Event type: Comedy

I Am Steven Gerrard at The Epstein Theatre

‘I know that it does sound weird to say, yeah? But I proper envy Steven Gerrard. You know, the football player?’

It’s Liverpool. The Champion’s League Final in Istanbul was 13 years ago. The buzz is still rife. The obsession is still real. Steven Gerrard has left Liverpool Football Club, but his legacy keeps on growing; a legacy that Shane wants to embody and emulate. Though Shane shares an ambition no different to many of those around him, it soon transpires that he yearns for something far beyond football. And in a city where ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ is the mantra, why does Shane constantly feel like he’s the only one on the sideline?

Shane is back home to see his dad for the first time in three years. To heal old wounds. To attempt to find his place in a world that he has never felt a part of. To get answers. What secrets will come to light? And who will they come from? Could these revelations have saved everyone from heartache?

Following sell-out runs at The Hope Street Theatre and Liverpool’s Royal Court, Tip Tray Theatre presents I Am Steven Gerrard, a story of football, aspiration, music, Steven Gerrard, loneliness, reality television, love, religion, friends, loss, passion, enemies, Davina McCall, politics, ambition, family, virginity, past generations – and the impact they leave behind. 

Written by Sean McLoughlin, directed by Amy Roberts and starring Joe Cowin, it explores the complexities of masculinity, and what it means to be a real man in society today.

It has nothing to do with football. It has everything to do with football.

 

Josie Long: Now is the Time of Monsters

A new show about extinct gigantic, charismatic, megafauna from 3-time Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominated Comedian, and very good comedian Josie Long.

In these troubled times, in this wicked world, it can feel like apocalypse is everywhere but did you know 11,000 years ago there were some really big armadillos? I’m talking about as big as a car. Really big. And they were vege-tarian so don’t even worry about them. Also my daughter has a hamster and I’m not saying dis-tract yourself from everything, but I’m saying he’s also part of everything. Josie is back with a new show about discovery, wonder, extinction and how to walk through a landscape of monstrous disaster. There is also a good tip about silt, guaranteed.

josielong.com

Joel Dommett: Happy Idiot

 

Joel returns to his stand-up roots with a brand-new show.

 

 

With glamorous tales from behind the camera and less glamorous anecdotes of first-time fatherhood, Joel remains a charming, exhausted, happy idiot.

As one of the nation’s most familiar faces on television, Joel has established himself as one of the UK’s most trusted and beloved presenters and a firm favourite in UK households.

As presenter of Saturday night smash-hit The Masked Singer, ITV2’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here: Extra Camp, BBC’s reboot of Survivor, the hugely popular quiz show In With A Shout and the front man of the National Television Awards, Joel has also hosted BBC’s Live at the Apollo and co-hosts hit podcast, Never Have I Ever with his wife, Hannah.

 

Mark Steel: The Leopard in My House

The Leopard in My House is proof that this leftie, working-class, Radio 4 favourite truly deserves his place in the UK comedy pantheon.

“The consultant had told me he was confident I had throat cancer that had spread into the lymph glands. Joyfully, I held his hand, and looked up to the heavens like a South American footballer after scoring a goal. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.”

Join multi award-winning, BAFTA-nominated writer and comedian Mark Steel for his new tour ‘The Leopard in My House’. The topic? His battle with throat cancer. A battle he is winning (thankfully) and which only his rapier wit could fashion a comedy tour show out of. Cancer has done nothing to dull Mark’s acute political observations or quash his “frankly bonkers” energy: you will laugh, you will cry, but you’ll laugh again, and again, and again.

Mark Steel is best known for his critically-acclaimed BBC Radio 4 show Mark Steel’s in Town (now in its 13th series), as well as his hit podcast What The F*** Is Going On…?. He has presented the BAFTA-nominated Mark Steel Lectures for BBC Two, and is a regular on BBC One’s Have I Got News for You and BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz. He has also written several acclaimed books, including an adaptation of his critically acclaimed stand-up show Who Do I Think I Am? for Audible.

George Lewis: The Best Thing You’ll Ever Do

Described as ‘the funniest dad on Instagram’, stand-up comedian George has racked up hundreds of millions of views for his hilarious online sketches about the big things in life, like owning an air fryer, watching a David Beckham documentary, and the excruciating experience of trying to do a jigsaw with your kid.

Now he’s bringing his brand new stand up show to the stage. It won’t just be about parenting though, because he has done loads this year. He’s bought a new hoover, watched some more stuff on Netflix… loads.

Between #makingmemories with his kids, George has also appeared on The Stand Up Sketch Show and Comedy Central Live, written a best selling book (Don’t Panic! All the stuff the expectant dad needs to know) and has supported Romesh Ranganathan, Tom Allen, Russell Kane and Josh Widdicombe on their national tours.

So, activate the parents’ whatsapp groups, dump the kids with whoever is willing to have them, and join George for a brilliant night out.

FRUIT SMOOTHIE

6:00pm
Got a craving for some Whose Line Is It Anyway style games, brought to you by everyday, fun-loving people from different parts of the northwest? Come in for some belly laughter, served extra fruity, extra sweet and extra fibrous by improv comedy troupe the Oickers!

The fourth wall won’t know what hit it, as audience suggestions are part of everything we make up–there will be singing, as an audience member will be serenaded, guessing games with the help of audience imagination. There will be a celebration of the wacky, pocketbook edition themes of life in all its hilarious banality!

