A NEW cabaret production will be performed at the Queen's Hall Arts Centre in Hexham.

New contemporary dance company Rendez-vous Dance will put their new production, The Monocle, on stage at the Queen's Hall on Thursday, February 17.

Their sell-out launch show was held at Gosforth Civic Centre on Saturday, February 5, which Artistic Director of Rendez-vous Dance, Mathieu Geffré, said was very well received.

Mathieu, 34, is a Newcastle-based choreographer originally from the Bordeaux region of France.

The dance piece is a Made In The North East Commission (MITNE). Mathieu was awarded the commission and grant funding out of 25 other choreographers who applied.

Mathieu said he wanted to create a new home for queer and non-binary artists. "Dance is a very gendered form, and queer and non-binary artists had nowhere to be."

From 7.30pm, The Monocle will turn back time to the lesbian nightclub scene of 1930's Paris.

Named after iconic lesbian club, Le Monocle, it explores the idea of needing a safe space which allows us to find freedom in being ourselves.

Set in an upper-class area of Paris, the club was a notorious hotspot for lesbians to express themselves, sporting trends adopted by the lesbian community at the time, including monocles, tuxedos, and cropped hair.

Mathieu says the piece is a nostalgic tribute to Le Monocle and what it stood for.

The Monocle blends the reality of the original 1930's appearance of the club with modernised costumes, choreography and music.

Creating The Monocle, Mathieu said he wanted to address the issue of what a safe space is. The horrific homophobic attacks in a gay club in Orlando, in 2016, disturbed the notion of what such a space is.

"Are we ever safe, do we ever have a safe space - is it a reality or a reassurance," Mathieu posited. Despite being contextualised in a 1930's cabaret bar, the relevance of safe spaces is universal, with no geographical or chronological barriers, Mathieu said.

The inspiration for The Monocle originated when Mathieu came across pictures taken at Le Monocle in the 1930's. Intrigue is woven into the narrative through a French secret agent disturbing the boundaries of safety within the tale.

The German occupation of Paris led to the closure of Le Monocle due to the Nazi persecution of homosexuals.

Mathieu hopes to encourage sensitivity, acceptance, and empathy through his production. "I hope the audiences have a fun night and feel like they learned something," Mathieu said.

Doors will open at 7pm and tickets cost £12 or £10 for concessions.