Community Post Type: News

Applications are open for Tmesis Theatre’s Autumn Wicked Women Creative Development Course. The course is for women/ female identifying creatives of any age + 18, working in any art form who are based in Liverpool City Region.

It is a FREE 3-month weekly course, run by Elinor Randle and Stephanie Greer, designed to help creatives find pathways into the creative industries, gain confidence, share ideas, build skills, networks and develop themselves as a creative business with specialist mentoring and guest creatives.

Their previous courses have been hugely beneficial to participants who have remained a supportive network to each other.

Apply by 8th September

More info and how to apply here: https://www.tmesistheatre.com/physical-theatre-workshops-tmesis-theatre/wicked-women-creative-development-for-young-women/

The Capstone Theatre in Liverpool have announced a packed autumn season of music, theatre and poetry.

The season kicks off with two shows that are a part of BlackFest, Liverpool’s own multi-venue grassroots Black Arts festival. On 3rd October there will be a night of powerful spoken word as a range of local poets and wordsmiths bring their views and experiences to life.

The show will feature Dionne Simpson, Janoma Omena and Sabiya; artists whose work uses dark, witty, cynical and sometimes morbid humour and covers themes of abuse, race, culture and identity.

Then on 11th October, The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Festival will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Black British composer with a participatory concert and an acclaimed one-man show from Tayo Aluko.

The Hope Metropolitan Singers return to the Capstone on 18th October with Amazing Grace, a performance featuring music from three different continents. The concert celebrating Black History Month will also serve as a memorial to one of the group’s most long-standing members Mark Julius.

As a follow-up showcase to the Liverpool International Jazz Festival, a triple-bill showcase concert will take place on 19th October and will take the form of a free admission Sunday afternoon event featuring three exciting groups of musicians based in the North West, each of whom will present a short set of unique and inspired music.

On 29th October, Troubled Waters will see a vibrant new tapestry of transporting tales winding through stories that have shaped humanity’s relationship with rivers. Storyteller Corinne Harragin, who has been touring the UK for the last 10 years, uses physicality and humour to tell stories that re-centre marginalised voices and silenced histories, bringing fresh questions to ancient myths and folktales for adult audiences.

Levitation ’25 on 1st November will see the annual Castles in Space festival of electronic music, featuring the best proponents of the genre, brought together in the Capstone with exclusive merch only available on the day. This year’s stellar line-up includes Lo Five, Jo Johnson, Loula Yorke, Pulselovers, Field Lines Cartographer, James Adrian Brown, and Stone Anthem.

A prog rock double bill on 14th November will see EBB – voted Prog Magazine’s Best New Band 2023 – and the acclaimed John Hackett Band take to the Capstone stage before the genre-defying Yuval Ron Trio showcase their virtuosic performance of various compelling and colourful compositions the following night on 15th November.

The Hope Metropolitan Orchestra will celebrate arguably the most influential musician of all time, in Beethoven The Master on November 15th. The concert will be the first of many from the orchestra that build towards the composer’s bi-centenary in 2027.

Closing the eclectic season will be enigmatic musician Craven Faults who creates epic modular synth homages to the dark, post-industral moorland that surrounds him. He brings his unique sound to the venue on 28th November in a show inspired by half-remembered journeys across post-industrial Yorkshire.

More details on The Capstone Theatre’s autumns season along with booking links for all shows can be found at capstone.hope.ac.uk.

Riding the wave of their triumphant return to the fields of a sold-out Cropredy Convention, legendary British Folk-Rockers – Fairport Convention – are now busy gearing up for their 2025 autumn tour. 

Fresh off the back of two classic performances at Cropredy – both opening and closing the festival that has become the highlight of their dedicated fanbase’s year – the band that pioneered British Folk Rock will take in 23 dates across England, Scotland and Wales before rounding things off in suitable style at The Tung Auditorium in Liverpool on November 2nd.

