Event type: Theatre

7:30pm

Gaza Nights returns for our fifth cabaret, raising money for Amplify Gaza Stories and its Community Food Resilience projects.  As always we promise an esoteric mix of music, tap dance, politics, spoken word, sketches and surprises  – but the emphasis this time is very much on comedy. Because…

We are made up to be welcoming Jerusalem born stand-up Daphna Baram and socialist comedy magician Ian Saville, alongside the host of artists that make up the Gaza Nights Team.

Daphna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyfC7Z6XxeY

Ian:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mizLpTjY-Y

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.

Line Up

LIF 2026 in association with Wing it Impro presents

Ancestors 

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.

Conceived and directed: 
Mark Smith

Development collaborators:
​Mike Burton, Jen Hardy, Su Jackson, Paddy Kearns & Fergus Wynne

Shifting Skies – Making Waves Collective
 
Live music, dance and full stage projections of the ever changing sky

If being creative is human behaviour and helps us grow and connect, we should all be doing it in our daily lives.

Making Waves is a collective of musicians, dancers, visual artists and performers who take their inspiration from a part of the natural world and co-create. Everyone has artistic input and there is a constant dialogue as the piece develops.
Shifting Skies started as a short film from a project by musician and composer Rachael Diop and artist Jayne Seddon link:
https://rachaeldiopmusic.org/projects

 
Iona Lott is Young and Hot

Iona Lott is young and hot and fun, and she wants to stay that way forever! She only ever wants to have a good time with everybody she meets. However she has a problem. Iona just can’t seem to stop aging. Lines on her face, creeping grey hairs…. a hangover. She wonders if she’ll ever be happy again. Until, one day, Iona reads the first half of Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray and, hit with a stroke of genius, she hatches a plan. She’s inviting esteemed artists (the audience) to compete to draw the perfect picture of her, one so good she’s willing to sell her soul. What could possibly go wrong?

1pm & 3:30pm

Welcome to our interactive science demo – with a twist! We need YOU to take on some big challenges – and help us save the day.
How can we make things more fair? And what could go wrong if we don’t?

Help Daniel Bye change the world, in an unexpectedly ridiculous adventure involving engineering challenges, bad dad jokes, and an extraordinary quantity of molten chocolate.
Praise for previous shows by the same team:

“Riveting, funny and thoughtful” The Guardian “really great children’s theatre” Exeunt

A brand new show for 7-11 year olds and their grown-ups. Created by Daniel Bye, Sarah Punshon, Toni-Dee Paul, and Matt Powell Featuring engineers from across the UK Zooming in to help you save the day.

7:30pm

Eve has been around since the dawn of humanity, the turn of the century, and since last week. Eve is every woman; she is indigenous; she is a pregnant teenage girl, a domestic abuse survivor. She is a witch, hysterical, insane. She is evil, and she caused mankind’s fall from grace. Powerful and provocative, Mandala’s new play exposes the lies societies have been fed by organised religion and politics, exploring who controls the narrative and what truth got buried along the way. Through our unique brand of theatricality, humour, innovative staging, compelling characters and powerful epic storytelling, we tell the story of Eve….Accused, suppressed, abused, silenced, but now rising, waking up to her full power as creator, nurturer, wisdom-keeper – restoring the balance between Masculine and Feminine energy, to ultimately suggest new vision and hope.

Mandala Theatre Company is an ethnically diverse-led company based in East Oxford. We are committed to using theatre as a force for social change and to working with young people and artists from the global majority and disadvantaged backgrounds. This play has been developed with young people, student groups and women’s groups in Oxford, Luton, Salford and Bristol, in line with Mandala’s trademark dedication to co-creation with those with lived experience, and telling the stories that so often go untold

3pm

In the heart of Wiley Wood lives a tremendous artist known as Pat the Painting Pig. His paintings are so magnificent that his talents start to bring unwanted fame and attention from the other animals. Pat finds all of this very distracting and so he hatches a plan to be able to work in peace once again. Just how far will he go to be left alone? And at what cost?

Join Pat and a host of other woodland creatures in this charming exploration of friendship, community and artistic talent. Pat the Painting Pig is a brand new play featuring set and props made at Bridge Inn Community Farm, and original music and songs. This pig-tastic adventure will have the entire family clapping along and oinking with laughter.

