For Liverpool writer Jonathan Larkin, it’s the stories of people’s everyday lives which really matter. “It’s everyday lives impacted by bigger things,” he explains. “You tell a small, intimate story but suddenly it has a universal truth to it, so people identify with it, and it becomes a bigger story.” It’s what the 40-year-old did in his debut play, the comedy Paradise Bound, set in Dingle and which embraced the zeitgeist of the city’s dynamic build up to Capital of Culture.

Coming together to make and listen to live music is the kind of shared experience which reminds us that there’s more that unites than divides us. And on a dark day for the world, what better way to emphasise that than with a vibrant, uplifting, and colourful programme from composers on both sides of the current divide, played by a multi-national cohort of talented musicians here in a ‘world in one city’? Composer Grace-Evangeline Mason returns to Hope Street later this season

Liverpool Theatre Festival is set to return to the Bombed Out Church for a third year. The festival will be staged at the Liverpool landmark from August 31 to September 11. And the festival’s complementary Little LTF – championing new work and talent – will also take place again, this time running from May 2-8. The festival’s creator, producer and artistic director Bill Elms said today: “We’re incredibly excited to announce the return of Liverpool Theatre Festival for a third

The interior of Liverpool Cathedral has been taken over by the stunning son et lumière Space, the Universe and Everything. The installation by multi-media arts collective Luxmuralis is running nightly until February 27 and promises to take visitors on a journey through the vastness of time and space. Entrance is by timed ticket but once you are in the cathedral you can stay and enjoy the installation for as long as you want. Visitors will get an immersive and atmospheric ligh

A new free display at Tate Liverpool examines the city’s relationship with migration – and its centrepiece is artist Hew Locke’s stunning suspended installation Armada. It is the first time the work, which is made up of a flotilla of model boats and craft, has been on show at Tate since it was acquired by the organisation three years ago. Locke has recreated cargo ships, fishing boats and galleons from different historical periods and places, inspired by models he saw in Euro

One Man, Two Guvnors arrives on the Liverpool stage for a two-and-a-half-week run this summer. The new production of Richard Bean’s smash hit is a collaboration between the Bolton Octagon, Theatre by The Lake and the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. It will be staged at the Playhouse from June 29 to July 16. The riotous comedy is an adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s 1743 play Servant of Two Masters, with the action transferred from 18th Century Italy to Brighton at the start of

Gary Barlow comes to the Liverpool Playhouse next month to share his life story in A Different Stage. The Frodsham-born singer-songwriter and producer will be at the Williamson Square theatre from March 15-19. Tickets are on sale from 10am on Wednesday priced from £25-55. The Take That star has created the stage show with friend and musicals collaborator Tim Firth, with whom he worked on Calendar Girls the Musical and The Band. A Different Stage sees the 51-year-old narrate t

Chester Storyhouse has been chosen to host the world premiere of a new musical version of bestselling heart-tugger The Time Traveller’s Wife. The production, which has music and lyrics by multi-Grammy Award winners Joss Stone and Dave Stewart, will open at the venue on September 20 before transferring to the West End. It comes from the team behind Back to the Future, Ghost and Grease, and has special effects created by the master illusionist behind Harry Potter and the Cursed

A ‘raunchy’ romantic comedy is coming to the Hope Street Theatre for Valentine’s Day. It Must Be Love is billed as a 70s romantic comedy with some naughty twists and a minefield of awkward moments. Shirley is a hopeless romantic who wants her wedding day to be the best day of her life…and her wedding night to be even better. Boyfriend Phillip plays along but just wishes Shirley would give him a little bit of encouragement. Writer and producer Paul Daley says: “It Must Be Love

Teatro Pomodoro returns to the Liverpool stage this week with a new show being performed on the North Docks. Peep Show: Battle Royale is billed as a satirical and immersive production inspired by the peep shows of Amsterdam. It is being staged at Make, 34 Regent Road, from February 10-13 and again from February 17-20, with performances at 5.45pm and 8pm each day. Peep Show: Battle Royale utilises the Liverpool-based international theatre company's trademark blend of clowning,