Updated 6:54am 20 May 2013

Powered by Google

Girl power, glamour and gangster rap are inspiration for fun new show

GIRL power, glamour and gangster rap are the inspiration for a fun new show by two friends who share a love of pop music, as Tamzin Lewis discovers.Read

Review: Cinderella on Ice: The Russian Ice Stars, Theatre Royal

THERE’S a scene early on in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina when, impressed by a new ice-skating trick, Levin immediately copies it to impress the beautiful princess Kitty.Read

Review: Each Peach Pear Plum at Northern Stage

YOU may have thought that puppets went out when Pixar came in.Read

Range of techniques and media on show at North East art galleries

ARTIST Edwin Straker died in 2011, after a long life and successful artistic career, with his final painting of a stream left unfinished.Read

Review: The Gruffalo’s Child, Theatre Royal Newcastle

THE last thing I wanted from Tall Stories was a pernickety stage reproduction of Julia Donaldson’s modern classic about the curious young Gruffalo’s search for the big bad mouse.Read

Tale of man who tried to mould perfect wife

An 18th Century sociopath is the subject of Wendy Moore’s latest entertaining biographyRead

Food at Electric East, St James Boulevard, Newcastle

WIN: a meal for two at Electric East

IF you are a Culture Club member you have the chance to win a meal for two, to the value of £50, and a bottle of wine at Electric East.Read

A mother and daughter enjoy a Story Party at Seven Stories

WIN: A day out at Seven Stories with Metro

CULTURE Club members are being offered the chance to win a fabulous family day out with Seven Stories – the National Centre for Children’s Books – and Tyne and Wear Metro.Read

Whimsical beginning for Tender Buttons theatre company

I ADMIRE a wall which is covered in scribbled-on Post-it notes. Lots of small thoughts can be shared on a big space, a bit like graffiti but without having to clean up afterwards.Read

Interview: Author Simon Bartram on Bob, the Man on the Moon

FOR children’s author Simon Bartram, a picture book is a bit like a classic comedy duo. “You have a straight man and a funny man,” he says.Read

Review: Goodnight Mister Tom at Sunderland Empire

EVEN if I hadn’t been introduced to the art of puppetry by this show’s puppet director, Toby Olié, I would have been fascinated by Sammy, Tom Oakley’s Border collie.Read

David Wood tells of labour of love and emotion

WHEN David Wood sees people leaving Goodnight Mister Tom “smiling through their tears”, he feels he has won.Read

Ripping up and starting again is fire for the mind

AS PART of a clear-out, Eileen Heywood was ripping up old paintings and throwing them on her wood-burning stove when some scraps on the floor caught her eye.Read

Exhibition: Moral Holiday at NGCA, Sunderland

IT was the summer of love on America’s west coast but here in the North East it was the summer of the balloon.Read

Review: The Gruffalo, The Sage Gateshead

IT may have its origins in a Chinese folk tale but Robbie Coltrane has cast a Scottish spell over The Gruffalo in the animated TV adaptation. Read

Katy Ashworth cooks up a storm as Peter Pan at Sunderland Empire

YOU may not be familiar with Mr Spoon, Pinchy Parrot, Horace the Van or indeed Katy Ashworth, so by way of introduction, she is a CBeebies presenter who has made her name with the show I Can Cook.Read

Review: Peter Pan, Sunderland Empire

Musical theatre lyricist Tim Rice says “story is king”. So we’re off to a good start with JM Barrie’s inventive tale of three children lured from their nursery by the mischievous Peter Pan for an “awfully big adventure” in Neverland.Read

Lighting up creative minds of Cowgate youngsters

AN innovative collaboration between youth groups and artist Sarah Blood is putting Cowgate in the spotlight, as Tamzin Lewis hears.Read

Interview: Songwriter Katie Doherty on festive songs for kids' play - AUDIO

YOU may think that a job where you don’t have time to sleep for three weeks might be a bit of a pain.Read

Poignant chapter for Ben Elton

COMEDIAN and author Ben Elton has written a disturbing tale of Nazi persecution – inspired by his own remarkable family history.Read