Sun, 2nd Nov 2025
The Tung Auditorium, Liverpool – TICKETS

New Adventures make a welcome return to Liverpool to perform world famous choreographer Matthew Bourne’s award-winning The Midnight Bell, bringing intoxicated tales from darkest Soho to the Playhouse from Tuesday 16 to Saturday 20 September.

Liverpool audiences have long embraced Bourne’s distinctive storytelling. After their sold-out run of Swan Lake at the Liverpool Empire Theatre earlier this year, The Midnight Bell is set to be another highlight. Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell is inspired by the work of the great English novelist Patrick Hamilton (Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Hangover Square) who created some of the most authentic fiction of his era; stories borne out of years of social interactions with the working man and woman at his favourite location – the London Pub.

The cast features fourteen of New Adventures’ finest leading actor/dancers.  They are Cordelia Braithwaite, Reece Causton, Glenn Graham, Daisy May Kemp, Hannah Kremer, Michela Meazza, Andy Monaghan, Liam Mower, Dominic North, Bryony Pennington, Edwin Ray, Danny Reubens, Ashley Shaw and Alan Vincent.

For nearly 30 years these dancers have between them performed leading roles to critical acclaim in every production in Matthew Bourne’s repertoire, in the UK and internationally.

Director, Deviser and Choreographer Matthew Bourne said :

“This is, without doubt, the finest company of quintessential New Adventures actor/dancers ever assembled for a single production! Together they represent nearly 30 years of critically acclaimed performances and created roles in my work. In fact, it would be hard to imagine a cast more perfectly suited to the challenging world of Patrick Hamilton and his exploration of the darker reaches of the human heart. I urge you not to miss this never to be repeated opportunity to join us for an evening at The Midnight Bell and raise a glass to the very best that New Adventures has to offer.”

The Midnight Bell premiered to great acclaim in 2021 and received five nominations at the 2022 National Dance Awards, with Matthew Bourne winning the award for Best Modern Choreography and Michela Meazza for Outstanding Female Modern Performance.

Set and costume design is by Liverpool-born Lez Brotherston (The Red Shoes, Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands, Swan Lake), who began his career at the Playhouse Youth Theatre. Music is by Olivier Award-winner Terry Davies (Play Without Words). Lighting design is by Paule Constable, a two-time Tony Award winner for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse. Sound design is by Paul Groothuis (Nutcracker!, Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands).

In 1930s London ordinary people emerge from cheap boarding houses nightly to pour out their passions, hopes and dreams in the pubs and fog-bound streets of Soho and Fitzrovia. Step inside The Midnight Bell, a tavern where one particular lonely-hearts club gather to play out their lovelorn affairs of the heart; bitter comedies of longing, frustration, betrayal and redemption.

There’s an audio-described performance on Friday 19 September at 7.30pm. A post-show discussion with Director, Deviser and Choreographer Matthew Bourne, hosted by the theatre’s Creative Director Nathan Powell, will take place after the performance on Tuesday 16 September. It is free to attend with a ticket for that evening’s show and the post-show discussion will be British Sign Language interpreted.

Tickets are priced from £12 to £47 and are available at www.everymanplayhouse.com/event/matthew-bournes-the-midnight-bell/

The countdown begins… It’s less than 100 days until Liverpool Everyman twist and sprout with Jack and the Beanstalk in this year’s legendary Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto.

So grab your gang and book your festive night out now! 🌈⁠
⁠
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto 2025: Jack and the Beanstalk⁠
15 Nov 2025 – 17 Jan 2026 📍Liverpool Everyman⁠

Find terror and pleasure in equal measure as Picturehouse presents the best from cinema’s unparalleled Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.

Join FACT this autumn for a reDiscover season of his greatest mysteries to grace the big screen!

🛩️ North by Northwest
💍 Rebecca
🔎 The 39 Steps
🚂 Strangers on a Train
🎇 Sabotage
🌉 Vertigo
👔 Frenzy
🐦 The Birds
🔪 Psycho
🔭 Rear Window

📅 This September + October
🎟️ picturehouses.com/hitchcock

The Tung Auditorium will be one of the British Science Festival venues this October . They will host four FREE events on Thursday 11 September:

🕕 12pm
🎮 Game on, snack more

🕑 2pm
⚛️ Universal secrets: Unpacking particle physics

🕕 6pm
💥 The greatest science demonstrations, ever!

