THE autumn programme at Hexham’s Queen’s Hall comes seasoned with all the spice of a warm Caribbean night.

Bold and adventurous and packed with colour, it boasts the much-anticipated, latest productions rolled out by Black Theatre Live, Icarus Theatre Collective and Blackeyed Theatre company, washed down with a cocktail of musical offerings.

Black Theatre Live’s tour of Hamlet will be the first time an all-black cast has presented Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy. Jeffery Kissoon, who won his spurs at the RSC and the National Theatre, directs this modern take adapted by award-winning playwright Mark Norfolk.

That world-famous song and dance troupe Black Umfolosi, exponents extraordinaire of the music of their native southern Africa, will be treading the boards in Hexham in October. Expect soul-touching harmonies, rousing choruses and foot-tapping stomps.

The changes will be rung the very next night by Frankenstein, courtesy of the Blackeyed Theatre Company. The team behind the hugely successful production of Dracula in 2013 did promise they would be back!

Kathryn Barker Productions is touring an entirely different type of horror story, one that speaks of the times we live in. The Collector, by Henry Naylor, tells the tale of an Iraqi interpreter targeted because of his work for American interrogators in Mazrat Prison, one of Saddam Hussein’s most notorious torture houses.

The international feel to the season continues with Whose Sari Now?, a funny and, by turns, poignant examination of the role of the sari in the lives of five characters. And then there’s Black is the Colour of My Voice, written and performed by Apphia Campbell.

Inspired by the life of Nina Simone, it reflects the trials and tribulations of a successful jazz singer and civil rights activist seeking redemption following the death of her father.

When it comes to music, there is surely something for everyone. Bluegrass sensation Ragged Union, North-East singer-songwriter favourite Jez Lowe and the legendary Albion Band between them offer a real breadth of choice, but then stir in the Voulez Vous Abba tribute show, the Simon & Garfunkel Story and the Buddy Holly & the Cricketers tribute band too and, well, what do you pick?

The most unusual one of all, though, is the Come and Sing ... HMS Pinafore. Join the principal singers from the D’Oyly Carte and Carl Rosa Opera companies on Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, where you will find you’ve been enlisted as sailors, sisters, cousins and aunts.

In the comfort of your own seat, you will learn the most popular songs under the direction of West End conductor Ian McMillan before setting sail.

Many a local enterprise will be getting on board, too, this season. Hexham Amateur Stage Society, the Queen’s Hall Theatre Club, Theatre Sans Frontieres and the Queen’s Hall Film Club all have something delectable to offer, not to mention the Hexham & District Music Society with its top-flight programme of concerts.

And to cap it all, Oddsocks Productions returns in time for Christmas with this year’s pantomime. Last year, more than 4000 tickets were sold for its take on Jungle Book. This time round they are presenting The Adventures of King Arthur, or maybe that should read ‘the adventures King Arthur, in truth, really probably never had’.

Copies of the new programme are available in the Queen’s Hall now.