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Experience Macbeth by candlelight at Shakespeare North Playhouse this autumn
Shakespeare North Playhouse will hope it’s not ‘out, out brief candle!’ when it stages a special production of Macbeth this autumn. The Prescot theatre is set to present Macbeth by candlelight from September 11 to October 3. And it is promising each performance will be unique with the cast and creative team inspired by Elizabethan theatre techniques. Macbeth will be directed by Shakespeare North associate artist Ben Crystal who will also act as ‘curator and co-facilitator’, w
Review: Nell Gwynn at Shakespeare North Playhouse ****
Teenage orange hawker, feisty and droll star of the stage and finally the much-loved, long-term romantic partner of a king. Restoration playwrights would no doubt have chewed off their left arms to create a character even half as bold and memorable as Nell Gwynn, the woman who - for a brief time - became their real-life muse. And some 350 years on, Gwynn proves an equally luminous presence in Jessica Swale’s warm, witty and effervescent celebration of a very human heroine, br
Leap Dance Festival returns to Liverpool for 2026
Liverpool’s Leap Dance Festival returns to city venues next month with a programme of performances, workshops and free public events. The festival, which was revived and relaunched by Chaos Arts CIC in 2024 after a five year break, this year runs from April 24 to May 9 and encompasses National Day of Dance on April 29. It aims to showcase local and regional talent and nurture and support the next generation of dancers as well as bring top dance companies and artists to the ci
Review: Two at Shakespeare North Playhouse ***1/2
There’s a satisfying sense of symmetry about this Shakespeare North Playhouse revival of Jim Cartwright’s perennially popular Two. There’s the physical symmetry of the octagonal bar designer Kay Buckley has placed in the middle of the Cockpit Theatre’s octagonal stage, around which the action swirls to a background hubbub of pub noise. And then there’s the casting, which brings the two-hander full circle. The playwright was originally commissioned to write Two for John McArdl
Follow the Dream at Shakespeare North this February
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is at Shakespeare North Playhouse this week, direct from the Globe in London. Shakespeare’s much-loved sprite-ly comedy is being staged at the Prescot venue’s Cockpit Theatre until tomorrow at the start of a national tour. The show, which explores the darker side of the Bard's seemingly mischievous tale, is a co-production between Shakespeare’s Globe and Headlong (with Bristol Old Vic and Leeds Playhouse). To escape a society ruled by tyrannical law,
Review: The Tempest at Shakespeare North Playhouse ****
Earlier this year Shakespeare North Playhouse delivered a gleefully irreverent stag and hen Love’s Labour’s Lost, and before that was a...
What's on stage in Liverpool during June 2025
Midsummer arrives this month but even if it doesn’t bring traditional Puckish sprites and Rude Mechanicals, there’s still plenty of...
Shakespeare North seeks naming rights deal worth £300,000 a year
Shakespeare North Playhouse has announced it is looking for a ‘naming rights partner’ to help support its work. The multi-award-winning...
Shakespeare North date for John Godber's dandy new play
John Godber’s dandy new comedy The Highwayman rides in to Prescot in June to entertain audiences at Shakespeare North Playhouse. It’s...
Shakespeare North puts historic stage backdrop on show
Visitors to Shakespeare North Playhouse are being offered a close-up view of an elaborate backdrop for the venue’s main stage. The Frons...
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