See some crowd favourites, but also some Oicker originals–our Fruit Smoothie may not break any visionary records, but we have sweetness at our core, zest in our little steps, and a keen focus on what makes ordinary life extraordinary–so come and be a part of it for an hour!

 
The Team
Dave Hodgson

Iain Luke Jones

Liz Hardy

Michael Ananins

Sandra George

Sekki Tabasuares

Stuart Hughes

Wet Dream with Jesus | Unity Pride Series

6pm

Louisiana; home of Mardi Gras, southern hospitality, and purity culture. This autobiographical comedy explores Alice’s teenage upbringing in the thick of America’s Bible Belt. Discover her LGBTQ+ identity and experience the South beyond it’s cowboy boots!

Hold your beers tight as Alice plays 20+ characters with more flavour than a boilin’ pot of gumbo. Expect chameleon-like storytelling as Alice recounts events so shocking you won’t believe they’re real! Always wondered if American high school is really like the movies? Don’t be shy now – How much can happen to one queer high schooler swimming through a flood of southern gossip?

 

16+

The Horne Section’s Hit Show

 

They have two series of their own Channel 4 TV show, an iTunes-chart-topping podcast and now they’re tuning up their instruments once more to tour the country: it’s the Horne Section’s Hit Show!  

“Britain’s Funniest Band” (The Guardian) have made appearances on The Last Leg (Channel 4), Peter Crouch’s Year- Late Euros (BBC One), they are Dictionary Corner regulars on 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and the only band to ever host Never Mind The Buzzcocks.  Separately, members of The Horne Section have performed with recording artists including Robbie Williams, Madness, Florence and the Machine, Amy Winehouse, George Ezra, Basement Jaxx, Disclosure and Noel Gallagher’s High-Flying Birds.  

Unruly, ridiculous, and surprisingly satisfying, the six-headed comedy band includes five outstanding musicians and one non-musical stand-up. There’ll be comedy, songs, enthusiastic dancing, and a lot of mucking about. A brand-new show from the hugely talented band and Alex Horne, the creator and co-host of the BAFTA and National Comedy Award winning Taskmaster.  

 

Age guidance: 12+ (parental discretion advised) – U16s must be accompanied by an adult.This show may contain mild language and some adult references.

 

The South Liverpool Herbarium Exibition: A Collection of botanical prints

Come and enjoy the latest exhibition in the Unity bar space!
 

This exhibition of botanical prints was made by a process utilising the chemicals in leaves and flowers to create ethereal imprints. The work was produced in three workshops during May and June 2024 at Squash Grapes Community Garden, Granby Winter Garden and Growing Sudley walled garden. The workshops were delivered by Dr Sarah Haynes a researcher at Liverpool John Moores University to gather specimens for a contemporary herbarium, annotated with the thoughts, memories, folklore, recipes, botanical knowledge, and experience of the workshop’s participants. For more information see here: https://www.thevirtual-garden.com/herbarium This exhibition also features printed specimens from Sarah’s garden in Aigburth.

 

The project has been a collaboration between plant scientists, gardeners, herbalists, artists, and communities in Liverpool exploring the roots and branches of plant culture, gardening and plant chemistry. The project aims to connect people with their local environment, to ask questions and share knowledge about plants.

Super Connected

“Any piece of art should have the audience leave with more than they entered the room with. Super Connected definitely succeeds : it is a hugely significant piece of work, containing a vital message, carefully constructed and brilliantly performed. Outstanding”  – UK Fringe Review ★★★★  

Is it time to break up with our phones?  The stage adaptation of the critically acclaimed album by Tim Arnold, ‘Super Connected’ is an art rock Black Mirror-esque show fusing film, live music, and theatre about the ticking time bomb of social media, screen addiction and the impact of Big Tech’s power over human life. As the film rolls, Arnold performs his Silicon Valley-slamming songs on stage and screen. With the scale of Radiohead and panache of Bowie, Super Connected LIVE is a digital-age take on the silent movie. With narration by Stephen Fry. Full of wit, wisdom, and terror, the show tells the true story of a teenager battling screen addiction—and her family’s fight against it. Being pulled in and out of the screen by the attention-grabbing characters, Arnold grapples with what connection and intimacy mean in a digitally distracted world. PhoneFreeze! Lock your phones in our pouches, pocket them, and break free from the digital grind before the show! Join us after for our ‘Screenless Social’ to chat with each other and the creative team.  

TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_xV6CHx-WU Explore the album before you watch the show: https://superconnected.technology/the-album/ Follow Super Connected and Tim Arnold on Instagram: @superconnecteduk @timarnold Visit the official website: https://superconnected.technology/story/ Music taken from the album ‘Tim Arnold – Super Connected’ Written and performed by Tim Arnold Piano Sarah Kershaw   Film directed by Tim Arnold. Developed with, and directed by Kate Alderton Produced by Nim Arnold for The Tim Arnold Company  

“A lush, dynamic and dramatic piece about the enslavement and surveillance of our phone and computer screens” – Mojo ★★★★ 

“A mammoth triumph, through Tim Arnold’s immaculate songwriting and Kate Alderton’s superlative artistic stage direction. A reformation of the art of album-crafting” – Brighton and Hove News ★★★★  

“Super Connected is like a warning from the future… remarkably poignant, funny, ominous and heartrending” – R n R ★★★★