Event type: Theatre

War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells’s classic novel retold byimitating the dogSupported by Lancaster Arts and Cast, Doncaster

“Life is real again, and the useless and cumbersome and mischievous have to die.”– H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

Four performers enter the stage with cameras and construct an epic road movie before our eyes.

It’s a story we know, or think we know – an apocalyptic tale of alien invasion and the unfolding destruction of everything we hold dear. Extraterrestrial lifeforms land from the skies. Lines of Brits scrabble to flee across the channel while their cities and towns lie in smouldering ruins. It’s all of our worst nightmares.

What would you do if order broke down?

What would you do to survive?

How far would you go to protect your own?

Using miniature environments, model worlds, camera tricks, and projection, imitating the dog mix the live and the recorded, the animate and the inanimate to create a thrilling, audacious and timely retelling of H.G. Wells’s classic novel.

Following their acclaimed adaptations of literary classics Heart of Darkness (2018), Dracula (2021), Macbeth (2023) and Frankenstein (2024), “multimedia daredevils” (The Times) imitating the dog push their inventive storytelling to new heights.

imitatingthedog.co.uk

The Woman in Black

The legendary production of Susan Hill’s chilling ghost story The Woman in Black returns to Liverpool Playhouse

One of the most successful and longest running theatre shows in the history of London’s West End, this gripping production is a brilliantly successful study in atmosphere, illusion and controlled horror. Now seen by over 7 million people worldwide, The Woman in Black continues to delight and terrify audiences of all generations.

Obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the spectre of a Woman in Black, Arthur Kipps engages a sceptical young actor to help him tell his terrifying story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul.

thewomaninblack.com

LMF Short Film Sandbox Showcase

 

The Sandbox Showcase – Edition Four

Presented by Let’s Make Films CIC

? Picturehouse @ FACT – Liverpool

The Sandbox Showcase is Liverpool’s alternative creative film night. A vibrant evening built around the bold and exciting short pieces of work, the emerging filmmakers and creatives and a community-led night that is bursting with creative energy and life. All here to celebrate the work on the biggest screen. 

Now in its fourth edition, The Sandbox has become a creative home for filmmakers who are doing things differently! First-timers, grassroots crews, DIY Storytellers and new voices that have exciting stories to tell! 

The event takes place at Picturehouse @ FACT and features a carefully curated lineup of 10-12 short pieces of work. Some are emotional, some are experimental, some are terrifying, but most importantly, all of them bring a unique voice to the big screen. You will get a chance to hear from the creatives about their work and process before screening their work. The night will also include the winner of our special DIY challenge, a quarterly filmmaking challenge that pushes creatives to make something from nothing. 

The Sandbox isn’t just a screening either. We offer a pre-creative mixer before the show starts where you can get yourself a drink and relax and mingle with your fellow creatives and community. And even better, after the final film rolls, you can continue the conversation in the bar in the post-creative mixer and meet the creatives behind the work that you loved seeing. 

What to expect throughout the night:

  • A packed cinema screening 10-12 bold peices of creative work.
  • A DIY film made for our Trial & Error challenge. 
  • Meet the creatives behind the work in our creative mixers.
  • Music, good vibes and a community-first atmosphere. 

 

If you’re an emerging filmmaker, creative, artists, storyteller, or just a film-fan looking for something different in the city, then the Sandbox is perfect for you. 

So, come along, bring a mate, come by yourself, grab a drink and be part of special night that belongs to the creatives. 

 

Mona and Mimi

7:30PM
Mona and Mimi is set over one evening in December 1961, a time of great social change “between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles’ first LP”. The play presents a fictionalised encounter between two real women, Mona Best and Mimi Smith, who couldn’t be more unalike, with Mimi stuck in the the past and Mona embracing the future. Initially all they seem to have in common is that their boys play together in a Liverpool beat group. However, as the play develops, parallels between the two women emerge as both grapple with their personal struggles and the sacrifices inherent in raising a child.

 

Mona Best, mother of the group’s drummer Pete, is an unconventional woman. She has started a lucrative rock and roll club in the basement of her home and is at this point informally managing the group. Into her life storms Mimi Smith, aunt and guardian of John, the group’s guitarist and singer. Mimi is relentless in her determination to thwart her nephew’s dream to make it as a musician, an ambition she views with undisguised contempt. She goes to Mona’s house to thwart the signing of a contract with a local music entrepreneur, unaware of Mona’s role in nurturing the band.

 

Mona & Mimi is the first full length play by Catherine Leen (Bright Sparks) and is directed by Nick Bagnall. Mimi is played by Meriel Scholfield, Mona by Fiona Boylan and Neil by Noah Fox.

 

‘A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love’  – WB Yeats

 

List of team and cast:
Nick Bagnall – Director
Meriel Scholfield – Mimi
Fiona Boylan – Mona
Noah Fox – Neil
Catherine Leen – Writer/Producer
Xenia Bayer – Lighting & Sound Designer

 

@monaandmimi

The Last Laugh

Direct from the West End.

