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Liverpool Fringe Festival 2026 full programme details
Liverpool Fringe Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026 with a packed 12-day programme of performances. This year’s festival runs from October 6-17 at venues across the city centre. More than 30 different shows will be staged during the 2026 event which aims to act as a platform for talent and which is accessible to everyone. The festival’s main base will be the Studio Beyond in Wood Street where most of the productions will be performed. But among other festiva
Review: Death of a Salesman at Liverpool Everyman ***1/2
Arthur Miller compared it to a Greek tragedy while influential 20th Century American theatre critic John Gassner called its chief protagonist ‘a King Lear in mufti’. Death of a Salesman, the second of Miller’s quartet of major plays penned over the course of eight post-war years, channels both, albeit into the story of an ordinary ('low') man. Miller wove his cautionary tale in naturalistic dialogue juxtaposed with dream-like flashbacks and reminiscences (he initially thought
Review: Annie at the Liverpool Empire ****
Time and tide wait for no man…or girl. And even little orphan Annie is now marking her big 5-0, despite being preserved for all time as a precocious 11-year-old. When the musical was first staged back in the 1970s, the Great Depression was still well within living memory, and the world was going through another troubled time. One might say plus ça change. But while the 1930s setting may not have any resonance for today's children, there’s still plenty to capture the imaginati
Review: Letter to Brezhnev at Liverpool's Royal Court ****1/2
Back in the 1980s, a series of striking screen successes helped plant Liverpool firmly in the national consciousness – the three ‘Bs’ of Blackstuff, Brookside…and Brezhnev. All three were political (albeit without being actually ‘Militant’), but while each was concerned with themes like socio-economic decline, political neglect, class conflict, community solidarity or crushed ambitions, it was the big screen’s Letter to Brezhnev which widened its vista to consider the chilly
Enjoy The Last Laugh at the Floral Pavilion in October
West End smash-hit comedy The Last Laugh returns to Merseyside next month with a week-long stay at the Floral Pavilion. The show comes to the New Brighton venue from October 6-10. The Last Laugh brings three of Britain’s best-loved comedy legends – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse - back to life in one show. Written and directed by ITV’s This Morning host, and Wheel of Fortune presenter, Paul Hendy, the comedy imagines the three icons sharing one very unusual dr
Review: Barnum at the Liverpool Empire ****
Every generation is gifted its own Barnum moment, from the 1930s movie The Mighty Barnum to the 2017 (highly fictionalised) cinematic blockbuster The Greatest Showman. For those of us of a certain age, the name PT Barnum likely conjures up images of Torvill and Dean skating their way to an acrobatic gold in the World Championships in Helsinki. There, the now-knighted skating stars used a medley of tunes from Barnum, Cy Coleman/Michael Stewart/Mark Bramble’s 1980 stage musical
Ballet Shoes dances into Liverpool as part of a UK tour
Strictly star Anton du Beke is set to appear in the acclaimed stage adaptation of Ballet Shoes when it comes to Liverpool as part of a newly announced UK tour. The National Theatre’s acclaimed five-star family-friendly production heads for the Liverpool Empire from January 11-15, 2028. Tickets go on general sale on Thursday, September 24. Du Beke will play Great Uncle Matthew in the show which is adapted for the stage by Kendall Feaver in what is described as a ‘reimagining’
Review: Waitress at the Liverpool Empire ****
To lose one leading actor on opening night may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both ‘names’…well, let’s just say it’s not ideal. But as the Reverend Mother tells Maria in The Sound of Music, when God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window. And the absence of both Carrie Hope Fletcher AND Les Dennis from the Empire stage, both indisposed for undisclosed reasons, allowed several other members of the Waitress cast a chance to shine. None more so than Ellie Ruiz Rodrigue
Liverpool Everyman revisits Martin McDonagh in 2027
The Liverpool Everyman is set to stage a major new revival of one of Martin McDonagh's earliest plays next spring. A Skull in Connemara will be presented at the Hope Street theatre from February 20 to March 13, 2027. The new production follows the successful staging of McDonagh’s dark comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore in 2024 and will also see the return of Chris Sonnex who will once again be taking on directing duties. Billed as ‘volatile, unsettling and wickedly comedic’,
The King's Speech comes to Liverpool Playhouse in 2027
A new stage adaptation of multi-Oscar winning British historical drama The King’s Speech is set to visit Liverpool next summer as part of a UK tour. The production comes to the Liverpool Playhouse from June 22-26, 2027. Tickets go on general sale this Tuesday, September 1. A country on the precipice of another terrible war. An abdicated king. A constitutional crisis. And the only man who can provide hope for the nervous British public is Bertie – a man who is shy, unprepared
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