Event type: Theatre

7.30pm and 2pm

This year, RAWD members have joined forces with guest artists Tip Tray Theatre. Across three months of radical research, 60 disabled members from RAWD from Liverpool, Ellesmere Port and Chester have been dismantling and rebuilding poetry to find their own unique language, rhythm and expressions.

From the rehearsal rooms of Unity, Theatre Porto and Storyhouse, three distinct companies will create new works born out of the Write to Thrive project.

RAWD are proudly Associate Company in Residence at Unity hosting weekly sessions that work towards theatre productions. We believe creativity is a powerful vehicle for independence, confidence and expression – art is for everyone.

This year RAWD is celebrating its 15th Birthday by raising £15,000. For more information on RAWD and how to support please visit rawdproject.co.uk

7:30pm

The acclaimed series of work in progress nights at Unity continues into 2026 by popular demand with monthly instalments of never before seen work.

Over the last few years Unity has established itself as the go to venue for fresh, and innovative new work with a sell out series of work in progress evenings and unmissable variety nights.

 

The Line Up:

The Edge of Nothing

Work in progress – Fiona Scott (aka Sparrows Kneecaps)

Inspired by a shed, a garden and the odd wafting scarf…

A performer tries out different ways of playing Shakespeare’s Fools in search of that elusive breakthrough moment.

“When your mother is Dogberry and your father is Lear’s Fool… what hope was there?”

Then somewhere along the way, the Fools begin to answer back — carrying traces of music hall, vaudeville, and something passed down.

Developed through ongoing exploration with Nick Bagnall, with mentoring from Told by an Idiot.

Ernie 

By James Goodall

Following a tragic accident, Liverpool docker Ernie must decide between his health or job security in this heart-warming tale of pride, resilience and family. This one man mask show combines live foley, mime and music to transport us back to the 1960s to understand the harsh realities faced by the working man on the Liverpool docks.

Instagram: @talesfromaroundours

8:00pm

Hello Castaways! Imagine you’re shipwrecked on a desert island. What would be your ‘go-to’ song and your most treasured item? With these suggestions to inspire them, Absolute Onions will produce a fully improvised tale, drenched with drama, emotion, fun and laughter! So, let’s drift away on your ocean of dreams!

6:00pm

Tales from the Armchair – Aunt Batty Knows

Step into the unsettling and absurd world of Aunt Batty Knows… as they weave dark tales of supernatural suspense.

Tales from the Armchair is an all-woman longform show which draws its inspiration from 1970s and 1980s TV drama programmes such as Play for Today and Tales of the Unexpected. 

Everyday characters and situations meet a context of eerie surrealism where we wonder, is the uncanny in the mind, outside of the mind or perhaps both? 

“To learn what we fear is to learn who we are. Horror defies our boundaries and illuminates our souls.”

― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Shakespeare on the Spot – Stephen Longstaffe

The world clearly hasn’t enough Shakespeare, so this solo show improvises some more from audience suggestions. Your host (former university Shakespeare lecturer and current idiot) will transform whatever the Liverpool muses bring into new iambic speeches and dialogues by some of the bard’s most famous characters. It could get silly. No asps, daggers, or skulls are permitted in the venue, but feel free to bring another hitherto unknown Shakespeare prop along!

Life Happens! – AnneLiina & Quitar

Life is unpredictable — and that’s exactly where the magic begins. 

From Estonia’s kIMPROose collective, performers Anneli Kirotar, Liina Karro, and musician Maarius Pärn bring you Life Happens! — a spontaneous, heartfelt, and hilariously human exploration of connection in all its chaotic beauty. 

In this fully improvised show, Anneli and Liina dive into the wild landscape of relationships: the closeness and the distance, the conflict and the comfort, the moments that shift us when we least expect it. Every scene is created on the spot, shaped entirely by the performers’ quick thinking, creativity, and playful curiosity. 

Guiding and colouring the journey is Maarius Pärn on live guitar. His improvised soundscapes pulse through the performance — sometimes soft, sometimes bold — giving each moment its own emotional rhythm. Music and theatre weave together as the story evolves in real time. 

Funny, warm, and boldly unpredictable, Life Happens! invites you to witness how we navigate each other — one unexpected moment at a time.

2:50pm

One house. One family. One story. For 120 years, the Fletcher family has called 11 Oxford Road home. It’s a house filled with three generations of births, deaths, and marriages. But in 2026, this seemingly unremarkable family faces a life-changing decision: do they sell the house and move on, or is the pull of the past too strong to ignore? What happens when the memories of the past fight to keep you there. Ancestors is a gripping, spontaneous theatrical experience that follows three generations as they tell their own story. Witness a tale of inheritance, identity, and the choices we make to either embrace or reject our past.

1:30PM

Breakfast Of Champions presents – Breakfast Of Champions

Made up of experienced improvisers from across the Midlands, Breakfast of Champions will make up an entire show based off a single prompt from the audience. Sometimes poignant, often silly, they promise stories that will make you laugh and characters you’ll root for.

But Of Mind 

The improvisational theatre show But Of Mind will make its UK debut at the Liverpool Improvisation Festival (LIF) 2026, bringing its distinctive blend of psychological tension, paranormal mystery, and vintage TV atmosphere to the Unity Theatre on Saturday 9 May, 1:30pm. Inspired by the first season of The Twilight Zone (1959), But Of Mind places ordinary people into extraordinary, often unsettling situations—unfolding live, unscripted, and in the style of the golden age of television. Each performance blends supernatural elements, social commentary, and a touch of existential irony, echoing Rod Serling’s trademark storytelling while offering a modern, socially aware lens. 

