NQBuddy

What I love most about Top Gs Like Me – a new piece of theatre created at Royal & Derngate and set in Northampton – is that there is nothing timid or apologetic about it. It is a big brash exploration of toxic masculinity and digital alienation through the eyes of two young Northamptonians at the gates of adulthood. The staging sets the tone with a huge recreation of Radlands skatepark through…

My reference point for 2.22 a Ghost Story, currently running at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate, came purely from Lily Allen’s title track on her brilliantly brutal album West End Girl. James Bye, Shvorne Marks, Natalie Casey and Grant Kilburn are Sam, Jenny, Lauren and Ben in 2.22 A ghost storyAll photos copyright: Helen Murray http://www.helenmurrayphotos.com I’d read about how she’d been…

Panto has come a long way since I started reviewing back in the 1990s. No more shonky sets and wonky donkeys, it’s all rather stylish on stage at the Royal and Derngate this Christmas. Just remember to take your coat if you’re in the stalls…more of that later on. Georgia Brierley-Smith as Tink – all photography by Pamela Raith The old-style curtain has gone and an apparently hi-tech ‘scrim’, a…

We’re very lucky here in Northampton – with autumn nearly upon us there’s so much good stuff going on we shouldn’t just settle in on the sofa every night. Case in point – go and see some live theatre. A brand new production of Hugh Whitemore’s acclaimed play Breaking the Code, opens at Northampton’s Royal & Derngate has opened, running from Thursday 11 to Saturday 27 September, before…

If you’ve been paying attention at Northampton’s outdoor festivals over the past couple of years then you have probably heard the sound of the Canyons. It’s a noise that real things make: actual strings and drums shaking the air right in front of you played by a bunch of grizzled old troubadours who look like they have lived the lemons that made this lemonade. I think of them as The Flaming…

As a new BBC documentary airs about the Jesus Army in Northampton, we look at how embedded the church and its followers became in the society of Northamptonshire for decades WHEN we moved house in 2003, me heavily pregnant with our third son, we met the neighbours living in a huge converted dentists’ surgery next door. There were lots of them living there, from children to pensioners, all…

The moment George Furbank hit the deck in Cardiff after that ‘rugby incident’ last weekend, I felt a pang of guilt. High up in our seats, in the Gods of the Principality, it looked bad – and even worse on the playback when we got back home, in the dead of night. It’s not quite the curse of the commentator – but highlighting his return in a headline and then seeing him hit with yet another bit of…

Happy Oak Apple Day fellow Northamptonians, the Mayor has been on top of All Saints Church hanging an oak wreath round the statue of Charles II. Just like Punxsutawney, USA, is famous for Groundhog Day – immortalised in the film of the same name featuring a weather-predicting groundhog called Punxsutawney Phil – Northampton is not famous for Oak Apple Day because I bet they don’t even know we do…

I enjoyed this and I might be seen as a tough demographic nut to crack for this show...

It was St Valentine’s night, 32 years and four children after our relationship’s first St Valentine’s night, and we were at Northampton’s Royal & Derngate for a preview performance of (the) Woman by Jane Upton. I know there are people out there who will have a wry smile to themselves about what that says about the way things work between me and My One True Love, and as we settled into our seats…

Now that I think about it, even the address of the exhibition has a Gothic aftertaste: the Vulcan Works on Angel Square. When things just fall into place like that… I’m not a superstitious person, or a religious person but sometimes you get the impression that occasionally great unseen templates line up and the cold light of some universal truth can shine through. Welcome to Gothic Revival by…

Northampton Saints scrum-half Alex Mitchell says he would like to bring his World Cup success back to the club ahead of “one of the biggest games of the season”.  Saints travel to Leicester Tigers in the East-Midlands derby this weekend as they make their early push into the top 4 of the Gallagher Premiership, writes James Logan.  The men in green, black, and gold will travel to their local…

The annual reveal of where to find the good stuff in Northamptonshire has taken place at the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards. The judges have spent a year investigating restaurants, chefs and products from all over the county and the full list of medal winners is below. Scroll down for a report on the ceremony from the organisers. Artisan Local Drink of the Year, sponsored by J…

By Karin Johnstone “I am not a client, a customer, nor a service user. I am not a shirker, a scrounger, a beggar, nor a thief. I’m not a National Insurance Number or blip on a screen. I paid my dues, never a penny short, and proud to do so.” So states the eponymous Daniel Blake. Kathy and Daisy, played by Bryony Corrigan and Jodie Wild – All photography by Pamela Raith Seven years have passed…

Calling all bibliophiles. Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is pleased to be hosting their first ever book fair! On Saturday 4th November, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery will be hosting its first ever Book Fair to the public. This will be a free event for visitors and will give them the opportunity to meet local authors, find out more about their books and perhaps pick up their next…

As Autumn starts to show its face it means the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drinks Awards are on the final countdown to the Awards Dinner and revealing more category finalists.  This time it’s the turn of Healthy Food and Wellbeing, One to Watch, F&B Achiever, and Food & Drink College Student of the Year! The Food & Drink College Student of the Year Award is aimed at students aged between…

It’s not dignified. I’m 55 and I’ve gone over the handlebars of a bike twice in the past year. Fortunately I roll like an 80kg medicine ball and didn’t land far from the track on either occasion. Somehow my injuries were only skin deep, more importantly my bike was fine and if I’m honest, I’ve got no-one but myself to blame. One incident was a simple error of judgment in terms of when to keep…