Our pick of the most interesting new theatre, from edgy festivals such as Manchester’s 24:7 and performance art to the new work being produced at Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse theatres. Dip into our theatre reviews, find out what’s going on in the world of performance via our theatre news or take an inside look at some of the historic venues that stud the cultural landscape of the north like particularly dramatic, darling stars in the night sky.
It’s an apt setting for an event that could be seance or exorcism, funeral mass or rallying cry
Shelley’s epic poem, written in the wake of the Peterloo Massacre, gets a theatrical airing in the place that inspired it. From the first, Manchester International Festival has made good on its ambition to produce…
It’s not a period piece. If it’s not relevant to now, what’s the point of putting it on now?
Olivier award-nominated actor Cush Jumbo talks to us about her role in Ibsen’s classic play – and her abiding affection for the Royal Exchange. It’s not uncommon to hear an actor gush about how “special”…
You’re never allowed to sit back and observe. Shock supplants laughter, and vice versa.
One of the 20th century’s greatest plays balances “shock and laughter, hilarity and heartbreak” 45 years on. After his script for a comedy about a couple caring for a physically disabled 10-year-old girl had been…
Action is spurred on by an audacious set: a stage on fire, the audience pelted with veg
The Royal Exchange debuts a new play – but don’t expect an easy ride of it. At just 25, Rory Mullarkey is the youngest ever dramatist to have a play produced on the Royal Exchange’s…
It’s a meditation on how things have changed – and how they haven’t at all
Wyllie Longmore’s play, Speak Of Me As I Am, pays tribute to a Shakespearean master. These days Wyllie Longmore might be a hugely respected actor, director and teacher, but when he first came from Jamaica…
I want to create something that's new, that’s of Manchester but international
As Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre Company prep for the opening of HOME, we speak to its incoming artistic director. Early next month, Walter Meierjohann arrives in Manchester direct from directing Salieri’s opera Falstaff in…
Watch this and leave with a different view of the city and the people who call it “home”
A sharply humorous play about homelessness finds an apt setting: a roofless church in Liverpool. It is easy to ignore the homeless. We all know it; we guiltily shuffle round the fact when faced with…
There’s much to celebrate, not least the fact that this amiable company is still here at all
Spike’s latest play, Sink or Swim, shows the Liverpool-based theatre company weathering the storm. Liverpool-based Spike Theatre marks its 15th anniversary this year with Sink or Swim, a new comedy about three men shipwrecked and…
The international performance artist makes a rare trip home and takes inspiration from family, community – & a crisis of faith. La John Joseph is the Merseyside-born, self-confessed “fallen Catholic”, an international performance artist whose…
Poet Roger McGough talks Molière and Saga cruises ahead of his new Liverpool Playhouse gig. Although he has just celebrated his 75th birthday, Roger McGough shows absolutely no sign of showing down. I recently enjoyed…
Ahead of a sell-out play at Contact Theatre, we discover what it means to be called a “queer artist” Move quickly and you might just grab the hottest theatre ticket in town: The Secret Diaries…
Manchester Theatre Awards kick-starts the cultural year with its shortlist announcement. There are few who’d argue with the idea theatre lovers in Manchester have never had it so good. From new playwrights and a whole…
Be the first to know about the latest events
creativetourist: @Dukestudioleeds @Colours_mayvary We'll get hounded out of town for merely suggesting it... :) # about 6 hours ago.
creativetourist: That's *lovely* MT @7streets: We've launched a print version of SevenStreets - The Almanac - out in Liverpool today http://t.co/V1yiovTfV7 # about 9 hours ago.
creativetourist: Happy birthday to ya: @tateliverpool turns 25 & we talk to one woman who's been there the whole time: http://t.co/89TMefu7Bc #TL25 # about 15 hours ago.