STAGE CHOP, DISSOLVE, BURN @ ALPHABETTI THEATRE

Words: Helen Redfern Macabre. Absurd. A guide dog with a taste for flesh. A ghostly granny. A touching love story. This black comedy has it all.

Chop, Dissolve, Burn, which has been devised by author Lisette Auton and disabled activist Richard Boggie, relentlessly pokes fun at society’s attitudes towards disability, whilst exposing the terrifying truth about the impacts of inequality on disabled people’s lives. When disabled and non-disabled worlds collide, the consequences can be serious...or seriously funny. There’s been a serious incident. The area around Rose’s flat is teeming with police. Surely the poor, vulnerable, inspirational disabled people can’t be involved?

Director Paul James takes this love story that’s so much more than a love story, initially created through a seed pot commission from Newcastle Fringe Festival in 2021, and develops it into this world premiere at Alphabetti Theatre, running from Tuesday 20th June-Saturday 8th July. The complex relationship between old uni mates Peter and Rose is the heart of this black comedy. Two former lovers, separated by circumstance and a hasty note written on the back of a receipt, are now brought back together 21 years later by a pandemic. Mates? More than mates? When their lives converge again, what is it to be? After a year of shielding, how far will they go to be together again?

In true Alphabetti style, the tickets are Pay What You Feel, all performances include in-built captioning, audio description and BSL, and Saturday matinee performances will be relaxed. Due to the content, the age recommendation is 16+.

Chop, Dissolve, Burn is performed at Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle from Tuesday 20th June-Saturday 8th July. Plus, visit our website for an exclusive My Inspiration interview with Lisette Auton. www.alphabettitheatre.co.uk

STAGE THE TAMING OF THE SHREW @ HARTLEPOOL TOWN HALL THEATRE

Words: Hope Lynes www.menstrualragetheatre.co.uk

Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew was reimagined for the big screen back in 1999 in teen drama Ten Things I Hate About You. Twenty four years later, feminist theatre company Menstrual Rage are reimagining the story once again for the Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre stage on Tuesday 27th June.

The story follows two sisters, unable to marry unless the other does, with the meddling of bachelors and the patriarchal structure of wedded expectations. As a contemporary, feminist theatre company, Menstrual Rage take the story and attach a modern lens to interrogate the expectations of gender and ‘undesirability’ within the play.

After the show, The Shrew will have a run at this year’s Durham Fringe Festival. Expect a loud, passionate, modern production, determined to show the audience what it means to truly be a “foul, contending rebel”. Menstrual Rage present The Taming of the Shrew at Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre on Tuesday 27th June.

MUSIC POP RECS LTD. 10TH ANNIVERSARY GIGS

Words: Claire Dupree

Sunderland’s Pop Recs Ltd. celebrate ten years of their existence with a series of gigs this month. To put any formal label on Pop Recs as a project would do it a disservice; it’s a record shop; a cultural hub, a place for people, young and not so, to gather and make like-minded friends – whether through live music, workshops, craft events or a myriad other ways; it’s a gig venue which commands such respect that artists who could fill venues their size 100 times over have eagerly played; it’s getting an increasing reputation for great food; but above all it’s a shared ethos –initiated by Frankie & The Heartstrings, and taken to the beating heart of Sunderland (and indeed the wider North East), and its success proves that if enough people pull together to create a community that’s so desperately needed, only good things can happen.

In one of my more normal conversations with the late, great Dave Harper (they mostly consisted of scene gossip and swearing), he described Pop Recs as “a good thing for a good reason”, and long may it continue to be. Help the good folks of Pop Recs celebrate their milestone, and usher in the next decade, with gigs from Teesside rabble rousers www.linktr.ee/poprecscic

Benefits and lo-fi punks Mouses on Saturday 17th and harmony-fuelled storytellers The Cornshed Sisters and up and coming songwriter Melanie Baker on Friday 23rd June.