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Spend An Evening with Sir David Jason at the Liverpool Empire
Liverpool audiences are being invited to spend ‘an evening with’ acting knight Sir David Jason when he visits the Empire theatre. The stage and screen star will be at the Lime Street landmark on January 9, 2027, as part of a nationwide tour. Tickets go on general sale this Friday, May 1. The show promises to be an unforgettable evening of fun, laughter, and never-before-heard stories. From Only Fools and Horses, Open All Hours, The Darling Buds of May, A Touch of Frost, Dange
Review: Conteh at Liverpool's Royal Court ****
When Aron Julius first had the idea of embodying Liverpool boxing legend John Conteh on stage, he felt sure there must already be a play out there he could bring to life for a live audience. There wasn’t it seems. So rather than abandon the idea, Julius decided to write his own. Initially conceived as a one-man vehicle, with the boxer directly relating the much-chronicled highs and lows of his life and career, Julius – at that time appearing in the Royal Court’s acclaimed pro
Lourdes of laughs in Cured at Liverpool's Royal Court
Laurence Clark’s new stage comedy Cured is set to be premiered at Liverpool’s Royal Court next month – and it turns out the award-winning writer and comedian drew on his own life when it came to the inspiration for his plot. For some, a pilgrimage to Lourdes is all prayers, candles and proper holy contemplation. For the mad bunch of disabled Scousers in Clark's play, it's bevvies, mucking about and getting off with each other… and definitely no bleeding miracle cures. After c
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: 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
Mischa Barton on her femme fatale role at the Liverpool Playhouse
The OC’s Mischa Barton is making her UK stage debut in a new production of Hollywood thriller Double Indemnity which comes to Liverpool this month – and it seems she’s looking forward to her first visit to the banks of the Mersey. “I’ve always heard such incredible things about Liverpool - the music history, the warmth of the people and the energy of the city,” says the British-American actor who has carved a busy and successful career on the small and big screen. “So, I’m re
Review: Waiting for Godot at the Liverpool Everyman *****
It may be a play where, as the tagline goes, “nothing happens…then nothing happens again”, but Samuel Beckett’s tragicomic masterpiece on the human condition is rich in incident and Shakespearean in scope. And it also fair twangs with vividness and life in this tremendous new co-production between Liverpool, Glasgow Citizen and Bolton Octagon, which features a pair of peerless performances from Everyman alumni Matthew Kelly and George Costigan. Jean Chan’s frayed set (even th
Up Next Festival returns to the Unity Theatre this month
The Up Next Festival is set to return to the Unity Theatre this month for a fifth year. The 2026 festival takes place from March 25-28 and will feature 20 new and diverse performances – many of them work-in-progress, readings, workshops and a guided walk, created by Merseyside artists. The Hope Place theatre started the festival in 2021 as a response the Covid pandemic and the seismic effect it had on live performance, providing a vital platform for new work with the aim of s
Review: The Memory of Water at the Liverpool Everyman ****
It’s been 30 years since Shelagh Stephenson’s darkly comic play premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, going on to transfer to the West End and Broadway and winning an Olivier to boot. And while the creamy tones of Nat King Cole might punctuate scene changes in this sparky revival at the Liverpool Everyman, it’s the sound of the Spice Girls which drags us back aurally to 1996, the year of genetically modified crops, royal divorces, Dunblane, Dolly the sheep and Trainspotting. In
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