September is shaping up to be another packed month for arts and culture across Liverpool City Region, with live music, theatre, exhibitions, festivals and more to discover.
From a 90s nostalgia trip with DJ Yoda and the return of Physical Fest, to a major celebration of Liverpool ceramicist Julia Carter Preston and three new exhibitions at FACT, there’s plenty to get in the diary.
Here are 10 unmissable things to do in Liverpool and the city region this September.
1. DJ Yoda’s 90s Mixtape, Future Yard (4 September)
Get ready for a serious dose of 90s nostalgia as DJ Yoda brings his 90s Mixtape to Future Yard in Birkenhead.
The award-winning turntablist and audiovisual artist has spent more than three decades developing his distinctive mix of scratching, music and visual culture. This latest live show is an audiovisual love letter to the decade that shaped modern music and pop culture, mixing classic 90s anthems with bold visuals and Yoda’s trademark creativity.
2. Slow Down Social, Crosby Library (5 September)
If your idea of a good weekend involves switching off from the constant rush of everyday life, Slow Down Social at Crosby Library could be just what you need. The event offers an opportunity to take things at a gentler pace, connect with others and enjoy some time away from the usual pressures and distractions. The first session is with artist and illustrator Lo Tierney, who will be experimenting with printing techniques using leaves.
3. Physical Fest, Unity Theatre (7-12 September)
Liverpool’s international festival of physical theatre returns this September, bringing together artists from across the world for six days of performances, workshops and events.
Produced by Tmesis Theatre, Physical Fest celebrates visual and movement-based performance, with this year’s programme at Unity Theatre featuring everything from clowning, circus and Japanese physical performance to new work from local and national artists. Highlights include Peta Lilly’s Ungirlfriended, Izumi Ashizawa’s Kurogo Me, Together!, a Clown Double Bill and Demonology from Tmesis Theatre and Lizzie Nunnery.
There’s also a programme of workshops giving artists the chance to explore practices including Commedia, ensemble work and Visual Vernacular.
4. Letter To Brezhnev, Liverpool’s Royal Court (11 September-17 October)
One of Liverpool’s best-loved films makes the move from screen to stage this autumn as Letter To Brezhnev arrives at Liverpool’s Royal Court. Frank Clarke has adapted his own screenplay for the stage, bringing the story of Teresa and Elaine, two young women from Kirkby whose night out takes an unexpected turn when they meet Soviet sailors Sergei and Peter, to a new generation. Set against the backdrop of 1985 Merseyside, it’s a story of friendship, romance, escapism and working-class Liverpool that has become an important part of the city region’s cultural history.
5. Macbeth, Shakespeare North Playhouse (11 September-3 October)
Things are about to get suitably dark at Shakespeare North Playhouse as Macbeth takes over the Prescot venue. Ben Crystal returns to Shakespeare North with a fast-paced staging of Shakespeare’s tragedy featuring one musician, ten storytellers and fifty candles. Expect ambition, greed, grief, revenge, ghosts and plenty of blood as Macbeth’s pursuit of power sends his world spiralling into chaos. Performed in the intimate surroundings of Shakespeare North, this atmospheric take on one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays sounds like an ideal way to welcome in the darker autumn nights.
6. Celebrating Julia Carter Preston (From 11 September)
September marks the beginning of a major city-wide celebration of acclaimed Liverpool ceramicist Julia Carter Preston, marking the centenary of her birth. Five Liverpool venues – The Bluecoat, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool Hope University, Walker Art Gallery and Victoria Gallery & Museum – are joining forces to explore Carter Preston’s life, work and influence.
Born in Liverpool in 1926, Carter Preston became particularly known for helping revive the ancient technique of sgraffito, which involves scratching through a layer of clay slip to reveal contrasting decoration underneath. Her distinctive ceramics often combined the technique with metallic lustre glazes.
At the Bluecoat, where Carter Preston had a studio overlooking the garden for many years, an archive exhibition will bring together photographs, documents and commissioned plaques.
7. Three New Exhibitions at FACT (From 18 September)
FACT launches its autumn programme with three new exhibitions opening on 18 September.
Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊: •~TUA~• 大眼 •~MAK~• transforms the gallery into a darkened world suspended somewhere between the deep sea and the skies above. Drawing on experiences of immigration, family mythology, ecology and ancestral stories, the immersive exhibition centres around a glowing pond containing a living ecosystem whose movements influence the surrounding light and sound.
Elsewhere, Seema Mattu: Local Superstar II explores our relationship with music through sculpture, film and digital animation, while BRB presents three new artworks from North-West-based artists and FACT Studio/Lab members Livi Wilmore, Mrs Luva-Luva and Ellie Hoskins, examining the ways constant connectivity is reshaping how we understand ourselves and each other.
8. Baga Chipz: Bagz to Riches, The Atkinson (19 September)
Drag Race favourite Baga Chipz heads to The Atkinson in Southport with her new live show, Bagz to Riches. Marking almost 20 years in showbusiness, Baga looks back over her journey with a characteristically outrageous mixture of stand-up, stories, memories and music. Expect everything from disco and power ballads to big band numbers and musical theatre – plus the kind of gloriously unfiltered humour Baga has become known for. She’ll be joined by comedian and vocalist Tanya Hyde for an evening promising plenty of sequins, big hair, cabaret and chaos.
9. Beckett: Lieben 2026 – Six Paintings, The Tung Auditorium (20 September)
Visual art, literature and music come together at The Tung Auditorium for Beckett: Lieben 2026 – Six Paintings.
The concert explores a fascinating chapter in the life of Samuel Beckett. During the late 1920s, the young writer travelled to Kassel in Germany, where he fell in love with his cousin Peggy Sinclair and encountered German Expressionism through her art dealer father – an experience that would have a lasting influence on his work. Developed by Unreal Cities in consultation with Beckett scholar Professor Mark Nixon, Six Paintings brings together six leading musicians to respond to six artworks connected to the story, alongside Beckett’s own impressions and writings.
The line-up includes Iarla Ó Lionáird, Michelle O’Rourke, Cheng Yu, Niwel Tsumbu, Benjamin Dwyer and Mary Dullea, with narration by Anna Nygh.
10. Voices of Afghan Women & Girls, Online (29 September)
Rounding off our September picks is a powerful online event offering the chance to hear directly from Afghan women and girls about their lives, experiences and determination to continue their education.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women and girls in Afghanistan have faced severe restrictions on their rights and freedoms, including being prevented from accessing secondary and higher education. Yet many continue to learn through underground and online schools. Voices of Afghan Women & Girls, organised by Writing on the Wall, will share some of these experiences through first-hand accounts, stories and poetry.
Contributors include women’s rights activists, teachers and students currently living and learning under the restrictions, giving audiences a rare opportunity to hear their voices directly.
For even more inspiration, explore the latest events, exhibitions and cultural happenings via our What’s On listings.