Unity Theatre Liverpool's new season
- Alan Hulme
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Unity Theatre in Liverpool aims to offer a counterpoint to the mainstream with its new autumn and winter season of productions.
Unity has its roots in the Unity Theatre movement, a national initiative that produced politically left-wing works for working-class audiences. Now the only surviving member of that movement, Unity continues to invest in local work, emerging artists and theatre companies.
Highlights include Graeae Theatre's Bad Lads (October 5-6), a story of oppression and resilience that challenges audiences to think about justice; and Chalkline's The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return (November 20), following its sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, about knife crime and youth intervention.
In-house productions include a modern interpretation of Jean Genet’s The Maids (October 15-16), about oppression, isolation and incarceration. The show will engage refugees, asylum-seekers and care-home residents from a participatory programme.
The venue also hosts monthly scratch and work-in-progress nights, giving developing artists chances to try out new work, culminating in the annual Up Next festival. Both Stella (November 18, 29) by Chris Tomlinson and Robert Farquhar, and Rooted (October 25) by Claire Beerjeraz, were first developed at the festival and now feature in the main programme.
Arts and culture festivals include Milap’s INDIKA Festival of Indian Arts and Culture (October 23, 24, 28), Luma Creations’ La Feria Festival of Latin American Arts and the Liverpool Irish Festival as well as Homotopia, which promotes local, national and international queer and trans creatives and artists.
Following the success of previous years, Unity are producing Sleep Can Wait!, their own family and neurodiverse friendly Christmas show in collaboration with Liverpool-based theatre company Tmesis Theatre (December 12-23).
Artistic director Elinor Randle said: “We're showcasing a fantastic mix of local and national talent."
Full season info and tickets here