Uncover - Uncover Liverpool

By Ade Blackburn

This month includes a host of inspiring festivals and autumn events to explore.

1. Black History Month

Black History Month returns with a range of events and activities across Merseyside. The festival includes Museum of Liverpool workshops devoted to Inspirational Black Scousers and a commemoration of the L8 uprising in 1981.

A highlight of this year’s BHM is Everyman Theatre’s My White Best Friend – North. Northern artists were invited to write personal letters exploring issues around race. The letters will be read by actors live for the first time on the night.

1-31 October, various venues and online.

2. Stick Man

Touching and funny, Freckle Productions’ delightful adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Stick Man is heading to Liverpool’s Playhouse Theatre.

This award-winning production, from the team behind Zog and Tiddler and other Terrific Tales, features a trio of top actors and is packed full of puppetry, songs, live music and funky moves.

Liverpool Playhouse, 26-27 October, various times.

3. Liverpool Irish Festival

Join Liverpool Irish Festival for ten days of arts and cultural activities celebrating Liverpool’s links with Ireland.

Expect music and song, food and film, talks, theatre and much more. There will be a chance to join in with ceílís and comedy nights, traditional music seisiuns and poetry events.

The festival also features a new piece of music theatre by renowned composer Maz O’Connor, exploring Irish folklore and superstitions.

Head along for a packed festival of family fun.

21-31 October, various venues and online.

4. Homotopia Festival

The UK’s longest running LGBTQIA arts and culture festival, Homotopia Festival, is back. After months of being stuck at home, this year’s festival theme is Coming Out. And for those who aren’t ready to Come Out, they’ve got some fabulous digital content on offer too.

A festival highlight is international cabaret and drag artist Peter Groom’s ‘Dietrich: Live in Liverpool’ – a glittering, poignant and uplifting audience with icon, Marlene Dietrich, in the stunning St George’s Hall.

This year’s festival also features a new exhibition by celebrated artist Christian Asare and Homotopia’s Artist in Residence for 2021 is actor and writer Jade Anouka.

28 October – 14 November, various venues and online.

5. Gustavo The Shy Ghost

The Storybarn are featuring the vibrant and light-hearted book Gustavo The Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago,  this October Half Term.

Head along and meet Gustavo a multi-talented ghost with a big heart and a love a music! The only thing is he is a bit shy and has gone missing.  Help find Gustavo and give him the courage to put on his very first concert.

They will create shadow puppets, learn about the day of the dead, read stories and have a spooktacular time!

The Storybarn, 22-31 October, various times.

For more events check out our What’s On section.

By Ade Blackburn

As we head into autumn, there are a host of new events to look forward to and keep you entertained.

1. Wirral Open Studio Tour 2021

The popular Wirral Open Studio Tour is set to return on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September.

Now in its eleventh year celebrating visual arts across the peninsula, this free event will see around 70 artists and makers open the doors to their houses or studio spaces.

The Tour gives visitors an exciting opportunity to talk first-hand to the artists and to view their work in the environment it was created, or to just enjoy wandering through the various studios to answer the eternal question ‘What do artists do all day?’.

Various venues, 11/12 September, 10am-5pm, free.

2. Positive Vibration Reggae Festival

The UK’s award-winning celebration of reggae music and Jamaican culture, Positive Vibration Festival, returns to the Baltic Triangle 10th and 11th of September.

Since its inception in 2016, Positive Vibration Festival of Reggae has established itself as one of the country’s most exciting and eclectic reggae festivals, playing host to internationally renowned bands, legendary sound systems and some of the brightest new talent.

The line-up includes: The Twinkle Brothers, Mad Professor Ft. Sister Aisha and Benjamin Zephaniah & The Revolutionary Minds.

Baltic Triangle, 10/11 September, 12noon-late.

3. Uncertain Data

How do our feelings, emotions and reactions affect how we experience the world? Uncertain Data brings together four artists in residence at FACT, whose work exposes the complex layers of data that govern us, and questions the trust we place in it.

The four newly commissioned artworks invite us to journey through the depths of the ocean by controlling our emotions in an interactive VR work.

Uncover hard facts and data to reveal the human stories beneath them – exposing the uncertainty our world is built on.

FACT, 15 September – 3 October, 12-6pm, Wednesday-Sunday, free.

4. Something About George

Where does life take you after being in the greatest band in the history of the world? Something About George answers that question and follows George Harrison’s post-Beatles career.

Featuring beautiful songs like My Sweet Lord, Something, and Handle With Care, the show also includes Harrison’s incredible solo material and music from rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys.

The show is part of the excellent Liverpool Theatre Festival.

St Luke’s ‘Bombed-Out’ Church, 12 September, 5pm and 8pm.

5. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

In their first ever tour as a duo, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis head to Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, following the release of their acclaimed album CARNAGE.

While they have composed and recorded soundtracks together, and Ellis is a long-term member of The Bad Seeds, CARNAGE is their first entire album of songs.

Cave and Ellis’ creative chemistry comes from their long history of music making, both as collaborators and as individual artists.

Philharmonic Hall, 27 September, 8pm.