The title comes from a line in Rod Serling’s iconic opening narration to The Twilight Zone: “You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.” This phrase captures the show’s ethos: psychological depth, the uncanny, and the sense that what unfolds onstage is both familiar and otherworldly. Rather than parodying the original series, the ensemble embraces the aesthetics and drama of the era while consciously addressing the social issues often left unchallenged in 1950s television. The result is a series of improvised “episodes” that honour Serling’s fascination with fate, morality, and poetic justice—while speaking directly to contemporary audiences. 

 

But Of Mind Cast: Diana Brown, Eric Caldwell, Kelly Chambers, Dan Wilson

8:30pm

ImprompTwo & Co presents The Sinner’s Table!

It’s where the wedding leftovers are seated — the loud uncle with the booming laugh, the aunt who refills her wine before the toast is over, and the singles who’ve left a trail of stories and broken hearts behind them. It’s where truths are nudged, jokes go too far, and sparks sometimes fly out of nowhere. It’s unpredictable, unfiltered, and just a little bit unholy. It’s the table where everyone secretly wishes they were sitting. https://impromptwoimprov.com

T.J. Mannix presents – T.J. Mannix in LimboLand

One performer. Four chairs. Countless characters.

In LimboLand, veteran actor T.J. Mannix delivers a masterful solo performance, fully improvised and fueled by music. Without a script, T.J. creates an entire world onstage—inhabiting emotionally rich, deeply human characters whose stories shift effortlessly from hilarious to heartbreaking.

Whether duetting with himself or portraying multiple characters in the same moment, T.J. navigates humor, passion, and vulnerability with astonishing nuance. At any moment, a character may be compelled to sing—revealing something raw, joyful, or unexpectedly profound.
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Limboland has headlined festivals around the world, and now T.J. is bringing this captivating, one-of-a-kind theatrical event to Liverpool. 

“Along with his vocal and comedic chops, T.J. Mannix embodied his characters with such emotional commitment and developed his plotlines with such specificity that moments of his set were as affecting as any drama.” SouthFloridaTheater.com

“Limboland is everything a one-man show can be. T.J. brings a whole universe of emotionally complex characters, with stories that go from funny to heartbreaking. A captivating experience with so much nuance and soul.” – Secret City Improv Festival

7PM

It’s a playful collective experience!

Following sell-out runs at Soho Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe, the cult hit comes to Liverpool for the first time.

David Elms Describes A Room is a one-hour-long improvised show. In the show, veteran improviser David leads the audience through the game of building a room together as a collective. The objects in the room, the stories behind the objects, the person behind the stories. It’s different every time!

The show has run monthly at The Free Association theatre since May 2022 and travels to venues around the UK and beyond. 

“A lesson in the transcendent power of collective imagining” ★★★★ Brian Logan, The Guardian

​”A real triumph of the human imagination” ★★★★ ​Polly Glynn, The Skinny

“A strikingly impressive feat of memory, world-building and forging of communal purpose” ★★★★ Jay Richardson, The List
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​”This is surely one of the most original and artistic comedy shows on the fringe” ★★★★ Steve Bennett, Chortle

​“David’s very clever. He’s made a show that’s funny, original and different every time. You go there and bathe in it and try not to be jealous you didn’t think of it. Superb.” – Tim Key

“You’d have to be dead not to enjoy it” – Katy Wix

“David builds a comedy mind palace before your very eyes. And you’ll want to move in for good!” – Phil Wang

“Imaginative, soothing and gently immersive storytelling – the ASMR of improv” – Rose Matafeo

5;30pm

Andĕl Sudik & Rebecca MacMillan present – The Library of Forgotten Books

Breathe in. What do you smell? Paper. Dust. Leather bindings. Welcome to The Library of Forgotten Books – a place of ritual, where abandoned and neglected books are offered up and transformed into fleeting stories. In this dreamlike space of reverence and mischief, The Librarians examine forgotten volumes, channel their contents, and decide their fate: to be enshrined on the shelves of memory… or consigned to oblivion.

A mysterious, funny and moving improvised performance created by internationally acclaimed improvisers Anděl Sudik (The Second City, Boom Chicago) and Rebecca MacMillan (The Maydays, Closer Each Day), the show blends laughter, wonder, and the quiet thrill of transgression.

Audience members are invited to bring a book they’re ready to part with forever; these offerings may shape the night — or be ceremonially altered in the name of improv.

What will be remembered? And what will be forgotten?

Sam Marshall & Emily Rose present – Play It Again

Play It Again are immortal lounge performers, cursed to provide light entertainment forever! Give them your sultry suggestions, they’ll give you beautiful ballads and mesmerising musical pieces. Laugh and sing along as these eternal entertainers play it again, and again, and again…

4:30PM

here-elsewhere, performed and directed by Empty Set, the duo of Rosalind Grégoire and Christianna Tsigkou is a one of a kind improvised performance where live drawing, projection and storytelling transform the space itself into a shifting, imaginative world. here-elsewhere is a performance where space itself becomes a performer. The artists transform the room through live drawing, projection, and storytelling, creating a layered world that shifts between the seen and the imagined. As we explore hidden corners and small details of the space, a scratch on the wall, a glint of light, a forgotten object, these are magnified and projected as living landscapes where new stories emerge.

The performers respond, building a visual and emotional map of the room’s echo; strange, delicate, and deeply human. Each performance is unique, shaped by the architecture, atmosphere, and presence of those watching, transforming overlooked spaces into vivid, imaginative worlds, where stories emerge not from a suggestion, but from the materiality of the room. Equal parts theatre, live art and visual improvisation, here-elsewhere invites audiences to rediscover the spaces they inhabit and the stories that live quietly within them.