 1980s.
Their current tour follows the release of 13th album Birdsong in 2025.
This Sage Two performance will see new material sitting alongside the songs which made Dr Robert and co household names, including Digging Your Scene and It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way.
And listen out for their version of You Don’t Own Me, which appeared on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (you can hear it at around 1 hr 11mins if that’s of interest).
TALKS: Vanbrugh 300
Where: Seaton Delaval Hall
When: Thursday, October 1, 8 & 15
Bookings and info: nationaltrust.org.uk
Throughout the year at the National Trust property in Northumberland they’ve been marking the 300th anniversary of architect Sir John Vanbrugh.
Seaton Delaval Hall, designed 1718 to 1721, is a striking reminder of his life’s work.
Among the final flourishes of the national Vanbrugh 300 celebrations are three talks at the property on successive Thursday evenings.
This week Vanbrugh scholar Sir Charles Saumarez Smith, former director of the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery, will look at Vanbrugh’s career in relation to Seaton Delaval Hall.
He will be introduced by National Trust deputy chair Sandy Nairn. Archaeologist Mark Newman will also share findings of recent investigations.
On October 8 cultural historian Dr Annette Rubery and architect Dr Nicholas Helm will look at another string to Vanbrugh’s bow, his theatrical career, focusing on the Queen’s Theatre in London’s Haymarket.
Finally, on October 15, historian Rory Fraser will reveal the man behind the buildings, explaining how a celebrated Baroque architect was also playwright, soldier, political activist and prisoner in the Bastille.
A Vanbrugh 300 exhibition is on display at Seaton Delaval Hall until October 18.
STILL SHOWING
Event: Newcastle’s Fairtrade Trail, Participating outlets across Newcastle, until Oct 4
Exhibition: Impressions of Light, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Mar 14, 2027
Theatre: All At Sea, Live Theatre, Newcastle, until Oct 10
Music: HORSE and band, Cluny 2, Newcastle, Oct 1
Music: Steve Reich at 90, The Glasshouse, Gateshead, Oct 2-4
Festival: Berwick Literary Festival, various venues across the town, Oct 5-11
Exhibition: Hommage A Gaia, RePUBlic Gallery, Blyth, until Oct 24
Comedy: Susan Calman - Tall Tales, Sunderland Empire (Oct 2); and Tyne Theatre and Opera House (Nov 6)
Exhibition: Keiken: Seeds, Stones and Future Bones, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until Jan 17
Exhibition: Turner Prize 2026, MIMA, Centre Square, Middlesbrough, until Mar 29, 2027. Read our report from the opening
Theatre: Mrs Doubtfire the Musical, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Oct 11. Read our review
Exhibition: Baltic Open Submission, Baltic, Gateshead, until Apr 4, 2027
Screen: Forever Home, Channel 5
Exhibition: Kitchen Sink Realism, NGCA, Culture House Sunderland, until Jan 17
Audio: Music Lives Here podcast, Your ears, via wherever you get your podcasts
Screen: Poised, STV player
Exhibition: Victory Over the Sun: Adventures with Light, The Light, Aykley Heads, Durham, until Jan 17, 2027
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
Screen: Ashington AFC: Saving Our Club, available to stream on BBC iPlayer
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
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
Theatre: It’s A Wonderful Us, Northern Stage, Oct 17
Ballet: Northern Ballet - Cinderella, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Oct 28-31
Podcast: The Blindboy Podcast LIVE, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Oct 29
Theatre: Billy Elliott the Musical, Sunderland Empire, Nov 4-28
Talk: Dr Alice Roberts - From Cell to Civilisation, Stockton Globe (Nov 6); Newcastle o2 City Hall (Nov 7)
Theatre: My Name is Rachel Corrie, Live Theatre, Newcastle, Nov 20-21
Screen: Tees Valley International Film Festival Closing event - An evening with Brenda Blethyn, ARC Stockton, Nov 14
Music: Shed Seven, Stockton Globe, Dec 3
Music: The Fire Doors, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Dec 9
Music: The Local Heroes and Friends, The Cluny, Newcastle, Dec 18
2027
Theatre: Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Feb 23-27
Music: Rick Wakeman - The Wizard of Prog, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Feb
Music: The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight, Sunderland Empire, Feb 28
Music: Supergrass, NX Newcastle, Apr 28
Comedy: Harriet Dyer - Easily Distracted, The Stand Newcastle, May 29
Music: UK SUBS - Last Ever Shows, Boiler Shop, Newcastle, Jun 4
Music: Elkie Brooks - The Long Farewell Tour, Stockton Globe, Jun 24
🎄 FESTIVE FORECAST 🎄
Family: A Journey Through Fairyland, Cragside Estate, Northumberland, Nov 28-Jan 3
Family: Theatre: The Yule Tree, Theatre Hullaballo, Darlington, Nov 26-Dec 6
Music: Jumpin’ Hot Club Christmas Party with Martin Stephenson, Cluny 2, Newcastle, Dec 23
Panto: Jack and the Beanstalk, Royalty Theatre, Sunderland, Dec 4-20
Music: A Jazzy Christmas - Paul Edis and Friends, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Dec 21
Music: The Wandering Hearts - I’m Dreaming of a Wandering Hearts Christmas, Sage Two, The Glasshouse, Gateshead, Dec 6
Theatre: Dickens by Candlelight, Alderman Fenwick’s House, Nov 26-Dec 24
Family Theatre: Elf The Musical, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Nov 18-21
Family Theatre: The Snow Queen - A Woodland Adventure, ARC Stockton, Dec 9-24
Christmas Market: Made up North Market, Boiler Shop, Newcastle, Dec 7
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 have a pair of tickets to see Jane Eyre, on November 4, at 7.30pm at Northern Stage, Newcastle.
Nearly 180 years after Charlotte Brontë introduced Jane Eyre to the world, her fiercely independent heroine is back on stage in this co-production between Mercury Theatre Colchester, Rose Theatre Kingston and Storyhouse Chester, in association with Northern Stage.
From an unhappy childhood in the care of her cruel aunt, Jane makes her way to Thornfield Hall, where a new life as a governess brings her into the orbit of the brooding Mr Rochester.
Their growing attraction promises one kind of future – until a secret forces Jane to decide what she is prepared to sacrifice for it.
Lily Dyble, winner of the 2025 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award, directs what is billed as a “bold new production”, based on Sally Cookson, Mike Akers and the original company’s adaptation. It plays Northern Stage from November 3-7.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: LOOK IN THE ATTIC! by 5pm on Sunday, October 4.
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.