Northern Stage new season
Plus books to get your Brontë on
Hello, and welcome to my Substack, which is again being fit in around my hectic week. But hey, everyone wants distraction on a Monday, right?
[Image description: Northern Stage programme feat. 3 women, and the text ‘Underdog: the Other Other Bronte]
Defiance at Northern Stage
The spring programme for Northern Stage is out and the season looks like a corker. I’ll probably talk more about the smaller run shows in future newsletters, but let’s look at the main ones for now…
Frankenstein, based of course on the Mary Shelley novel, is a co-production between innovative theatre company Imitating the Dog and Leeds Playhouse. I found their Heart of Darkness, which I also saw at Northern Stage, a bold attempt to tackle a deeply problematic yet still iconic novel, so I look forward to seeing what they do with this.
Another adaptation of a classic novel is Moby Dick, a Simple8 production in association with Royal & Derngate, Northampton. I can’t imagine tackling this one, so will be fascinated to see how they bring it to life – they do promise sea shanties!
The other big show is a Northern Stage and National Theatre co-production, and probably the one I am most looking forward to, big ole Brontës nerd that I am. Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, a new play by Sarah Gordon, tells the story of Anne Brontë, and is directed by Natalie Ibu, Northern Stage’s Artistic Director.
Moving Arts Puppetry Festival
Newcastle’s Puppetry festival returns at the end of March, offering a whole range of activities at venues across the city, including performances and workshops. There are also outdoor events in the city centre and Ouseburn. And if you love puppets but hate children, fear not, there are also events for adults, such as the Puppet Cabaret at Northern Stage.
Second chances at Laurels
God, I love it when short run plays come back, because I miss so much the first-time round (I am busy, alright? All those episodes of The Repair Shop won’t watch themselves!) So it’s nice to see Alison Stanley’s play You Need to Say Sorry, about the perils of online dating and domestic violence among older people, getting a return visit after a well-received run last year.
Eating out in my old neighbourhood
It’s been ages since I talked about restaurants, for the most boring of reasons: I tend to stick to a small selection of favourites. So it was nice to try somewhere new this week, when a friend suggested we go to Little Lobo in Sandyford. A compact restaurant in the food hub that is Starbeck Avenue, it offers a great selection of delicious Mexican food (with plenty of veggie options), friendly service and a nice frozen margarita. They also have outlets in Whitley Bay and Tynemouth.
It felt a little strange being back in Starbeck Avenue – I lived in 3 different flats in that neighbourhood at different stages of my life, though long before it was home to trendy eateries – but it did remind me that there are loads of great restaurants only minutes from the city centre and I should bust out of my comfort zone more.
What I have been watching
I finally got around to watching The Marvels at the weekend. This film got a bit of a slating when it came out, mostly from all the usual suspects (because, ew, girls!), but it’s actually a riot. Directed by Nia DaCosta and starring Bree Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani as the titular trio, it’s a space-hopping adventure that tackles a big idea with the usual Marvel McGuffin at its core (this time it’s a space jumping bracelet that allows the Kree to drain other planet’s resources, or something), but puts a genuinely fun spin on it.
In part this is due to how well the leads bounce off one another – Vellani is just adorable as the dorky fangirl getting to meet her heroine, while Larson is perfect as the stony-faced hero with the heart of gold (it’s easy to see why her ‘grumpy and alone in space with her cat’ routine annoys the ‘she’d be pretty if she smiled more’ fanboys). Parris, too, excels as a woman who never expected to have powers thrust upon her, and is still dealing with the fallout of both the Blip and what she sees as Carol Danvers’ abandonment. There’s great support from a host of character actors, including of course Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury (and if you don’t love Kamala Khan’s family, check your pulse: you may actually be dead). But what makes it such a joy is a willingness to be silly (the evacuation scene is just hilarious) while not losing sight of its emotional core, and still delivering fantastic action set pieces.
Best of all, you don’t need to be totally up to speed with the ridiculous number of Marvel TV shows and films to enjoy it (I haven’t seen Ms Marvel yet, and it didn’t matter).
Books: A bit more Brontë
If reading about Underdog has made you curious about the littlest Brontë, you’re in luck, because yes, as mentioned, I am a Brontë nerd. Not only would I say go read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall ASAP – it’s a genuinely great book (and I highly recommend the Tara Fitzgerald TV adaptation) but also check out Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life, by playwright and writer Samantha Ellis. (While you’re at it, I also recommend Ellis’ How to Be a Heroine: Or What I’ve Learned from Reading too Much.)
If you want a far more irreverent take on the Brontës, why not try Bella Ellis’ Brontë Mysteries, a highly engaging series that reimagines the sisters as solving mysteries and murders in-between their writing. Ellis is the nom-de-plume of best-selling author Rowan Coleman, whose We Are All Made of Stars I rather loved.
[Image description: cross-stitch: All art is political]
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Remember: everything included is my personal preference / opinion, and while I strive to be accurate, I always advising checking with the relevant venue.