Northern Stage new season

Plus the RSC returns to Newcastle

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[Image description: a sign saying ‘No. 28, an institution’, surrounded by flowers]

Northern Stage new season

Northern Stage members’ booking opens this week, with general sales soon after, and there are plenty of fun shows lined up. Disappointingly, the schedule is light on long-run, home-grown material: other than the festive show, Beauty and the Beast, the season is heavy on touring shows. This does mean that things tend to only be around for a few nights at most (with many only on for one night) so if you fancy something, I recommend booking in advance, so you don’t miss it.

Highlights include Eddie Izzard’s solo Hamlet. This admittedly got mixed reviews when it premiered in London, but Izzard is such a charismatic performer, I still think it’s worth a look. (If you can’t make the Northern Stage date, the show is on tour throughout Autumn, including coming to ARC Stockton.)

Writer and comedian Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt, will be sharing anecdotes, holding a Q&A and reading from his upcoming book.

One highlight is Detention, from the Gary Clarke Company. This dance theatre performance explores Section 28 and its impact, which feels depressingly timely given that the current demonisation of trans people seems to have taken much of its moves from the Section 28 playbook.

On a very different note, Hold onto Your Butts, a Jurassic Park parody, sounds like a splendidly silly night out, while Outlawed puts an outrageous drag cabaret slant on the Robin Hood story.

Blackeyed Theatre brings its take on Conan Doyle’s famous detective in Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty in September, while Noel Coward’s Private Lives lands in November.

I’m sure I’ll be returning to the season in later Substacks, but do check out what’s coming here.

Theatre Royal Highlights

Newcastle Theatre Royal has also added a raft of shows coming next year to its website. I tend to be terrible at booking things miles in advance – my work is unpredictable, and I tend to be in denial about the fact that we are living in science fiction dates. (I failed to book & Juliet when it was announced last year because 2025 literally seemed like a fake date to me that was years and years away. Well, who is the dumbass missing out now, Tracey?)

So anyway, don’t make my mistakes, and consider booking some of the great shows that are coming!

Some of these – like Mamma Mia!, Tina: The Tina Turner musical and Fawlty Towers are guaranteed crowd pleasers, so the good seats are likely to go fast. There are also some big-name dance shows – Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is bound to be popular.

My own choices would be Weird, the new musical based on Macbeth, which is premiering here, and – still on the Shakespeare theme – the RSC’s return to Newcastle with Hamlet. I have so many fond and formative memories of seeing RSC productions at the Theatre Royal in my youth, I’m glad to see the company coming back.

You can find out more about the coming shows here.

Sunderland Empire

Sunderland Empire also has some exciting shows coming. The tour of Hamilton is a highlight, and fans of Inside No.9 will be delighted to see that the show Inside No. 9 / Stage Fright is touring after a successful run in London (several of my friends saw the London production and loved it so much they have bought tickets to see it again here). If we are talking about booking in advance – again, don’t make the mistakes I made! – my rec would be Matilda, which comes to the theatre next year. I saw this when it premiered in London back in the day and it was a delight.

Eating and drinking in Newcastle

I was out and about last night, and went to two new-to-me places, although only one of them is actually new.

No. 28 is a bar that’s been around a while but not one I’ve been to before, though I think I’ll be back. Hidden away in the entrance of the Grainger Market, Nelson Street, you head upstairs through an unobtrusive door (don’t let the fact that the market is closed if you go in the evening fool you - you have to go inside to just before the locked gate!).

This leads to an eclectically decorated bar that serves a range of drinks and cocktails. It was fairly quiet when we were there, though that was early evening on a Wednesday so perhaps not surprising, but I liked the vibe enough to revisit. They serve food and do happy hour cocktail offers, too. (They do have a giant Helmut Newton picture of very naked women on one wall, mind, so you might not want to take your granny or aged aunt. Unless she’s like my grannies or aged aunts, who would definitely not have been phased by that. Actually, what am I saying - no one is less phased by that stuff than elderly Geordie ladies.)

[Image description: photo of Mowgli window, taken from the street]

Popular chain Mowgli has opened just across the road from No. 28, and is making good use of the space that used to (I think) house Café Royal. Booking is essential, I would guess – it was packed out when we went. I really liked the vibe – lots of fairy lights and mason jars, which I am always a sucker for, so the place looked a delight – and the staff were friendly and pleasant. (Though be warned, some of the tables have those ‘swing’ seats, and I’m not sure if you can opt out of that at the booking stage, so maybe worth checking if that’s not your thing.)

There is a good range of vegetarian options, they handled my allergy well, and the prices are very reasonable for the kind of restaurant it is. We ordered a selection of dishes to share, which were around the £6-11 range, and the ‘better’ from a limited wine list that had a slightly coy ‘good, better, best’ selection that I think ranged in price from mid-twenties to mid-thirties (the prices aren’t on the online menu so I can’t double check). There is also a very decent range of cocktails and mocktails.

Not every dish worked for me quite as well as I wanted it to - though there’s enough of a range there’s plenty more for me to try next time - and I might give it some time to bed in before going back. Overall, though, this looks like being a great addition to Newcastle’s restaurant scene. Plus, it’s nice to see such a lovely space being put to good use.

Speaking of Indian food (and the Grainger Market), I continue to enjoy SnackWallah, which offers a great (and very affordable) range of vegan dishes, and is one of my favourite spots for lunch. The friend I go with most often usually orders the curry of the day, while I am addicted to their samosas. It’s not a huge place, so can get busy at peak times, but I highly recommend.

Anyway, thanks again for reading – please do share with your friends! Every new subscriber really does give me a boost. And remember if you want to support my writing but a paid subscription isn’t for you (times are hard, I get it!), you can buy me a one-off Ko-fi or buy one of my books.

Remember: everything included is my personal preference / opinion, and while I strive to be accurate, I always advising checking with the relevant venue.