Written by Ed Bixter

Directed by Suzy Walker

Original Music by Sonic Mutiny

Produced by Gambolling Arena and Sonic Mutiny

Liverpool: The Global Stage for Improv

Liverpool is a city built on creativity, and the Liverpool Improvisation Festival (LiF) is its beating heart. We are bringing the world’s best improvisers to your doorstep and showcasing Liverpool’s finest talent to the globe.

Standing on the shoulders of giants like Ken Campbell, Improbable Theatre, and Showstoppers, LiF 2026 transforms the city into a hub of spontaneous brilliance. While you are here, explore Liverpool—the UK’s number one city and the 7th best in the world for culture, as ranked by The Telegraph and Time Out.

Whether you want to watch, learn, or perform, LiF is the place to take risks and innovate. Supported by the Unity Theatre and Liverpool Arts Bar studios, this is more than a festival; it’s a community.

Get ready for LiF 2026:

See it first: 18 shows, including 3 World Premieres.
Learn from the best: 8 workshops with renowned international teachers.
Experience it all: From Shakespeare and musical theatre to clowning and comedy.
Connect: Social events to meet, mingle, and make memories.

BOOK FESTIVAL PASSES
 

2pm

Tired of slightly silly shows for kids? Then prepare for the FIRST EVER Seriously Stupid Kids Comedy Show! An explosion of mayhem for the whole family – like Vic and Bob mashed with the Muppets! Expect stupid sketches, bonkers characters, and interactive daftness, delivered by Liverpool’s favourite professional idiots.

Don’t just watch – join in! Our grand finale is The Seriously Stupid Talent Show, we believe every child deserves a stage to be stupid on… and it means we do less!
From the stooooopid minds behind Rubbish Shakespeare Company, Silly History Boys and Liam Hale, plus more!

Shouter-outers welcome!

For ages 6–106.

Previous Praise for The Seriously Stupid Crew

★★★★★ ‘If Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton did children’s theatre, it would look just like this. Outstanding.’ — The Reviews Hub

★★★★★ ‘Creative, fun and delightfully unique.’ — North West End

★★★★★ ‘This truly is the perfect show to go to as a family.’ — Theatre & Tonic

★★★★★ ‘Fantastic… ridiculous… genius!’ — West End Best Friend

★★★★ ‘An hour of non-stop, high-energy enchantment. A rare and genuine delight.’ — The List

★★★★ ‘Perfectly pitched character comedy.’ — The Skinny

★★★★ ‘Had both adults and children alike cheering for more.’ — Broadway World

★★★★ ‘The spark in new comedy that you always wish to find.’ — Liverpool Sound and Vision

Cast

Robert Rhys Bond

Liam Hale

Jen Hardy
Lee Hithersay

Alice Rowbottom

Written and Devised by Robert Rhys Bond Liam Hale Jen hardy Lee Hithersay Alice Rowbottom

Supported by Unity Theatre

7:30pm

Following it’s sell out run at The Playhouse, Liverpool founded company Sort Sol Theatre, presents critically acclaimed play Where have all our women gone? by Elizabeth Huskisson. Returning for just one night, Huskisson reprises the role of Everywoman in her “fast paced and ferocious” one woman play.

A state of the nation “political commentary” that interrogates the epidemic of male violence against women and girls; “Huskisson’s play deserves to be embedded in the cultural membrane.” Using satire, sincerity and the surreal, this play explores one of the most urgent issues of our time. Defying the boundaries of theatre, this is a work of activism, a riot and a darkly comic examination of the Met, misogyny and men.

There is just one question; where have all our women gone?

‘Huskisson delivers a raw and powerful piece on violence against women. Her energy leaves you in awe, broken and amazed… She is the show.’

5 stars, The Voice Magazine

‘Huskisson’s play deserves to be embedded in the cultural membrane.’

4.5 stars, Youngish Perspective

‘Visually striking, emotionally unsettling and politically challenging.’

British Theatre Guide

‘A raw and transparent montage of the crimes against women… Huskisson is an
unbelievably talented performer.’

4 stars, Kat Masterson Reviews

‘Huskisson blew me away with her solo performance… a timely take on violence
against women. You all need to see it right now.’

4 stars, Theatre Reviews London

Writer & Performer: Elizabeth Huskisson
Director: Lillian Waddington
Producer: Elizabeth Huskisson for Sort Sol Theatre
Movement Director: Stephanie Burrell
Production Designer: Emily Louise M. Sommerville
Lighting Designer: Alex Forey
Sound Designer: Ilia Higgs
Stage Manager & Technical Operator: Ayla Pengelly-Moore
Photography: Henry Roberts