This week's new events

The World Custard Pie Championships | JFest International | Festival Of The North East

The World Custard Pie Championships, nr Maidstone

Bugsy Malone's flan flinging involved lots of pre-pubescents playing at being grown-ups. Kent's World Custard Pie Championships flip the script on the concept, with a bevy of adults doing their darndest to unlock their inner kiddy. Teams of four dressed as everything from bananas to tigers do battle in the custard pie arena (pub car park), hurling paper plates of gloop at each other in a brave attempt to reign supreme. The highest points are awarded for a direct face hit – SPLAT!

Coxheath, Sat

JFest International, Leeds

Snappily renamed from Leeds International Jewish Performing Arts Festival for its 13th year, JFest International draws together culture from the Jewish diaspora. But it's time, not distance that's spanned by Danny Braverman's storytelling slideshow WOT? NO FISH!!, a bittersweet animated whirl through decades of East End London life. Toronto's Alon Nashman stars as both Franz and Hermann in Kafka And Son (pictured), a tensely comic adaptation of a cathartic undelivered letter from Kafka Jr to his domineering father, while Los Desterrados serve up flamenco spiced with Balkan and north African folksong.

Carriageworks Theatre, Sun to Thu

Festival Of The North East

This cultural festival covers everything from industrial heritage to street theatre. A Foghorn Requiem is one of the intriguing musical events on offer, with lighthouses and local ships paying a noisy tribute to a now largely obsolete safety device. But you can also enjoy mining songs, Lindisfarne and Kathryn Tickell alongside an array of classical concerts. A History Of The North East in 100 Objects leads you around the region's galleries, and there's a great selection of walks that take in Blaydon Races, Victorian tunnels and Saltburn beach.

Various venues, Sat to 30 Jun