Prepare for an epic immersive experience inside Toxteth’s historic reservoir this month. Aurora – previously known by the title Rewind – will take visitors to the sandstone landmark on a unique 40-minute walk through water in a special site-specific performance as part of Liverpool 2018. An ice cave, rainforest and monsoons will be brought thrillingly to life in South Liverpool in a collaboration between FACT and Leeds-based interactive arts specialists Invisible Flock. The g

Fancy chortling your way towards Christmas? Luckily for you then that there’s a busy autumn of comedy planned for venues across Liverpool city centre. The season kicks off with the annual Liverpool Comedy Festival, with the 2018 event taking place from September 14-30 at locations including Hot Water Comedy Club, Laughterhouse, Comedy Central, 81 Renshaw Street, Buyers Club, Hope Street Theatre and the Jacaranda as well as some of the city’s bigger theatre spaces. And new for

Long before he penned hip hop phenomenon Hamilton, a teenage Lin-Manuel Miranda conceived In The Heights – a musical set in the Latino community of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan. Like its more famous Miranda stablemate, the show, which itself went on to win multiple Tony Awards when it finally made its way to Broadway, is infused with a broad range of musical styles, driven by hip hop, freestyle rap – and some hot salsa to boot. It also concerns itself with family, an

Maverick film-maker, screenwriter and actor John Waters is making a return visit to Liverpool to headline this year’s Homotopia Festival. The cult legend brings his one-man show This Filthy World to the Philharmonic Hall where he previously entertained audiences in 2013. And the Liverpool event, on Saturday, November 10, is the only chance to see him perform in the UK this year. Focusing on Waters’ early negative artistic influences and his fascination with true crime, exploi

The Prodigy have announced a date at the Liverpool Echo Arena. They will play the waterfront venue on Thursday, November 8 in support of their new album No Tourists and as part of a major arena tour of the UK and Europe. Tickets for the gig cost £40/£51. The Prodigy were formed in Essex in 1990, and were one of the pioneers of the ‘big beat’ electronic music genre which helped define music during the decade. Since then they have clocked up six number 1 albums – including 1997

Terence Davies’ cinematic masterpiece Distant Voices, Still Lives is being screened in Liverpool next weekend – and the city-born director will take part in a special live Q&A at the Wood Street venue. The event takes place at Picturehouse at FACT on September 2 to help mark 30 years since the classic British film was first released. Davies’ partly autobiographical tale vividly evokes his post-war upbringing in Liverpool as the son of a working-class Catholic home dominated b

The Royal Court is celebrating its 80th birthday with a special evening of music and entertainment this month. Proceeds from the evening on September 30 will go towards the Roe Street theatre’s community education programme. The brick-built, Art Deco-designed venue first opened its doors on October 17 1938, five years after a fire destroyed an earlier ‘Royal Court’ on the same site. Stars who have graced the Royal Court stage over the past eight decades include Peggy Ashcroft

Liverpool writer Ian Salmon’s The Comeback Special is, well, making a come back to the stage with a four-night run at the Hope Street Theatre this September. Salmon entered the script anonymously in the inaugural Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize three years ago, winning a highly commended accolade from the judges (one being me). The show, a dark comedy about an ordinary scally with an extraordinary gift, was given its first outing at the Cornerstone Festival at Liverpool Hope

It seems the time to let it be is yet to come. So Fab Four fans will be pleased to hear the Beatles are back at the Liverpool Empire next month, in a newly-updated version of the hit stage show celebrating their career. Let It Be: A Celebration of the Music of the Beatles part two features a completely new second half which is set a decade after the Liverpool band split up in 1970. In it, audience members are given an idea of what would have happened if John, Paul, George and

The Unity Theatre’s autumn season features a programme of work that looks to the future and questions what might be in store. Season highlights under new artistic director Gordon Millar include a five-night stay for Liverpool favourites Headlong, a return to Hope Place by Told By An Idiot, and a visit by acclaimed company Paines Plough. Tmesis Theatre (Beyond Belief) and Break a Leg Productions (Blood Runs Deep) are also set to appear at the venue between now and Christmas. H