Newcastle's Northern Stage enlivens the new year with a collaboration version of Cyrano de Bergerac

DIARIES at the ready, Newcastle's Northern Stage has announced its spring programme. Starting the season off on February 4 is a celebration of celebrities from the North-East. A gala event includes Guisborough-born actor Mark Benton from Waterloo Road; Emmerdale’s Geordie star Charlie Hardwick and Vicky Elliot from Hebburn, alongside a supporting cast of new regional faces. Called A Night Extraordinary this production raises funds to enable continued support for the theatre’s North programme, including The Letter Room and Camisado Club.

The critically-acclaimed Birdsong follows on February 23 to 28. Adapted and directed by Rachel Wagstaff, from the world-famous Sebastian Faulks novel, the first tour was seen by more than 130,000 people in 2013 and last year. The author is thrilled that the show has been re- mounted to tour again marking the 100th anniversary of the First World War saying: “Both Rachel and I want this to be the definitive version of Birdsong on stage. The audience watch it and think, ‘Thank God I have never undergone all of this’. These experiences are far outside the lives of most people but there is something about the way the production works which makes people identify and think, ‘It could be me...'”

Northern Stage artistic director Lorne Campbell will direct Cyrano de Bergerac in a new production based on the Anthony Burgess translation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play. “This is a play of true scale, and Royal and Derngate and Northern Stage are collaborating again so we can both create something ambitious for our stages. It’s a remarkable play in a remarkable version. An epic and profoundly human love story about the greatness and weakness that lives in all of us,” says Campbell. Alongside the professional cast, the Cyrano ensemble will be made up of six emerging actors from North 2015 – a professional development programme for young theatre-makers to develop their skills and begin to build a sustainable, diverse and exciting career in the North East (runs April 29 to May 16)

After the success of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream, Filter return to Northern Stage with its trademark fusion of performance with integrated live music and sound in a radical re-creation of Macbeth (March 10 to 14).

For those of us who love the weird and the wonderful, there’s Unfolding Theatre’s last year Edinburgh Fringe hit, Lands of Glass (February 26 to 28) – live music played on specially created glass instruments bringing best-selling Italian novelist Alessandro Baricco’s work to life.

Improbable Theatre explore what happens when they meet experts in their field from outside the world of theatre on stage in The Still (February 6 to 7). The genre defying Clod Ensemble comes to the venue for the first time with The Red Chair (March 24 to 25), an intimate show with an original dark fairytale at its heart; and A Lyrical Dance Concert (February 24 to 25) is a party in a comedy double act in an experimental dance performance.

For families with children aged six and over, Theatre Alibi’s I Believe in Unicorns (April 16 to 18) a tale about the power of stories to transform our lives from the writer of Warhorse, Michael Morpurgo. Big Red Bath (May 7 to 9) is a quirky adaptation for two to five-year-olds of Julia Jarman’s popular children’s picture book.

Wim Vendekeybus gets dangerous, physical and playful with Dance Touring Partnership Ultima Vez: What the Body Does Not Remember (March17 to 18 ). Phoenix Dance Theatre from Leeds returns with Shadows (May 28), which includes a double bill by renowned choreographer Christopher Bruce CBE.

Spoken word shows include Confirmation (March 23 to 24), Chris Thorpe and Rachel Chavkin’s award-wining 2014 Edinburgh Fringe show about the gulfs we can't talk across.

Standby for Tape Back-Up (March 10 to 11) is Ross Sutherland’s one-man show compiled from found footage. Jack Bennett asks "Isn’t it daft that we ask teenagers to make really big decisions about their lives?" in Too Much Too Young (February 10 to 11). Award-winning theatre-maker Daniel Bye is Going Viral (July 15 to 16), and Crick Crack Club return with grown up fairytales in Where the Bear Sleeps (May 13).

  • Box Office: 0191-230-5151. For full details or to book tickets northernstage.co.uk