🕗 8pm
🏃‍♀️ Peak performance: 50 years of sports science

There’s many more exciting events planned across the city as part of the festival from 10-14 September, presented by the British Science Association in partnership with LJMU and Liverpool University

For more info and to book visit here

Radical Retrospectives Festival is coming this autumn!

This September and October, they’re marking 21 years of Collective Encounters with a mini festival of bold ideas, unheard stories and artistic provocation, all rooted in the grassroots culture of Liverpool City Region.

Expect dynamic Open Space events, powerful exhibitions, a digital showcase from young people, a glittering cabaret and the launch of our online archive. It’s a chance to celebrate our past, confront our present and imagine the future together.

🎟 Full programme announcement very soon.
📅 September – October 2025
📍 Liverpool City Region

Walker Art Gallery has acquired a painting in 2025 by Marie Bracquemond (1840-1916) through the generous support of The Rick Mather David Scrase Foundation. La pêche aux écrevisses (Crayfish fishing), painted about 1870-1880, represents the first painting by Marie Bracquemond to enter a public collection in the UK.

Marie Bracquemond was one of only three women who participated in the original Impressionist exhibitions, alongside Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot. Art critic Gustave Geffroy famously described these artists as “les trois grandes dames” (the three great ladies) of Impressionism in 1894. The acquisition reinforces the Walker’s reputation as a gallery which has historically celebrated women artists and ensures that the stories of pioneering women artists continue to be told.

In her early career, Bracquemond exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon and studied art under the Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. She later became a copyist at the Louvre where she met Félix Bracquemond, a painter and engraver, whom she married in 1869. Between 1877 and 1880, under the influence of Impressionism, Marie Bracquemond’s style shifted from traditional, academic painting. She became intrigued by colour and began to work “en plein air” (outdoors). Bracquemond exhibited in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1879, 1880, and 1886, at the invitation of Edgar Degas. Her husband, Félix, strongly opposed her move towards Impressionism. According to their son, Pierre, Félix was jealous of his wife, and his harsh criticism eventually led Marie to abandon her professional painting career in 1890.

La pêche aux écrevisses demonstrates Bracquemond’s delicate and skilful handling of paint. The charming subject matter shows a young woman fishing for a crayfish, with children playing in the background. It reflects the Impressionist interest in capturing everyday scenes, particularly outdoors. In typical Impressionist style, the quick brushwork creates a sense of movement, particularly through the woman’s flowing hat band, the water dripping from the crayfish, and the frolicking children. Bracquemond was also fascinated by white and how sunlight interacted with it outdoors. This can be seen here in the dappled treatment of the woman’s pale dress.

Kate O’Donoghue, Curator of International Fine Art at National Museums Liverpool, said:

“This acquisition represents a significant moment for Walker Art Gallery and for the recognition of women artists associated with the Impressionist movement. Marie Bracquemond was one of only three women who exhibited in the original Impressionist exhibitions, yet her promising career was cut short due to her husband’s disapproval.

“We are proud to bring Bracquemond’s work to our visitors as the first UK public collection to acquire one of her paintings. We are extremely grateful to the Rick Mather David Scrase Foundation for their generosity and for helping to continue the Walker’s tradition of championing women artists whose stories deserve to be told.”

Walker Art Gallery holds an outstanding collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, which includes works by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse. The gallery’s Impressionist collection has benefitted from other significant acquisitions in recent years, including Claude Monet’s L’Epte à Giverny and Edgar Degas’s pastel, Modiste garnissant un chapeau in 2024. This is the first work by a woman associated with the original French Impressionist movement to enter the Walker’s collection.

La pêche aux écrevisses is now on display in Room 9 at Walker Art Gallery.

Admission is free, with donations welcome.