I went in to see Bad Lads blind, having not heard of the Medomsley Detention Centre before. The fact that an abuse scandal with over 1800 reported victims is not common knowledge is exactly why this play needs to exist. It is not an easy watch, but it’s a…

Some eight years ago (really? REALLY?) I saw Jenny Éclair’s one-woman show “Guide to Being a Middle Aged Woman Without Going Insane”. Back at Northern Stage this September, her new production, “Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir” is based on her la…

On the day that thousands of anti-racism protestors stood firm against a march of UKIP supporters, what better event to go to than a showcase of the work created by the Poets of Colour Incubator programme. Previously debuted in Manchester, this showcase w…

One of my fave albums of the year is from Låpsley (‘I'M A HURRICANE I'M A WOMAN IN LOVE’) and she’ll be hitting us up with songs from it when she plays Newcastle this October. Låpsley stands out as one of the most thrilling artists today due to her consi…

Much loved local rock band Dam Yankee are playing a charity gig in Newcastle on Friday 31 October, with all money raised going to St. Oswald’s Hospice. I’m not a huge fan of Halloween. All those parties with bozos dressed as The Bride of Frankenstein a…

One of Tyneside’s finest cultural institutions, the Jumpin’ Hot Club, is 40 years old this year and they’re celebrating with a fascinating exhibition at Gateshead’s St Mary’s Heritage Centre. Naturally, they’ve also got plenty of gigs lined up too. One…

Are Sunderland’s Polyfillas one of the most exciting bands in the north-east today? I’m answering that with a firm “Hell, yeah!” When’s the last time you bopped around the kitchen to a song about period poverty? For me it was last Tuesday. The track in…

No one can ever feel short changed by Pity Me’s Mama Lips as in September they released their 50th album (50!). And – get this! – it’s absolutely wonderful. I was feeling a tad down this morning – more than a tad, actually – when I decided I’d give Mam…

The titular Mr Funbles, a mysterious interdimensional clown, did not make an appearance in this eclectic variety show, which was in fact held on a Saturday and not a Sunday. However, his surrealist fingerprints are all over it. Hosted by August Mwfanwy, w…

Ellis Jones’ Trust Fund project stopped by at The Holy GrAle, Durham. Trust Fund can be defined by its versatility if anything – over the years it has metamorphosed into Jones’ one-man Indie Pop act at times, into a full-blown Indie Rock band at others; t…

This production of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra was another in Opera North’s excellent series of slightly-staged concert performances, where the orchestra visible on stage behind the singers adds a special style of visual enhancement to the action. The main h…

Moira Buffini’s 2010 one-act play has been reimagined, enlarged and given just a touch of an ‘80s soundtrack (which HAS to be an added attraction, right?) for a new tour that brings an even sharper edge to its scalpel-like dissection of the relationship b…

If you’re looking for a show that’s as empowering as it is silly, Geet Northern Show, the brainchild of Rhian Jade, is the one. While every show is different, hilarious sketches about the dramatic lives of pickles in a jar, Geordies living in medieval tim…

The brain-child of actor Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson (co-creator of The League of Gentlemen TV series) Ghost Stories, is a theatrical oddity. It’s a short, sharp performance, with no interval to dissipate the tension, yet still manages to tell three dif…

Truth be told, I cannot adequately describe this play within the word limit I’ve been given. A surreal semi-musical comedy, it follows the story of brothers Ken and Mark as they struggle to run Bell’s End, their late father Barry’s 24-hour garage, after h…

Buff follows a primary school teacher who, following a bad breakup from a long relationship, decides to start dating again, but finds the dating world is even crueller to plus-sized, black, gay men than he remembers. However, it's his own prejudices and f…

It takes a brave soul to cover Bob Dylan live let alone tour a song-for-song tribute to his iconic Royal Albert Hall gig of 1966. It takes an even braver one to do it while clearly under siege from some upper respiratory misfortune. But for one night in N…

I first met Ilisha Thiru Purcell when we were both Young Creative Associates with New Writing North in 2023, and it was there that I first heard about her project: a poetry collection where she reimagines the ancient Tamil poetry practice of Thinnai - in …

Canadian punk band PUP – with support from fellow bands goo and Illuminati Hotties – rocked up at Newcastle last Monday. PUP has been one of the most well-renowned acts among contemporary Punk Rock fans for their ability to weave together the abrasive and…

One of the first music festivals on the calendar, Stockton Calling continues to deliver a true celebration of new and original music from the north east and beyond. Spread across nine venues in the town, the event is 100% focussed on bands and solo artis…

It’s amazing how many people, on hearing I was going to see The Flying Dutchman, gave the same response – “At least that’s one of Wagner’s shorter operas.” Yup, it may not go to the same bladder-testing lengths as The Ring Cycle, but its taut three-act…

I know it’s a cliché to say this sort of thing, but it REALLY doesn’t seem possible that Matthew Bourne’s innovative re-imagining of that perennial favourite Swan Lake had its premiere thirty years ago. The buzz at the time considered whether it might all…

Tchaikovsky’s 1892 Nutcracker Suite must provide the most gloriously inconsequential excuse for a ballet ever, offering quite literally a sumptuous feast of sugar plums that still delights sweet-toothed audiences today. It’s also a fabulous excuse for co…

Shockingly, despite having lived in Newcastle for 5 and a half years, this was my first ever gig at The Cluny. It definitely won’t be my last, as I was genuinely taken aback by how lovely the atmosphere is there. I could tell most of the crowd was made up…

Did you know that My Fair Lady is based on a play? I didn’t. George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, in turn inspired by the Greek myth about the man who makes a woman out of clay and then falls in love with her, is somewhat darker than the beloved film. It foll…

When Marius Muller killed a man by slowly beheading him, he was haunted by the sound of the man’s soul leaving his body, almost like the hum of a moth's wings. When he tells this story to John Josana, he becomes similarly haunted by the sound. When I watc…

If a combination of southern gothic, country pop and punk can exist in harmony, there could be nowhere better to catch it than at Mattiel’s performance at the Cluny this Tuesday gone. Another American to brave the great Atlantic leap over to the Cluny, An…