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Review: The Ghost of Graves End at the Unity Theatre ****1/2
Two months after his one-woman tragi-comedy Stella roared on to the Unity stage, busy Liverpool playwright Robert Farquhar is back with another whirlwind of a show. And if you are a fan of Farquhar, and particularly his work with - the now sadly defunct – Big Wow, a sucker for a chilling theatrical experience or a lover of off-the-wall comedy, you won’t want to miss it. Ostensibly an affectionate homage to, and send-up of, ghost stories like Susan Hill’s ever popular The Wom
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,
Five shows to see at the Floral Pavilion in 2026
Theatre audiences and fans of live performance are in for a treat all over Merseyside during 2026 – including at the Floral Pavilion. The New Brighton venue has lined up a programme of music, comedy, cabaret, children’s shows and drama for audiences to enjoy, including a return for acclaimed new Country musical Under the Mersey Moon and the unmissable Something About George which pays homage to the late, great George Harrison. Meanwhile there are plenty of other touring treat
Britannia Waves the Rules returns to Hope Street
A powerful and poignant play which takes an unflinching look at the challenges faced by working-class young men in Britain today is set to return to the Hope Street Theatre this month. Playwright Gareth Farr’s Britannia Waves the Rules received acclaim when it was staged at the venue last autumn. Now Wirral’s Off the Ground Theatre, which presented the original production, is bringing it back for three nights only, from January 14-16. Carl Jackson is a young man from Blackpoo
Michael D Xavier on Poppins to Pie Jesu ahead of Liverpool Empire debut
He’s been in some of the biggest shows on both sides of the Atlantic – but for Michael D Xavier, his latest role takes him right back to the earliest years of his stellar stage career. In 2003, while he was playing the lovelorn young Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, he spotted a poster inviting people to take part in a reading for a new musical. “It’s more than 20 years ago now, so my memory is a bit vague, but I don’t believe they told us
Kirkby Ski Slope inspires new Royal Court comedy
The real-life story of the infamous Kirkby Ski Slope has inspired a new comedy coming to the Liverpool Royal Court stage next summer. Liverpool playwright Kieran Lynn has written Taking the Piste which will be staged at the Roe Street theatre from June 19 to July 18, 2026. Donald Storm is head of Kirkby Council, and he’s got an eye on creating a new destination for tourists from around the world. And if he can make a few bob in the process, so much the better. Together with h
Liverpool date for The Silence of the Lambs
Crack out the fava beans and pour yourself a nice Chianti – The Silence of the Lambs is springing off the page (and screen) and on to the stage and heading for Liverpool as part of an inaugural UK tour. The world premiere live production of the chilling psychological thriller by Thomas Harris, which was turned into an acclaimed film in 1991 starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, will come to the Liverpool Empire in June 2027. When FBI trainee Clarice Starling is sent
Letter to Brezhnev world premiere at Liverpool's Royal Court in 2026
A new stage version of much-loved Liverpool-based film Letter to Brezhnev will be given its world premiere at the city’s Royal Court next autumn. Frank Clarke, who wrote the screenplay for the 1985 classic, is creating a bespoke new production which will be staged at the Roe Street theatre from September 11 to October 10. Theresa and Elaine are young, beautiful and full of life. But they don’t think that will last long, because it’s 1985 and this is Kirby. Sergei and Peter ar
Paul Nicholas on his Major role at the Liverpool Empire
When Fawlty Towers was first broadcast in the 1970s, the series attracted millions of TV viewers. But it turns out Paul Nicholas wasn’t one of them. Because 50 years ago, the actor and singer was busy building a career on stage and screen and tended to find himself otherwise occupied at night. “I caught bits of it,” he explains, “but I was working a lot of the time, and it was pre being able to record programmes.” So when the he was asked if he was interested in playing the M
Review: Little Women at the Liverpool Playhouse ****
Those Little Women have been on a big journey over the course of 2025 with this sprightly new production of the classic coming-of-age tale crisscrossing the UK. But it’s apt the tour of a story which opens amid the brutal upheaval of the American Civil War should finish here in Liverpool, and in this week too. While it officially ended six months earlier, the American Civil War finally concluded on November 6, 1865, when Captain James Waddell sailed up the Mersey in the CSS S
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