Shakespeare North Playhouse, the only 17th-Century style, timber-built "cockpit" theatre outside
London, is celebrating its first birthday.
The Prescot theatre, near Liverpool, had its crowning moment at the 2023 Stage Awards, when SNP was named "Theatre Building of the Year", Innovative design has made it a venue like no other in the country.
For the birthday weekend (July 14-16), Shakespeare North will have new technical guided tours, intended for those keenly interested in the technical side of theatre; associate company Shakespeare’s Globe offers its Olivier award-nominated family show Midsummer Mechanicals (July 15-18) and Imaginarium Theatre will perform The Taming of The Shrew (July 14-16), in the building's Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden.
Visitors can also enjoy free short theatre tours across the weekend, led by members of the Shakespeare North team through the key areas of the building.
Since opening last July 15, the playhouse has become a cultural landmark, drawing over 100,000 visitors – a significant 10 per cent of whom hadn't been in a theatre before.
The total show audience was almost 64,000, which equates to one in every four Knowsley residents having attended a performance or event (though of course people have visited from a far wider area).
Since the venue opened there has been a 25 per cent increase in spending in the borough, partly boosted by the economic vitality the theatre has generated.
Shakespeare North is currently marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio – the first collection of his work, collated and published in 1623, and made up of 36 plays.
Upcoming productions include Shakespeare North Playhouse and English Touring Theatre’s co-
production of Macbeth (September 1-23), celebrated playwright Lauren Gunderson’s European
premier of The Book of Will (October 19-November 11) and Sir Ken Dodd’s favourite tale The
Wind in The Willows (November 24-January 13).
More info and tickets here
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