With spring upon us and the prospect of better weather ahead – fingers crossed – most of us will be extra-keen to be out and about shaking off the shackles of winter.
While there are varying opinions as to when the new season actually starts – with meteorologists sticking to the start of the month but this year’s ‘official’ date set to be March 20 – this is the time that we tend to see a marked improvement in both temperatures and spirits. Bringing a further boost to March will be a packed programme of region-wide entertainment.
Here we have picked out 10 ideas for things to do and places to go across the month; several of them being in Newcastle but with others included in Northumberland and Durham. And there should be something to suit all tastes, with suggestions for live music included – classical and alt rock-punk – plus debut exhibitions; a cocktail festival; one-off events and shows offering something different at the theatre.
International Women’s Day is also coming up on March 8 and then there’s Mother’s Day on March 30 so there may be ideas here too that could make for a suitable celebration or present. In the middle of the month, as previously reported, there’s the city’s March 13-17 PaddyFest which this year will be incorporating a Fan Zone for the Carabao Cup. So, all in all, March is going to be time for get-togethers and fun – enjoy it!
The Shark is Broken
The unforgettable trio of Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss who made up the shark-hunting team at the heart of legendary 1975 movie Jaws is to be recreated at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle this March on a tour stop of this comedy which co-stars Shaw’s son Ian.
He is also the writer of the show which recounts the troubles behind the making of Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winner – and the audience can expect a boat-load of laughs including tales of a malfunctioning shark. Running from March 18-22, the Olivier Award-nominated show celebrates a slice of movie history as well as the choppy waters beneath as it takes in the tensions and tempers that famously dogged the 1974 shoot when the lead actors were stuck together on a boat for long periods between scenes.
Ian says of his role and resemblance to his dad: “It’s a funny thing, being there in the dressing room and looking in the mirror before I go on, doing a bit of the famous Indianapolis speech from the film that my late father helped to write, just to make sure that I feel in character.” For tickets, from £15, see here.
Billy Elliott turns 20
It’s been two decades can you believe since the debut of Billy Elliott the Musical – and 25 years since Stephen Daldry’s Oscar-nominated film which inspired it – and now Gala Theatre in Durham will be celebrating the occasion which what is described as a ‘spectacular theatrical experience’. On March 30 it will screen Billy Elliot the Musical Live, which will bring back together the team behind the much-loved film, set during the eighties Miners Strike, which tells of local lad Billy – played by Jamie Bell – who skives from boxing lessons to learn how to dance.
Newcastle writer Lee Hall, director Daldry and choreographer Peter Darling also will be joined by the legend Elton John who provided the musical’s soundtrack to Hall’s lyrics. The 2pm screening on March 30 will be followed by a second showing on April 2 at 7.15pm. For tickets – costing £15; £13 concessions and £10 to Gala members – see here.
(Image: © The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle)
A stylish debut
At The Bowes Museum in County Durham, a new exhibition called Joséphine: A Woman of Taste and Fashion will be opening on March 22 for a year-long run which promises a treat. The special display will showcase the textiles acquired by Joséphine Bowes, the museum’s co-creator, and which form part of her impressive legacy.
The artist and collector built up a real treasure trove, with husband John Bowes, and the lady of the house had a particular interest in contemporary fashion. This new show complements the bigger exhibition From Joséphine Bowes: Trendsetters and Trailblazers which celebrates her achievements in what would have been her 200th year.
Expect rare surviving pieces from her wardrobe; archive materials and examples of French fashion from the 1850s and 1860s plus opulent embroideries and lace. The dressmakers’ bills on show should be an eye-opener.
Adding to the exhibits will be hats and pieces by 20th Century designers including Yves Saint Laurent to continue the trend and offer an idea of what patron of the arts Joséphine might have worn had she lived later. She died in 1874 at the age of 49.
Admission to the museum is £16 for local resident members; £18 for others or it’s £19 for a day ticket, with free entry offered to under-18s, students and carers. Find out here what else is on show at Bowes.
Classical highlights
Dramatic setting and sound will combine in the annual concert given by an 85-piece symphony orchestra from Durham University which will take place on March 19.
The Palatinate Orchestra will be performing Rachmaninoff’s third Piano Concerto at Durham Cathedral, following on from last year’s sell-out Second Symphony, and it’s billed as the composer’s pinnacle work, melding high romance, soaring melodies and the technical complexities which make it one of the most challenging concertos in the classical repertoire.
Due to that, there were apparently just 24 performances last year across the entire world so this concert – under the baton of Barney Howard – will offer a rare chance to hear what is being described by the orchestra as a highlight of the season. Featuring soloist Henry Hiscock, a natural sciences student at Hatfield College, the programme also will feature works by Wagner, Delius and Marquez. For tickets – £19.80; £17.60 concessions and £13.20 students plus fees – see here.
