Event type: Theatre

Pinocchio

Steve Tiplady, as Geppetto, uses the objects of a carpenter’s workshop to tell the tale of the puppet that wants to be a real boy, and the puppet-maker who wants to be a real father. 

Pinocchio is carved on stage, brushes become a fox and the shadow of two saws transforms into a giant shark. An element of improvisation makes each performance unique to its audience. 

Puppetry, shadows, illusion and especially composed music combine to create a show with something for all ages; it’s inventive, visually and verbally witty with a big heart. 

“Wonderful work that celebrates the possibilities of theatre” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian 

“Truly magical…captivating…hauntingly real”  

The Scotsman 

 

 

For ages 4+

60 mins 

 

 

 

John Bevan Team Player – From Lions To League

 

A New Play by Mari Lloyd

55 years ago, Margaret Thatcher becomes known as the ‘Milk Snatcher’

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid is nominated for 10 baftas…

And the British Lions with thirteen Welsh players do something that has never been done before……and never repeated since.

They defeat the mighty all Blacks on their own turf in New Zealand.

Imagine, like John Bevan, that you are twenty years old, and part of that phenomenal success.

How does that feel? And what happens afterwards?

Within two years John Bevan leaves Union for League and a new life.

What is he searching for? And will he find it?

Could Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid inspire change?

Or is this the end of a dream?

Three years. Two codes. One story.

“A magnificent piece of theatre” review by Warrington Worldwide.

Directed by Julia Stubbs

Performed by Scott Gutteridge.

Produced by Still Here productions with 20South Street and Grey Swan.

Website:  

https://stillhereproductions.co.uk/john-bevan-team-player-from-lions-to-league/

With thanks to Simon Moran, S.J.M. Concerts, owner of Warrington wolves.

Dates: 8th October at 7.00pm and 11th October, 3pm

Location: Pursglove Suite, Birkenhead Park Rugby Club.

Blackout

Once the curtain rises, there’s no turning back… 

BLACKOUT is an immersive theatrical experience that pulls you into a world where fear and imagination collide. 

Late at night, a small cast gathers inside an old theatre for what should be a straightforward rehearsal. But the building carries a reputation. Whispered stories, half-remembered warnings and long-held superstitions that most performers dismiss… until they can’t. 

When the theatre doors close, something shifts and what should be fiction starts to feel dangerously real. Expect the unexpected as reality and storytelling begin to blur, plunging you into a shadowed world where nothing is as it seems. 

BLACKOUT puts you inside the experience, where every movement, sound and shadow pulls you deeper into the dark. Brace yourself for unnerving twists, creeping shadows, and moments that will make your heart race. 

Because fear loves an audience. 

Age restriction: 15+ 

BlackFest 2026 presents: Short experimental Performances, and One woman Plays

 

 

Join an incredible night of Short Experimental Performances and One Woman Plays from BlackFest Creatives Collective. Short experimental RnD play from Chelsey Emery, Chase Johston Lynch and Friends presenting their works on Black Excellence and historical figures.

Sarah Abusin presenting based on true story ‘Jailbird’ a musical on incarcerated women in Dubai, and Janoma Omena a Nigerian spoken word artist whose work explores queerness, young adulthood, women’s reproductive health and migrations.

Expect gentle sapphic yearning, philosophical rage and tender contemplations.

 

 

The Finkelberg Precedent

 

 

Elmedere Productions Unleashes a Surreal New Drama The Finkelberg Precedent in St Helens, this October.    

Three men, trapped in a claustrophobic office, carrying out work they don’t understand and waiting for a phone call that could change everything. As paranoia, frustration and confusion take hold, the arrival of the enigmatic Finkelberg raises even more questions.

Darkly comic, surreal and tense, The Finkelberg Precedent offers a compelling exploration of bureaucracy, masculinity and morality, brought to life through strong performances, tight ensemble work and an immersive world that feels both familiar and strangely “elsewhere”.Performance Dates:  5th-10th October 2026

Press Night: 8th October 2026

Location: Lucem House Community Cinema & Event Space, St Helens, WA10 1GQ

Cast:

Ciarán Lockwood – Delaney 

Alan Molyneux – Tibb

Anthony Gretton – Mendoza/Finkelberg 

Tickets available at:  www.ticketsource.com/elmedere-productions  

Follow us at: www.instagram.com/elmedereproductions/ & www.facebook.com/people/The-Finkelberg-Precedent 

Instagram: @elmedereproductions

 

 

Million Dollar Quartet

On the night of December 4, 1956, four musical icons entered a recording studio in Memphis and made music history. Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley were brought together by pure chance for a jam session which would go on to shape the trajectory of rock‘n’roll. Now 70 years after that momentous event, celebrate the anniversary of the night the Million Dollar Quartet came together and changed music forever.

