2026
BIG HANDS IMPROV
Saturday 7th February
7pm $15
"Big Hands Improv brings a theater show full of creativity, absurdity and hilarity with everything totally made up on the spot. Suggestions shouted from the audience are gathered and synthesized into shorts skits with bizarre and dramatic consequences! Watch as the performers think on their feet to navigate their scenes, embodying whatever strange and wonderful character the audience has given them, working together to conjure unconventional moments of magic. Shout an idea and thrust the show toward something challenging and new. An operatic construction worker! A paranoid cop on a first date! Two psychiatrists getting divorced! Then sit back and watch it acted out for the first time in front of your very eyes!"
NEWCASTLE FRINGE FESTIVAL
Saturday 14th to Sunday 29th March
Last year there was 32 performances here, this year there is 47.
MY BRILLIANT DIVORCE
Friday 17th, Sat 18th & Sun 19th April
$28
Middle-aged Angela is on a quest for happiness after husband Max leaves her for a younger woman. This brilliantly observed one-woman comedy drama is bright and breezy with ripples of wonderful, tiny moments. Originally performed by Dawn French in London's West End, this show is as irresistible as a chocolate truffle!!
NERDS & MUSIC + THOMPSONS
Thursday 23rd April
Info TBA
CONFESSIONARY
Thursday 14th, Friday 15th & Saturday 16th May 7.30pm
Share something you’ve never told anyone before.
CONFESSIONARY is like an AA meeting that’s almost a show … but never turns into one.
Hosted by Steve Abbott (founding member of The Castanet Club and later The Sandman on JJJ and Good News Week – if you don't remember, ask your mum) and Ginger Briggs (writer, worm farmer, chronic confessor), CONFESSIONARY is safe place to admit uncomfortable things.
You'll hear people confess to the mistakes they've made or the flaws they have. And you're free to chime in. Empathise. Confess to something yourself.
What happens in CONFESSIONARY stays in CONFESSIONARY – no phones, no record. It’s honest, vulnerable, heartbreaking, uncomfortable, humorous. People laugh, cry and engage. And it feels good.
Come to listen. Come to confess. Doesn’t matter. We already forgive you.
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Oh, and there’s a potential late night show – Steve’s Unhappy Hour – an evening of miserable original songs. Stay tuned.
PAGLIACHI
Friday 29th Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st May
Ross Brown, John Campbell and crew perform a version of last years House Of Horrors hit show
NEWCASTLE INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
Friday 20th & Saturday 21st November
Ninth year