October is a jam packed month at Northern Stage and we’ve got something for everyone; dance lovers, children & families; comedy; adaptations and more!
This month, we are celebrating Black History Month. The Importance of Being Earnest explores the forgotten Black Victorians, Quiet Rebels is inspired by the Windrush generation and Noughts & Crosses explores racial segregation.
Plus, our new cafe menu is now live – so you can not only enjoy amazing theatre, but delicious food too.
Rapunzel
A fresh and family-friendly retelling of Rapunzel by Carol Ann Duffy brought to you by leading dance theatre company balletLORENT.
In this mighty production a red headed Rapunzel becomes entrapped in the tower because her hair grows so long, meaning her beauty stays hidden from the outside world. A possessive Witch and her pet Creatures are Rapunzel’s only company until a Prince comes along, drawn by the sound of her sweet song…
29 SEP-1 OCT
Rapunzel After Dark
Exclusively for adult audiences, Rapunzel After Dark is a bold retelling of a well-known fairytale by one of the world’s leading feminist poets, Carol Ann Duffy.
It is a story for those who have a passion for the horror and hope in humanity, and is told from the perspective of the Wife, her Husband and a solitary gardening Witch, all of whom share a profound grief-stricken longing for a child.
30 SEP- 1 OCT
Notflix
The ‘Spice Girls of improv’ return in their five-star, sell-out, totally improvised musical comedy, Notflix.
Inspired by audience suggestions, the all-female cast improvise the musical version of your favourite films, creating movies with 100% more singing, 99% more women and a full live band.
01 OCT
The Importance of Being Earnest
John loves Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn loves Ernest. Algernon loves Cecily. Cecily loves Ernest.
Ernest, however, does not exist.
Only the formidable Lady Bracknell (Daniel Jacobs/Vinegar Strokes) can bring this romantic farce to order as 2021 Sir Peter Hall Directors Award-winner, Denzel Westley-Sanderson, breathes fresh new life and high-society campness into Oscar Wilde’s sharpest and wittiest comedy: The Importance of Being Earnest.
This theatrical romp is a joyous celebration of the LGBTQIA+ people, strong female characters, drag performers and black Victorians that so often get written out of period productions. A rollicking good night out that’s the perfect antidote to the dire reality of modern life!
4-8 OCT
Sofie Hagen- Fat Jokes
Edinburgh Comedy award-winner Sofie Hagen presents Fat Jokes. A show bursting with big jokes and fat punchlines.
Sofie returns to her craft of devastatingly brilliant joke-writing and storytelling and has created this collection of fat jokes and unforgettable moments that you can laugh at without feeling like sh*t.
Come as you are and enjoy an actual fat person at the top of her game.
11 Oct
Quiet Rebels
Quiet Rebels explores forgotten stories of white working-class women who crossed the colour line to marry men of the Windrush generation.
Set in a dystopian England, Detective Shade investigates Aileen Burnett’s murder – a white woman who married a Black man.
To solve the crime Shade travels the Multi-resistance’s Underground network to the Northern Free Zone where in facing her past, everything she thought she knew about herself and her world is challenged.
12-13 OCT
Samsara
Aakash Odedra Company and Bagri Foundation invite you to enter the world of Samsara. Inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, Samsara is a spellbinding piece that traces the steps we take, both forward and backward, in search of our higher selves.
14 OCT
Noughts & Crosses
Sephy and Callum sit together on a beach. They are in love.
It is forbidden.
Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. A segregated society teeters on a volatile knife edge.
As violence breaks out, Sephy and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger.
Winner of Excellence in Touring at the UK Theatre Awards 2019, Pilot Theatre present this gripping Romeo and Juliet story by acclaimed writer Malorie Blackman and adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz. A captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world.
18-22 OCT
Northern Stage is Curious
Join Curious Arts for an evening of comedy, theatre and performance from established and emerging Queer Northern talent.
You’re sure to leave Curious for more…
15 OCT
The Bird in the window
A new surreal, physical theatre show with lots of laughs, tears and musical surprises…and bouncy poo!
15 OCT
The Gingerbread Man
Run, run as fast as you can…This Halloween, the Gingerbread Man is…ALIIIIIVE!
With live music, puppets, and the most milk-curdling baked goods around, this show for little ghouls under 7 and their families is a spooky Halloween treat!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
It’s all kicking off in the woods! Two warring fairies are willing to destroy the world after a barney over a little lad, and four chaotic kids are off on a drug induced love mission – welcome to the party!
Join Not Too Tame for a riotous ride through the forest at night, for a tale of wild weddings, mistaken identity and a staging of Shakespeare’s best known comedy where not everything is as rosy as it seems. When dreams merge with reality it’s not always clear who’s who and what’s what – so keep your wits about you!
With more merriment than you can shake your ruff at, a big dose of bewilderment and a dash of disaster, this is a Midsummer Night’s Dream not to be watched, but experienced. Pick up your petticoat and fasten your corsets, there’s a donkey on the loose.
29 OCT-12 NOV