Talented Merseyside vocalists are being invited to compete for the chance to appear on the next series of hit ITV talent show The Voice UK. St Helens-based MD Creatives is holding open mic auditions for soloists, along with duos and trios, in the town this Easter. And there is also an opportunity for pre-audition coaching at the organisation’s headquarters in Barrow Street. The Covid-safe auditions will be held at the Citadel on April 6 and April 13. MD Creatives, whose perfo

Wind back the clocks 12 months, and Mark Chatterton and Sarah A Nixon were in the middle of organising a tour of The Show Must Go On - their big new two-hour musical extravaganza “with a cast of thousands.” Their musical collaborator Ben Beer meanwhile was on an aeroplane bound for Australia where he was due to take part in a charity gig with Robbie Williams. Then the pandemic struck, and all their plans came tumbling down. “I was doing two gigs,” Ben recalls. “The first was

The Show Must Go On this spring for the creative team behind the hugely popular Everyman Rock n Roll panto. Writer Sarah A Nixon and director Mark Chatterton are set to bring a joyful new swashbuckling stage spectacular to the Bombed Out Church for a five-week run, opening in May. The production is a specially scaled down version of a full musical the husband-and-wife team were working on with composer and musician Ben Beer when the pandemic struck. And its cast includes rock

The team which runs St Helens Theatre Royal has assumed overall ownership of the building. Regal Entertainments, which has operated the Corporation Street landmark for more than 20 years, has taken over the freehold from the Theatre Royal Charitable Trust for an undisclosed sum. Mother and daughter team Jane Joseph (creative director) and Chantelle Nolan – director and theatre general manager – have held the tenancy since 1999, working in partnership with the Charitable Trust

Shakespeare, Kipling and Jane Austen will come together to entertain audiences at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre this summer. The Chester outdoor theatre programme is being extended this year with 110 shows between May 29 and August 30. It includes two productions postponed from 2020 – a new adaptation of Austen’s perennially popular Pride and Prejudice, written by Deborah McAndrew and directed by Conrad Nelson, and The Jungle Book in a version by Glyn Maxwell and directed b

Abandon Normal Devices (AND) will return to Liverpool and its surroundings this summer with events based on and around the River Mersey. The UK’s only roaming digital festival of new cinema, digital culture and art will discover the post-industrial landscape of the river along with the neighbouring Manchester Ship Canal. This is the 9th edition of the festival which takes place in a new location each time. This year that includes the historic Daniel Adamson steam tug, the Mer

An interactive audio experience for families will launch the Unity Theatre’s 2021 Open Call season of shows. The Storm Shepherd comes from Liverpool’s All Things Considered Theatre, in partnership with Alder Hey and the Unity, and will be available to experience at home for five days in April. The production is aimed at children aged seven and over. Families who book will receive an online audio link along with a storytelling pack which will come in the post. And alongside th

The Cavern Club is planning to reopen its doors to the public on May 17. The Magical Mystery Tour, Cavern Pub and Festival restaurant in Mathew Street will also open on the same day. Cavern director Bill Heckle says: “Infrastructure is in place to follow Covid guidelines to enable the safe reopening of all our business.” Meanwhile the Cavern Club Beatles will return to the stage in the Live Lounge from June 25 and with a new ‘John Lennon’ joining the band. Adam Hastings, who

Contractors are set to start installing the historic oak-framed auditorium at the heart of the new Shakespeare North Playhouse at Prescot. The theatre, based on Inigo Jones’s 1628 cockpit-in-court design for Charles I, will be able to seat between 320 and 472 people to watch both Shakespeare’s plays and more contemporary work. Construction work has carried on throughout the pandemic and the multi-milion pound Playhouse is due to open in 2022 when Knowsley celebrates its year

Boaty Theatre is live streaming the premiere of a new play direct from the stage at its Ellesmere Port base this week. Home, again will be available to watch online on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27. The play, by actress Amy-Lou Harris who also stars, is set in a northern town in October 1945. George returns home from service; not only battling with the emotional backlash of war, but he is also coming to terms with the impact that his injuries will have on his home life. An