Featuring over 20 hit songs performed live on stage including: Blue Suede Shoes, Fever, Walk The Line, Hound Dog, Great Balls of Fire, and many more. Experience that once-in-a-lifetime event, in an electrifying 3x Tony Award-nominated musical where rivalries ignite, friendships are tested and rock’n’roll history is made.

Starring stage and screen favourite, Darren Day (Hollyoaks, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Chicago) as Sam Phillips, the visionary producer who created the sound of rock’n’roll, alongside a sensational cast and live band, don’t miss this exhilarating celebration of four legendary artists.

Book now for the greatest rock‘n’roll jam session in history!

milliondollarmusical.com (link opens in a new tab)

Desperate Scousewives: Nessa’s Story

Following its sell-out run earlier this year, the Scousewives are back with the next show in the series starring Brookside’s Sarah White. 

Desperate Scousewives: Nessa’s Story is written, directed and stars Lynne Fitzgerald. The talented cast also includes Samantha Alton, Jennifer Airey and Leslie Longley. 

It’s Christmas Eve on a Liverpool street where nothing ever goes to plan. 

A prisoner is on the run, the girls are locked out in the freezing cold, and chaos is already unfolding before the night has begun. Lily is on tag and trying to stay out of trouble, Susan is as sharp-tongued and sarcastic as ever, and Trisha once again finds herself the butt of everyone’s jokes. 

As the night descends into festive carnage, secrets are revealed, friendships are tested, and the whole street is thrown into absolute chaos. 

Fast, funny and full of attitude, Desperate Scousewives Nessa’s story is the perfect Christmas night out. 

Laughter guaranteed. Behaviour not. 18+ Not for the faint-hearted! 

 

The Turn of The Screw

Blackeyed Theatre and Arcola Theatre present

 

The Turn of the Screw

A world premiere by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Based on the seminal ghost story by Henry James

 

Directed by Nicky Allpress

 

England. A remote country house. A young governess, hired to care for two seemingly angelic children, begins what appears to be an idyllic new life. Yet there is something about the children that hints at a darker presence.

Desperate to protect them from what she believes to be malevolent spirits, she finds herself descending into a world of ambiguity, leading to one far-reaching question; are the ghosts real… or a projection of something far more terrifying?

 

A masterwork of psychological suspense and the inspiration for Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, Henry James’ classic novella The Turn of the Screw is brought to life in this brand-new stage adaptation by Olivier Award-winning playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, combining powerful performances, illusion and stylish theatricality.

 

“One of the most innovative, audacious companies working in contemporary English theatre” – The Stage on Blackeyed Theatre

 

 

KITTEL: Doktor Faustus of the Third Reich

7:30pm

KITTEL is the true story of renowned German theologian, Professor Gerhard Kittel, who sold his soul to Satan.

On the way to serve in WW1, young Gerhard encounters the demonic Herr Herold. Herold is “fishing for souls” and very interested in religion. Encouraging of Gerhard’s nationalist leanings and ambition, Herold is a familiar face in the years that follow.

In 1933, Gerhard, now a respected professor of religion,  joins the Nazi Party and publishes his radically antisemitic “The Jewish Question” book. Soon he is appointed to the highest level of Reich academia where his research into Jewish racial history is used to underpin Hitler’s Final Solution.

With Germany’s defeat in 1945, the full horror of the Holocaust is reported in the world media. Gerhard is thrown into jail. It is only when Herr Herold appears in his prison cell that Gerhard finally realises what he has done…

and for whom.

Unsinkable

J. Bruce Ismay was chairman of the White Star Line the night the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic ocean. Despite most officials sacrificing themselves in the disaster, Ismay found space in the last lifeboat to leave the starboard side. Drowned with survivor’s guilt, he has returned to shore to discover the weight of the tragedy has only just begun. Should he have gotten in that lifeboat?

Unsinkable’ is an emotionally charged drama that interrogates the nature of masculinity, hubris and guilt. Through tense philosophical dialogue, it explores the blurred line between survival and cowardice.

Finalist of Tip Tray Theatre’s What Happens Next, and following a sold-out staged reading in 2025, Unsinkable makes its full-length premiere at Hope St. Theatre.