A Vera farewell
There are just a few tickets left for Vera: End of an Era at the 02 City Hall in Newcastle on March 13 so those interested will have to act quick to bag a seat at this friendly evening get-together which sounds a must for all Vera fans. It will be reuniting award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn, who has announced her retirement from her starring role in the hit ITV series, and writer Ann Cleeves, the creator the much-loved detective.
The pair – who, as previously reported, both picked up Outstanding Contribution award at this February’s regional Royal Television Society Awards – will be interviewed on stage by TV presenter Steph McGovern and they will reminiscing about all things Vera. For remaining tickets to the 6.30pm event, costing from £28.75 for current re-sales, see here.
(Image: Apollo Remastered)
Apollo Remastered
When Andy Saunders book of this title came out in 2022, it proved a sensation. Featuring restored photographs from the NASA archives of Apollo missions more than 50 years earlier, it showed details never seen before. Before this, the Apollo images which the public became familiar with over the years – including Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon in 1969 – were taken from lower-quality copies.
The original NASA photographic film is stored amid great security in a frozen vault at Johnson Space Center in Houston but it’s this that Saunders restored and his painstaking work – and use of cutting-edge techniques – yielded remarkable results. Now an Apollo Remastered exhibition, opening at Queen’s Hall Arts Centre in Northumberland on March 30, offers an opportunity for visitors to see some of those enhanced high-definition images for free.
They are the highest-quality Apollo photographs ever produced and include scenes of never-before-seen spacewalks; astronauts in their spacecraft and awe-inspiring visions of Earth above the lunar horizon. The exhibition will run in galleries one and two of Queen’s Hall until May 30. For more about the venue, a charity, and its programme of work see here.
(Image: The Biscuit Factory online)
What’s springing up at The Biscuit Factory
Embracing spring full-on, the Newcastle gallery will be launching a new headline exhibition this March by an artist from Fife called Fiona Sturrock who is known for her love of bold colour and patterns of light and shade. Visitors can cheer themselves up by viewing a vibrant collection of still life, wildlife paintings and abstract landscapes.
It will open on March 7 with The Spring Preview: a free event – with the option to book a meal in The Supper Club on the night – which will include a drink upon arrival, live music, a prize draw and afternoon tea tasters plus pop-ups from Corney & Barrow Wine, Grate Cheese and Forum Books. The Stoddart Street venue also offers plenty more to look at, with more than 200 collections of original art, craft, jewellery and homewares.
Book free tickets for the 6pm-8pm launch night here or pop in any other time as it has daily opening.
Digging Up Newcastle
Imagine it’s 4040 and consider what archaeologists might find left over from our world today. That’s the premise of this play, Digging Up Newcastle, by writer-director Ian Smith which follows a couple in the future during an excavation of a site full of 21st Century relics. Produced by Jamie Eastlake, creator of Gerry & Sewell, it can be seen at Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle on March 7.
The one-act comedy promises to have us thinking about what we will leave behind and what future generations will think of us. Tickets to the play, which is advertised by the image of an England football shirt with the slogan ‘120 years of hurt’, cost £15 or £7.50 concessions but for those who can’t afford those prices the theatre offers ‘no questions’ tickets for £3.
These are are available in limited numbers online, to be booked in advance. See here for tickets and the full events programme, which includes a Family Disco on March 22, see here.
Raising a glass
How does a £5 cocktail sound? From March 21-30 almost 50 city bars and restaurants will be serving up a selection of drinks for just a fiver each as Newcastle Cocktail Week makes its return. Building upon the success of last year’s debut run, it is out to offer customers cracking value with exclusive cocktail deals which will include new creations and signature serves.
Those keen to take advantage of 10 days of cut-price drinks can buy Cocktail Week wristbands here which will allow entry to all participating bars. Among them will be city favourites such as The Alchemist, The Botanist; Colonel Porters and Chaophraya. Find the full list of venues here.
There are currently still a few wristbands available at the early bird price of £9.95, while other releases will offer an advance discount of £12.95 followed by a final release costing £14.95, all plus a £1.50 booking fee.
(Image: Someone Else’s Radio)
Pothole punk
Anyone fancying a bit of a trip to listen to some new music can check out Someone Else’s Radio, a three-piece guitar band which recently released two albums – recorded and mixed at Blank Studios in Newcastle – and whose next gig will be in Cumbria in March.
The alt rock-punk set-up, made up of singer Dan Jackson; drummer Neil ‘Tef’ Telfer and bass player Dave Fincham, re-recorded first album Buzz Music and in February came Supercars and Potholes – a social comment about the rich-poor gap – which captured their live sound, raw and real, with the help of Sam Grant of Newcastle heavy rock band Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs.
“We feel that by performing as a live band we have captured a feel and an energy that can never be achieved by other methods,” they say. “So what you hear – and hopefully feel – is simply the band.”
Their high-energy sound also can be heard in the flesh as the trio, whose tracks address issues such as climate change and are arranged on their albums in order to flow while listeners are driving, will be playing an upcoming gig at The Source Collective in Carlisle on March 15. Advance tickets cost £6 including booking fee: see here.
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/10-north-east-shows-events-31075676
