Event type: Theatre

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

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.

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

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. ​ 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

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 ​ ​”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

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…

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.

Gricers is a new, spontaneous theatre show created to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern passenger railway.

Inspired by Francis Bourgeois’s book The Trainspotters Notebook and Tom Quinn’s Railways’ Strangest Journeys, this show is a bittersweet and profound reflection on male friendship and quiet obsession.Meet Mike and Mark. Their quest isn’t for fame or fortune.

It’s for the 4:32 from Manchester Piccadilly, the 11:05 to Carlisle, the one last engine number that will make their collection complete. They are ‘Gricers’, standing trackside in rain and shine, a passionate, uniquely British tribe. The real journey isn’t on the rails. It’s in the waiting. In the shared flasks of tea, the silences, the decades of friendship.

This is the story of what happens in between the arrivals and departures, a tale of two men driven by a passion to complete a collection and the hope that they can finally finish. ​

Performed by Mike Burton (Stupid, Atom Improv), Mark Smith (HOOF!, The Fly, A Wake and Taxi Tales) and Fergus Wynne this spontaneous theatre event is like no other. The show features compelling storytelling, a cavalcade of characters and live DJ’ing.