STAGE MY DEAR AUNTY NELL @ ARC

Words: Emily Ingram

It’s time to put on your Sunday best. Your Aunty Nell has invited you to tea at ARC in Stockton on Wednesday 14th June – and this is one family meal you won’t have to grit your teeth through! Fresh from a run at the Camden People’s Theatre, My Dear Aunty Nell is an immersive theatre experience that both celebrates and laments the way in which we experience LGBTQ+ history. The performance aims to shine a light on generations of queer stories that have remained alive solely through the medium of gossip and hearsay. It also poses an important question: how can you grieve someone that isn’t dead?

Created as a collaboration from the Queer Historian and Opening Doors, a charity that provides support to those in the LGBTQ+ community over the age of 50, the show promises to stir up and celebrate all manner of memories, both joyous and painful. After the main event, a guest from the LGBTQ+ community will even be invited up onto the stage to decompress and discuss the themes explored in the performance. Tickets are pay-what-you-feel, so why not take some time out to stop by and have a natter?

My Dear Aunty Nell is performed at ARC, Stockton on Wednesday 14th June. www.arconline.co.uk

ART & LIT CROSSING THE TEES @ VARIOUS VENUES

Words: Laura Doyle

Once again proving that having fun isn’t hard when you have a library card is Teesside’s biggest literary festival, Crossing the Tees. Library services across the region have collaborated to bring an all-encompassing programme of literary workshops, exhibitions, and events – in person and online – for low or no cost at all from Saturday 10th-Sunday 18th June.

For lovers of the classics, Lucy Harding’s Wuthering Heights exhibition at Thornaby Central Library spans the entirety of June (with a little Meet the Artist on Friday 16th). Aspiring writers can find a myriad of creative workshops, from tips on writing your own memoir (perfect for those family historians) to scene-building and settings for your next great work of fiction. Evening shows provide a bit of late-night entertainment, from improv comedy/crime fiction spectacular Whose Crime Is It Anyway? to poetry and prose open mic night TWOOMPH! that take all your favourite words-based shenanigans to the next level. And for those seeking out their next library withdrawal, there’s plenty of bestselling authors popping in to talk about their recent releases throughout the festival, including Mike Gayle, Matthew Green and Savita Kalhan. All you have to do is check out the Crossing the Tees website for a full list of events and dates.

Crossing The Tees takes place at various venues from Saturday 10th-Sunday 18th June. www.crossingthetees.org

MUSIC PANOPTICON @ TRILLIANS

Words: Cameron Wright

Panopticon’s set at Trillians on Monday 5th June is set to be a special affair. Austin Lunn’s brainchild is a vivid exploration into black metal, boasting an emotive and rich discography that shifts focus off the tectonic crunching riffs, honing instead on building atmospheric landscapes that simultaneously feel otherworldly and incredibly rooted. While wrenching in its intensity, the music of Panopticon is equally sweeping and spectacular, dazzlingly forceful and impactful. The music reaches highs on a level that is seldom rivalled in the genre, yet what sets the project apart is the masterfully constructed moments of quiet. Infusing the band with a barrage of banjos, fiddles and acoustic guitars, the joy of Panopticon is the ingenious way this power is matched by a heartfelt love of Americana and folk music. The bluegrass influence of this black metal band is undeniable, as is the success in which the crossover is created. With each release, www.thetruepanopticon.bandcamp.com

Lunn’s vision expands and new ideas and brought into this innately progressive world of sound.

Their latest album, And Again Into The Light, further solidifies the band’s penchant for honest, natural penmanship, exploding into life with a cavalcade of sound billowing behind it. The release shows Lunn at his most introspective and methodical, as the marriage of dissonance and harmony tells a story effortlessly as the band’s unique brand of catharsis unfurls in front of you.

Panopticon play Trillians, Newcastle on Monday 5th June.

STAGE FATHER UNKNOWN @ GALA THEATRE/ NORTHERN STAGE

Words: Lizzie Lovejoy

Becoming a parent changes your perspectives on a lot of things, but when you’re still working on your GCSEs there are more than a few priorities that will shift, and fast! This Father’s Day weekend, Northern Stage and Durham Gala Studio present Father Unknown, a play which tells the story of Alfie. His life has mainly consisted of cans of Monster, jumping the metro, playing Xbox and narrowly avoiding getting chucked out of class. Until he finds out that he is going to be a Dad.

This production explores young fatherhood in all of its wonderful, challenging, scary and funny moments. Made in collaboration with young dads at The North East Young Dads And Lads group and Newcastle University, Father Unknown is an honest look at new parenthood, combining a selection of young Dads’ stories, featuring them as writers, interviewers, creators and facilitators. This show is a celebration of parenthood, family and adolescence; sharing the highs, the lows and the undying love each young father has for their child.

Father Unknown is performed at Gala Studio, Durham on Thursday 15th and Northern Stage, Newcastle on Friday 16th-Saturday 17th June. www.galadurham.co.uk / www.northernstage.co.uk

MUSIC SHANNON PEARL RELEASES NEW ALBUM, KISS THE GROUND

Words: Michael O’Neil www.linktr.ee/shannonpearl

Solo folk artist and witch pop pioneer Shannon Pearl has spent the past few years blazing quite the trail with her innovative and enthralling approach to her craft. From her debut EP Caves, an entirely a capella collection of songs which found her harnessing the powerful natural reverb of actual caves, through to her recent experimental sound art collection Ghosts, which found her relying solely on vocal loops, spare percussion and found sound, Shannon has firmly established that she’s the kind of artist who is unafraid to challenge herself.

All this daring and innovative boundary pushing has culminated in her debut LP, Kiss The Ground, a sprawling 10 track collection which further stakes Shannon’s status as one of the most singular and refreshing artists the region has produced in recent years, with recent single Celestial being a staggering embodiment of her unique approach to the craft. In honour of the album’s release, she’ll be embarking on a tour with a six-piece band to capture the album’s broad and rich sound. The tour takes in a very fitting appearance at the Lindisfarne Festival (Friday 1st September), bookended by a homecoming show at Sunderland’s Independent on Friday 29th September.

Shannon Pearl releases Kiss The Ground on 21st June.