“It sounds a bit pretentious but I do lose track,” says the storytelling powerhouse that is Alexander McCall Smith, apologising for the latest benign tsunami of tales he is unleashing upon us. Bit of an exaggeration, probably, but he does rather spoil his fans. “I’ve got a new Ramotswe coming out, I’ve got a new …
Consternation greeted the news at the beginning of last year that the council had appointed a new operator to run the venue known as The Exchange on Howard Street, North Shields. The arts-orientated charity that had been in charge for seven years had tendered but a rival bid from Stonebanks Investments, promising a lavish revamp, …
Play spin-offs from TV sitcoms are a genre unto themselves. You go not to see characters on a page brought to life by actors but actors playing the actors who made them famous on TV. So it is with Fawlty Towers, Hi-de-Hi! and indeed Dad’s Army. Captain Mainwaring, thanks to 80 episodes in nine series …
Rambert, which prides itself on being the country’s oldest dance company (centenary coming up in 2026), is on the brink of a Newcastle return — good news for fans and a special thrill for one of its dancers. Conor Kerrigan, who was born in Newcastle and grew up in Gateshead, has been waiting for this …
Sunderland has embraced culture in recent years, mounting a spirited bid for UK City of Culture, hosting the Tall Ships Races, investing in new cultural facilities such as The Fire Station and celebrating a decade of The Cultural Spring, the Arts Council-funded initiative designed to ensure its benefits are felt in every community. There’s even …
Writers and readers are alerted to the summer programme of New Writing North (NWN), that engine of literary enterprise that has worked wonders for all who take pleasure in words. From the humblest of beginnings, the Newcastle-based writing development agency has grown to embrace the North as defined from coast to coast, helping writers in …
The Mining Art Gallery has proved to be one of The Auckland Project’s most popular attractions since opening in 2017 with its nooks and crannies mimicking to some extent the confined nature of underground working. It has an extensive collection of poignant artworks relating to the coal mining industry, much of it the work of …
This has been the stand out concert for me since last August when Dinis Sousa, Royal Northern Sinfonia principal conductor, was picking out some highlights of the orchestra’s forthcoming 2023-24 season for me. They were all highlights, of course. But when looking ahead to the performance of Robert Schumann’s oratorio, Paradise (Paradise and the Peri, …
There were certain freedoms to be enjoyed by an actress in the mid-19th Century, as one of the characters confides in Janet Plater’s entertaining new play. However, it seems the same could be said of audience members, at liberty to holler dissatisfaction mid-performance or hurl ‘clarts’ at the stage. In Limelight we are backstage ‘flies …
Museum of Austerity, coming to Newcastle after showings in London and Manchester, and after winning an international award, promises to leave audiences profoundly moved. First, though, they might be scratching their heads. It’s not a play, although the making of it did require actors; nor is it a film although it does involve moving images. …
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