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11 shows to catch in Liverpool this autumn
The summer may still be at its height but given how fast June and July have sped past it won’t be long until the autumn theatre season is upon us. And there is a packed programme of treats at Liverpool’s many venues this year. From big budget musicals to intimate dramas, high comedy to high tragedy, local stories to international tales, and classic texts to thought-provoking new work, there’s plenty for lovers of live theatre to choose from between September and Christmas. Se
Theatre
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
Lennon and Epstein relationship explored in new play
The relationship between John Lennon and Beatles manager Brian Epstein is explored in a new play being staged in Liverpool to coincide with International Beatle Week next month. Of All These Friends and Lovers is at the Hope Street Theatre between August 25-29. The show comes from the city’s Old Fruit Jar Productions whose previous acclaimed productions include The Incident Room and It’s a Wonderful Life and is presented in association with the Hope Street Theatre. It is writ
Review: No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution at the Unity Theatre ****
Liverpool playwright Luke Barnes’ No One Will Tell me How to Start a Revolution is a furious and often intensely funny exploration of working-class identity, social (im)mobility, class prejudice and quashed potential. It started life almost a decade ago in the leafy and decidedly middle-class north London enclave of Hampstead. And while the theatre there has a longstanding reputation as a bastion of new writing, this latest incarnation (one night only - but with the hope of a
Review: Near Miss at the Unity Theatre ****
The Unity is currently celebrating its rich cultural and political heritage. But while looking back, it’s worth noting it’s the ongoing commitment to supporting and nurturing new writing which remains central to its programme in the here and now. This includes Near Miss, the second in the ‘Watching Windows’ trilogy of semi-autobiographical works by Liverpool teacher, actor, director and latterly playwright Helena Rand. The first, Rotten Apple, a story of love, ambition and a
Review: Moulin Rouge! the Musical at the Liverpool Empire ****
Time flies and it’s somehow now a quarter of a century since Ewan McGregor’s Christian met Nicole Kidman’s Satine at the Moulin Rouge. It seems though that truth, beauty, freedom and love don’t have a shelf life, certainly if the reported ticket sales for Moulin Rouge! The Musical, the Empire’s glitzy summer blockbuster offering, are anything to go by. The stage musical, which started its life over the pond eight years ago where it gathered armfuls of awards, takes Baz Luhrma
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
Dinnerladies dishing up big laughs at the Liverpool Empire in 2027
Victoria Wood’s dinnerladies are on their way to the Liverpool Empire as part of a new stage adaptation of the much-loved TV sitcom. The show will be cooking up a storm at the Lime Street theatre from July 13-17 next year. Tickets go on general sale this Friday, July 3 at 10am. The new touring stage adaptation - commissioned by the Victoria Wood Estate, written by Beth and Emma Kilcoyne and directed by Sean Foley - will feature the original TV characters in a storyline inspir
Review: Tangfastic at the Hope Street Theatre ***
The Hope Street Theatre has proved a real asset to the city’s live performance scene since it opened, offering a versatile space for smaller companies and rising talent to showcase work (and work in progress) which previously found a home at places like the Lantern or Liverpool Actor’s Studio. Work like Tangfastic, an audaciously unpredictable and provocatively lairy black comedy penned by 2024 LIPA graduates Rio Star and Juliette Collins. The duo previously appeared together
Review: Taking the Piste at Liverpool's Royal Court ***1/2
On paper, the story of the Kirkby Ski Slope seems wildly improbable – so wild indeed that even those folk at the Royal Court, where no plotline is too outlandish, reportedly thought playwright Kieran Lynn had jumped the shark. But this is no fictional tale of council corruption and ineptitude, it actually happened. Perhaps it’s only really surprising that it’s taken half-a-century for someone to turn it into a piece of entertainment. Taking the Piste (not to be confused with
Letter to Brezhnev cast announced by Liverpool's Royal Court
Angela Simms and Ellie Clayton are set to play friends Teresa and Elaine when Letter to Brezhnev is staged at Liverpool’s Royal Court this autumn. Cinema's much-loved 1980s Liverpool-set love story is coming to the stage in an adaptation by its original screenwriter Frank Clarke. It will be premiered at the Roe Street theatre from September 11 to October 17. The cast also includes Liam Powell-Berry as Sergei, Thomas Cotran as Peter, with Michelle Butterly, Dominic Carter, Reg
Liverpool dates for Sam Ryder in Jesus Christ Superstar
Eurovision star Sam Ryder is set to return to the stage in 2027 reprising his acclaimed performance in Jesus Christ Superstar on tour - with dates confirmed in Liverpool. The UK tour of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash hit sung-through rock opera is set to visit the Liverpool Empire from September 21 to October 2, 2027. Tickets go on general sale this Wednesday, June 24 at 10am. Originally released as an album, Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway in 1971, where
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
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