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Open Eye's Self-Defined exhibition explores lives led under Soviet rule
Artists from Central and Eastern Europe explore their own families’ complex stories along with historical archives in a new exhibition at Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery. Self-Defined: New Stories from Archives, which opens today and runs until June 7, features the work of contemporary artists from countries which were occupied or influenced by the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Latvia along with ethnic Crimean Tartar communities. The work explores i
Akomfrah installation comes to the Walker Art Gallery this summer
The Walker Art Gallery is set to present Sir John Akomfrah’s acclaimed Venice Biennale commission Listening All Night to The Rain this summer. Three of the major film and sound work’s eight ‘Canto’ (movement) sections will be on show at the William Brown Street venue from May 16 to August 31 as part of a UK tour. Canto I will transform the Victorian gallery’s neoclassical exterior with images and voices from the Global Majority displayed on the building’s imposing portico. In
WoWFest 2026 explores the 'New World Disorder'
Author Colm Tóibín is among the first names announced for WoWFest which returns to Liverpool venues this May with a month-long programme of events. The theme of the 2026 festival is New World Disorder, with organisers Writing on the Wall describing it as ‘bold, urgent and unmissable’ and a 'festival of resistance'. Events take place from May 1-31 at venues including the Black-E, British Music Experience, Philharmonic Hall Music Room and online. Actor Cathy Tyson, playwright H
Review: Double Indemnity at the Liverpool Playhouse ***
The 1927 murder trial of housewife Ruth Snyder and her lover Henry Judd Gray was a sensation - and among the phalanx of press in the New York courtroom were two writers who would go on to use it as inspiration for fictional tales. Journalist Sophie Treadwell revisited the murderous crime in her 1928 play Machinal. And then in 1936, fellow hack James M Cain produced his novel Double Indemnity, the cautionary tale of an insurance agent and a discontented wife who together plot
Jackie Clune talks Rocky Horror ahead of Empire date for cult classic
When Jackie Clune was first approached to play the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show it’s perhaps fair to say she wasn’t really aware of what she had signed up for. Although she had watched the film at some point, she reveals she had never actually seen Richard O’Brien’s cult smash hit stage show. At least not until the day before she went on for the first time. “It was a bit of an eye opener,” she admits. “I didn’t really know what’s going on. “If you don’t know the plot, it
Four Letter Words at Liverpool Playhouse Studio
A new play set in ‘the world of queer online kink’ gets its premiere at the Liverpool Playhouse Studio next week. Four Letter Words comes to the Williamson Square venue from April 16-18. During lockdown, university student Gemma is swept up in a whirlwind online relationship with the mysterious M, a connection that begins in a BDSM chatroom but quickly becomes something far deeper. As their digital bond intensifies, Gemma’s real-world relationships start to unravel, pulling h
Review: Liverpool String Academy at the Tung Auditorium ****
It was the Liverpool String Academy’s inaugural concert at the city’s Tung Auditorium – but if there were any nerves among its youthful members, they certainly weren’t visible in what proved to be an accomplished and hugely impressive performance. Run by Early Music as Education (EMAE), a charity which basically does what it says on the tin by providing specialist music education for young people – irrespective of background or training – across Merseyside, Liverpool String A
Review: The Shawshank Redemption at the Liverpool Playhouse ****
Those of us of a certain vintage will remember going to see The Shawshank Redemption on the big screen back in 1994. Frank Darabont’s cinematic retelling of Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was a real gut-punch of a watch, and it was its misfortune that when it came to Oscar time – where it was nominated for seven awards – it found itself up against the twin juggernauts of Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction. Three decades on, much of that gut-punch is
National Museums Liverpool marks 40th anniversary with a new exhibition
National Museums Liverpool is marking its 40th anniversary with an exhibition which showcases some of its most loved and important treasures from across its many venues. NML at 40 runs at the World Museum until February 2027 and is free. Visitors are able to ‘dig, dive and delve’ into some of the vast and nationally important collections which are held by the network of venues, the only national museums group in England outside London. The 40 objects in the exhibition include
Review: Talking Head Twice at the Unity Theatre ***1/2
Liverpool Improvisation Festival returns to the Unity this May with a programme of shows from some of the genre's brightest talent. Ahead of that, LiF organiser Wing it Impro took the chance to present a new idea currently in development in what was a well-received scratch performance which brought the Unity’s 2026 Up Next Festival to a close. Boasting the tagline 'Inspired by Bennett. Shaped by you', Talking Head Twice offers a huge nod to the nonagenarian playwright and all
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