Culture Guides
Destination Guides
Happening this weekend – check out The Ministry of Lost & Found at Manchester’s Central Library for free family-friendly theatre fun. Pack a picnic, pick up your map and join the expedition!
Catch Where We Are at HOME next week for a celebration of Mancunian theatrical goodness. Two Manchester based theatre companies. Two performances to celebrate Manchester.
Summer is here and performance is spilling out from the traditional theatre settings. Check out our recommendations for off-site performances. Our picks include: Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre and childhood classic Gulliver’s Travels in Queens Park, Bolton.
Waterside Arts Centre’s REFRACT:18 Festival kicks off this July, with an unmissable blend of experiential performance, music and events for all ages.
We recommend booking early for The Fishermen at HOME, Queens of the Coal Age at the Royal Exchange and Anna Jordan’s new play – The Unreturning at Liverpool’s Everyman.
Read on for more of our top recommendations for performance in the north.
Here are our picks
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1. Rails at Theatre by the Lake
Theatre by the Lake Rails at Theatre by the Lake, Carlisle and Keswick, 24 May–27 October 2018, from £12.50 - Book now
Shortlisted for the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, Rails is a play about loneliness, dreaming and trying to hope in a town that doesn’t seem to want you to.
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2. The Big I Am at Liverpool Everyman
Liverpool Everyman The Big I Am at Liverpool Everyman Theatre, City Centre, 16 June–14 July 2018, from £10.00 - Book now
A world premiere re-imagining of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, relocated to 20th Century Liverpool by writer Robert Farquhar.
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3. Where We Are at HOME
Where We Are at HOME Manchester, Manchester, 27–28 June 2018, from £15.00 - Book now
HOME welcomes you to a double-bill performance from two of Manchester’s most exciting theatre companies, exploring our city and its people.
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4. Queens Of The Coal Age at the Royal Exchange Theatre
Royal Exchange Theatre Queens Of The Coal Age at Royal Exchange Theatre, City Centre, 28 June–21 July 2018, from £17.00 - Book now
Bryony Shanahan steps up to direct Maxine Peake’s Queens of the Coal Age as the Royal Exchange’s new Associate Artistic Director.
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5. A Fortunate Man at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Julian Hughes A Fortunate Man at Manchester University Hospitals NHS, Manchester, 2–3 July 2018, from £0.00 - Book now
In the 70th year of the NHS, New Perspectives collaborate with theatre-maker Michael Pinchbeck to explore the role of an NHS doctor from 1967 through to the present day.
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6. Much Ado About Nothing at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Storyhouse Much Ado About Nothing at Grosvenor Park, 6 July–25 August 2018, from £22.50 - Book now
Is it love, or is it hate? Shakespeare’s comedy of merriment, wooing and winning of hearts, returns to Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre this summer.
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7. The Fishermen at HOME
The Fishermen at HOME Manchester, Manchester, 19–28 July 2018, from £10.00 - Book now
Illuminating Nigeria in all of its political, historical and cultural complexity, The Fishermen is a powerful allegory of love, vengeance and fate. Based on the Man Booker-shortlisted novel by Chigozie Obioma.
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8. REFRACT:18 at Waterside Arts
REFRACT:18 at Waterside Arts Centre, Manchester, 19–28 July 2018 - Book now
Curated by Waterside Arts, Refract:18 is a unique ten-day festival of experiential performance, comedy, live music and family events that challenge you to see things differently.
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9. Gulliver’s Travels at Queens Park Bolton
Bolton Octagon -
10. Everything that happened and would happen at Mayfield
Killa Schuetze -
11. The Unreturning at Liverpool Everyman
Liverpool Everyman The Unreturning at Liverpool Everyman Theatre, City Centre, 16–20 October 2018, from £10.00 - Book now
Written by Bruntwood Prize-winner Anna Jordan, The Unreturning tells the interwoven stories of three men coming home from war.
More in Theatre
Contact Young Company + Hetain Patel: Oh Man at Contact
Get comfy as Contact’s bold, young artists explore what it means to be a man. This event takes place at a secret location which has yet to be announced.
Contact In The City Part Two
Contact announces In The City Part Two – its radical city-wide programme of performance during the buildings exciting transformation.
CONTACT at STUN Studio, Z-Arts
Contact will be taking over STUN Studio at Z-Arts for two weeks of established and new commissions.
Keisha Thompson: Man On The Moon at the STUN Studio, Z-Arts
The award-winning Man on the Moon is a journey through space and time, fuelled by love, fear and Afro-futurism.
Nima Sene: Beige B*tch at the STUN Studio, Z-Arts
A cultural realness blitzkrieg –flawless Beige B*tch tackles imperfection in the era of the image.
The Lovely Bones at Liverpool Everyman
Capturing the hearts of readers throughout the world, The Lovely Bones is a unique coming-of-age tale which has now been adapted for the stage by the award-winning playwright Bryony Lavery.
Chameleon Youth Free Tasters at Central Library
Chameleon Youth, part of Company Chameleon, is calling out for new members for 2018-19. If you’re aged 11 to 21, this is an incredible opportunity to be part of a cutting-edge home-grown dance company.
Chameleon Youth Free Taster Sessions
Chameleon Youth, part of Company Chameleon, is calling out for new members for 2018-19. If you’re aged 11 to 21, this is an incredible opportunity to be part of a cutting-edge home-grown dance company.
Chameleon Youth Free Tasters at Central Library
Chameleon Youth, Manchester’s youth dance company, is calling out for new members for 2018-19! If you’re aged 11 to 21, this is an incredible opportunity to be part of a dance company that is inspiring and different to the mainstream.
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