The Last Laugh is a “brilliant” (The Telegraph) brand new laugh-a-minute play which reimagines the lives of three of Britain’s all-time greatest comedy heroes – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse.

Filled with great gags and touching stories, The Last Laugh is nostalgic and poignant and guaranteed to be the best comedy night out.

The Last Laugh is written and directed by the award-winning Paul Hendy, and stars “a trio of sublime performances” (WhatsOnStage) by Bob Golding as Morecambe, Simon Cartwright as Monkhouse and Damian Williams as Cooper.

thelastlaughplay.co.uk

Syncopated

Hear the heartbeat of history

Love stories can happen anywhere. In the present or the past, in the head or the heart. But when Him and Her meet by chance at the Liverpool docks and unearth the hidden history of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra – the original jazz pioneers – could this be the start of something new, or are they stuck repeating another love story from a hundred years earlier?

Syncopated is an intoxicating new play set to music by Varaidzo about a music student from London and a young Liverpudlian discovering each other in the shadow of the city. As they connect, they begin to sense history’s echoes when two figures from the past lead them on a journey of personal discovery – a trip into the revolutionary Black sound that took the world, and their own lives, by storm.

Co-produced by Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Talawa Theatre Company as part of Talawa’s Black Joy season, Syncopated hums with live music and romantic energy.

You won’t want to miss a beat.

Young Frankenstein

From the creators of the record-breaking Broadway sensation, The Producers, comes this monster musical comedy. The comedy genius, Mel Brooks, adapts his legendarily funny film into a brilliant stage creation – Young Frankenstein!

Grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”) inherits his family’s estate in Transylvania. With the help of a hunchbacked sidekick, Igor (pronounced “Eye-gore”), and a leggy lab assistant, Inga (pronounced normally), Frederick finds himself in the mad scientist shoes of his ancestors. “It’s alive!” he exclaims as he brings to life a creature to rival his grandfather’s. Eventually, of course, the monster escapes and hilarity continuously abounds.

Every bit as relevant to audience members who will remember the original as it will be to newcomers, Young Frankenstein has all the of panache of the screen sensation with a little extra theatrical flair added. It will surely be the perfect opportunity for a production company to showcase an array of talents. With such memorable tunes as “The Transylvania Mania,” “He Vas My Boyfriend” and “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” by Irving Berlin Young Frankenstein is scientifically proven, monstrously good entertainment.

Directed and choreographed by international award-winning director and choreographer Nick Winston, known for Bonnie & Clyde (Garrick Theatre, WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Musical), MAME and Burlesque.

Presented by Hope Mill Theatre for their 10th Anniversary.
hopemilltheatre.co.uk

Cartoonopolis

2 brothers, 1 family, goodies, baddies and autism

The 10-year anniversary of the hit one-man show, Cartoonopolis!

The ultimate make-believe metropolis; an imaginary world of cartoon capers, amazing adventures, villainous villains, heroic heroes and the very best meatballs you’ve ever tasted.

Jack is autistic and on the cusp of his 18th birthday. Cartoonopolis is a rest from reality, but back in the real world he and his family prepare for change, navigating overstretched services and a system not fit for purpose.

A tour-de-force performance blending storytelling, multi-rolling and a whole heap of imagination, in this captivating true story told by Jack’s real-life brother, Lewis.

Lewis is a graduate of Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) and was the Everyman & Playhouse Theatres Ignition Artist in 2015 where he developed Cartoonopolis in the Playhouse Studio.

Supported byArts Council England, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, RAWD and Storyhouse

 
 

Measure for Measure / Julius Caesar

 

Shake-Scene Shakespeare are BACK to present a Double Bill of Shakespeare’s Dirtiest Politics!

Join Shake-Scene Shakespeare this August, returning for their second mini-residency in the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden.

In 2024 they brought laughs and tears – in 2025 it’s all about deceit, treachery and manipulation. Grab your seat for Measure For Measure, Julius Caesar or both!

Shake-Scene will once again be performing from cued parts in their own unique way. This technique requires the actors to work only from their own lines and cues – nobody studies the whole play, and the full text is not rehearsed before performance resulting in a myriad of hilarious, jaw-dropping and unforgettable moments – it’s Shakespeare Jim but not as we know it!

 

Saving Shakespeare

A fun and engaging introduction to Shakespeare!

Shakespeare arrives at Queen Elizabeth’s court to put on his latest play, only to realise that the actors haven’t been booked, the script has been left behind and the only people able to help are two women (who at the time were banned from performing on the stage!)…

Over the next 60 minutes the audience is introduced to some of Shakespeare’s most iconic excerpts from his plays as the trio try to create a play for Queenie from what they can remember – anything so that they don’t lose their heads!

The production gives a fun and engaging introduction to Shakespeare and is aimed at families with children aged 8 upwards. It’s a hilarious and educational show, with edited and accessible versions of scenes from the Bard’s most popular plays (Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream) – a great introduction to Shakespeare for young people, and there’s quite a bit of audience interaction too!