Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Chronicle Live
Chronicle Live
Entertainment
Barbara Hodgson

Alan Partridge live in Newcastle - Steve Coogan brings comedy favourite back to the stage after 13-year absence

He hasn't made a live performance for several years it seems but now Alan Partridge is returning to the spotlight with a tour bringing him to Newcastle.

The cringey but much-loved presenter has been conspicious by his absence from the touring scene over the past 13 years but Geordie fans soon will be able reaquaint themselves with Steve Coogan's comic creation when he takes to the stage at the Utilita Arena over two dates in May.

Speaking ahead of the launch of his spring tour of new show Strategem, Coogan, who first introduced Partridge to the world more than 30 years ago, initially in radio show On The Hour, said: "“It’s about getting back in the saddle. I like writing drama and doing different things but I just need to remind myself that I can do this.

Read more: see filming scenes for new Get Carter documentary

"There’s enough great stuff written for the show that I can’t wait for people to see, and once it gets up on its feet, it’ll be good. I know it’s good - because we all laughed at it.” He added of the show's title: "It sounded slightly affected and pretentious so we wrote the word down. We knew the show would be some kind of a public address which would then give us enough leeway to chuck in other stuff.”

Fans are told they can expect inappropriate musings and clumsy turns of phrase from his alter-ego when they catch up with the hapless presenter who, it appears, has certainly not been idle during his absence from the live circuit, having had memoirs published - the first of which was I Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan - and been involved in a film, web series, podcast and TV's This Time With Alan Partridge.

Back on stage, and with the help of big screen backdrops, he will be conducting interviews with some old friends too. Coogan describes the upcoming show as a cross between a Ted Talk and West Side Story, saying: "There will be singing and dancing to keep people entertained but there will also be a heavyweight element to it."

He added: “Alan will be trying to impart his accumulated wisdom and put it into some form that has cogency, so that he can ‘help’ other people. It’s an all-encompassing, almost cripplingly broad attempt to cover all potential personal problems that people might have in processing the modern world, so Alan helps people navigate the rocky waters of gender, equality, diversity, sexual identity.

"Whatever the most precarious and dangerous landscapes that are out there, we’ll put Alan’s walking bits on and let him stomp all over them.” Coogan, whose career takes in starring roles in films Philomena and Stan & Ollie and TV dramas including a three-parter about Stephen Lawrence; MeToo drama Chivalry and BBC's The Reckoning in which he plays notorious sexual predator Jimmy Savile, says his return to Patridge will be "like a warm bath".

He admits to some "necessary" anxiety about the tour but explains: "I’ve got to a place now where I’m really comfortable with it; I don’t have to do it, I choose to do it. And that way, it will always be enjoyable. If the moment comes when I’m doing it because I have nothing else worth doing, that’s when you’re in trouble.”

He added: " I’m also looking forward to connecting with an audience. Despite covid and now the war which is depressing and tragic, people will always want to laugh. This form of interaction is as old as the hills.

"Social media is quite new but standing on stage and entertaining people is very simple and pure. I’m craving that.” He'll be at Utilita Arena on May 4 and 5. For information about the tour see here and for tickets see the arena website here or Ticketmaster here.

Strategem with Alan Partridge Live - full tour dates

April 22 - Belfast, SSE Arena

April 23-24 - Dublin, 3 Arena

April 26 - Edinburgh, Playhouse

April 28-29 - Birmingham, Utilita Arena

April 30 - Sheffield, Sheffield Arena

May 3-4 - Newcastle, Utilita Arena

May 5 - Hull, Bonus Arena

May 6-7 - Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena

May 8-9 - Brighton Centre

May 11 - Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena

May 13-14 -AO Arena, Manchester

May 15 - Hull, Bonus Arena

May 17 - Blackpool, Grand Opera House

May 18 - Plymouth Pavilions

May 19-20 - Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena

May 22 - Bournemouth, BIC

May 24-25 - Glasgow, SSE Arena

May 26 - Edinburgh, Playhouse

May 27 - Aberdeen, P&J Live

May 28-29 - Leeds, First Direct Arena

May 31, June 1 and June 3 - London, The O2

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.