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Karen Wilson is baffled and mesmerised in equal measure by Derren Brown's latest live show.

HE'S courted controversy by playing Russian Roulette on live TV, coerced his hypnotees into robbing a security van and bundled a tethered but willing young lady into a sack before throwing her in a river.

All were mesmerising stunts, but it's Derren Brown's pared down live show - just him, a few simple props and an eager audience - that really showcase his formidable talent.
Sporting his trademark goatee and black suit (switching to Victorian garb in the second half), he could even have a career as a stand up comedian.

MARIO Venzago has been an occasional and always welcome guest conductor to the Northern Sinfonia for quite some years, his programmes always an interesting blend and his relationship with the orchestra clearly a happy one - he is scheduled to open the 2009-2010 season.

It takes a close rapport to make such a success of a piece like Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, the slow tranquil fugue of the opening unfolding and interweaving with great clarity and the later adagio a mysterious, ghostly sound-scape.

Beyonce, Sasha Fierce, Queen B - whatever name you choose to call her, one thing's for sure: that girl certainly knows how to put on a show. In fact from the moment she stepped out on stage at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena last night, she had the sell-out crowd enraptured.

Basement Jaxx and Master Shortie impress Ramsay Cudlipp

The dancing gorillas topped it off.

As Basement Jaxx launched into a storming version of Where's Your Head At? during the finale at their O2 Academy gig on Monday, dancers in monkey suits bounded onto the stage and sent the crowd into fever pitch.

It was a high-octane performance from the masters of house music and the packed arena hummed with the heavy basslines from well-known hits like Bingo Bango and Oh My Gosh.

Owen Marriott reviews Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood's new comedy

MIRED IN the misery of the current season North East football fans could easily forget that they once boasted the best team in the world.

In this play, we are reminded how, almost 100 years ago to the day, one of the region's lesser known clubs - West Auckland FC - became the first team to win the World Cup.

Loosely based on the true story, it follows the team of ordinary mining men, in their journey from the pits of County Durham to glorious victory in an international competition in Italy.

Thomas Hall's reviews of the first of many collaborative concerts between the National Youth Orchestra and The Sage Gateshead

The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain looked perfectly at home in its new venue as 161 young musicians, aged 13 to19, gave the first concert of a recently formed five-year partnership with The Sage Gateshead.

The orchestra prepared its dance-themed programme with two weeks of intensive rehearsals at Durham University - a luxury time-scale professional players can only dream of.

But given the demands of the music and the standard achieved, you can see where the time went.

Thomas Hall takes in an evening with a pianist always welcome in the North East

A regular visitor to the North-East, Imogen Cooper was here to play one of the pianos she helped select for The Sage Gateshead in a generously long all-Schubert recital, prefaced by a spoken programme note.

She told of how Schubert was perpetually poor, unlucky in love, frequently moved house in search of the peace and quiet he needed to write his music and broke up the hours of solitary work in drinking sessions with friends.

Miranda Prynne takes in Al Jolson & Co to see if it lives up to its namesake.

Al Jolson was often heralded as the world's greatest performer.

At his funeral in 1950 George Jessel, a fellow entertainer, proclaimed: "The King is dead. Long live the King!"

And live on he does in Jolson and Co.

Mark Smith enjoys the Arena's transformation into Prodigy Central

They're back - and back with an almighty bang.

It is so easy to forget that The Prodigy have remained at the top of their game for so long.

They have rampaged the rave scene, hammered the hardcore and battered the breakbeat in a career spanning two decades, and their latest stadium tour shows no sign of the three-piece letting up.

Emily Taylor basks in another (but this time rather more glowing) all-women offering from Open Clasp Theatre Company.

No stranger to packed houses, Open Clasp Theatre Company entertained another full auditorium at The Customs House in South Shields with its latest offering - Stand 'n' Tan.

The North East's only professional women's theatre company is now well established in the region and delights with high energy, usually side-splitting performances.

And Stand 'n' Tan is no exception.