Shows to enjoy at Liverpool theatres in July

It may be the summer months, but theatres rarely go completely dark any more and there’s still plenty to enjoy on stage in the city throughout July.

Over at the Everyman, YEP (Young Everyman Playhouse) is presenting its own version of the Jekyll and Hyde story, radically reimagined by Evan Placey for the digital age.

The story of ambition, addiction and the monsters we hide (online and ‘IRL’) runs from July 2-4 at the Hope Street theatre.

Meanwhile roll up roll up, the Empire is welcoming a ‘spectacular spectacular’ with the arrival of the much-anticipated touring production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical which takes over the Lime Street landmark from July 2 to August 8.

More than 70,000 tickets have already been sold to theatregoers from 30 countries for this highlight of the year, bringing Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film to the stage in a ‘musical mash-up extravaganza’ – and Empire bosses are expecting the number to exceed 100,000 by the end of its run.

Down the road at the Royal Court, Kieran Lynn’s Kirkby ski slope satire Taking the Piste continues its run until July 18. You can read a review of the show based on the incredible real life story of the ill-fated municipal project HERE

Brexitus Nexitus, at the Hope Street Theatre from July 2-4, is a comedy which examines whether Britain should have dropped out of the Roman Empire many, many years ago.

The Unity’s busy programme opens with A Verse for…Yesterday, running on July 2-4 and presented by RAWD, Tip Tray Theatre and the Unity. Step into the minds of 20 disabled artists as they explore childhood, growing up and the disabled experience through poetry.

Part of the Watching Windows trilogy, Near Miss – at the Unity on July 8-9 – is set in the cool and chaos of Noughties Liverpool where “the backdrop of frenzied fake optimism and fantasy can’t last”.

Rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester is at the heart of Nicky Allt’s Two Cities Half a World Away which comes to the Epstein Theatre from July 8-11. Can two footie fans, one Liverpudlian, one Mancunian, find common ground in one tiny police cell?

Wow! That’s What I Call Musicals takes over the Playhouse stage on July 11, promising a powerhouse cast, show-stopping anthems, breathtaking vocals and electrifying choreography.

Then Luke Barnes’ play No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution comes to the Unity stage for one night only on July 15, exploring ideas of class, social mobility and identity.

Woolton Drama Group takes over the Hope Street Theatre from July 16-18 with Agatha Christie’s chilling whodunit And Then There Were None.

Check out a script in hand reading of Chrissy Jones’s cross-continental comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights in the Royal Court Studio on July 18.

Naughty Corner Productions takes over the Epstein for three nights from July 20-22 with ‘Naughty Corner Recommends’, showcasing three shows on successive nights from exceptional companies and performers.

20 Stories High brings a new hip hop youth show to the Unity from July 23-25. In Pressure, a group of young people navigate the expectations placed on them by family, friends, social media and society itself.

Also on July 25, the Hope Street Theatre is the venue for Little Deaths, with fractured memories of a young woman’s first love that becomes a devastating story of coercive control.

The Epstein hosts Sass Jones’s A Curtain Calls on July 29-30, described as a ‘love letter the theatre and the lives lived in the spotlight’.

And then finally, on July 31, there’s the first chance to see Adam McCoy’s new comedy Take Me Home County Road at the Royal Court, which then runs at the Roe Street Theatre throughout August.

More details and tickets for all shows on the theatres’ individual websites.

Top: Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Photo by Johan Persson.