Liverpool's Everyman Theatre will celebrate its birthday year with a revival of Willy Russell’s mega-hit Shirley Valentine (March 1-29, 2025), featuring Liverpool actress Helen Carter as Shirley. At 42, Shirley's zest for life is missing; she has an empty nest, an emotionally-distant husband and only "the wall" for company. When her best friend offers the trip of a lifetime to Greece, Shirley jumps at the chance to go... Originally commissioned and staged by the theatre in 1986, the play is now one of the most successful one-woman plays and films ever staged. Announcing the news, Willy Russell said: “I’m delighted to be back at the Everyman, a theatre that holds a special place in my heart. As it has done for so many writers, actors and directors in its 60-year history, the Everyman gave me my first opportunities as a writer. "I can’t wait to work on bringing the play back home and seeing Shirley on the boards on which she was born”. Willy Russell is one of the most celebrated and widely-produced writers of his generation, with works regularly seen across the globe. He has had a long association with the Everyman, which staged his breakthrough play John Paul George Ringo… & Bert in 1974, which transferred to the West End and won several awards. Further stage plays at the Everyman have included Breezeblock Park (1975) and Stags and Hens (1978). After huge international success with Blood Brothers and Educating Rita, Russell returned to the Everyman in 1986 to write Shirley Valentine. Originally commissioned by the Everyman for the theatre’s 21st birthday by artistic director Glen Walford, Shirley Valentine opened with Noreen Kershaw in the title role and Glen directing. The show enjoyed huge success and an extended run. Playing Shirley for the celebratory production, Helen Carter has several stage credits at the Everyman and Playhouse, including The Flint Street Nativity, Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi, No Wise Men, The Star, A Christmas Carol and Dead Heavy Fantastic. She most recently appeared at Liverpool’s Royal Court in Boys from the Blackstuff, soon to be seen at the National Theatre. Director Stephen Fletcher has also worked extensively at the Royal Court as a writer and director. He has performed in three of Willy Russell's plays, Breezeblock Park, Our Day Out and Stags and Hens and alongside Helen in The Last 5 Years and Dead Heavy Fantastic. Theatre CEEO Mark Da Vanzo said: “Bringing Willy’s celebrated Shirley home is the perfect end to our 60th birthday year. It’s a huge honour for us all to be working again with Willy and a wonderful opportunity to celebrate not just the Everyman’s past but look confidently to its future as well”. Tickets for the show go on general sale from noon on May 1, priority booking from April 26. More info here

A show filled with original stories from the lives of older people returns to Leeds Playhouse this week. The Performance Ensemble developed Sinfonia as part of 1001 Stories, a festival that celebrated age and ageing at the Playhouse for LEEDS 2023, the Year of Culture. Directed by Alan Lyddiard, the 2024 production, at Leeds Playhouse's Courtyard Theatre on April 26-27, features new stories and performers in a more intimate show that will be performed in Leeds, Doncaster and Barrow. Local performers will share tales of activism and politics, love and family, told by the generation that pioneered punk, fronted marches and invented the internet. Alan Lyddiard, who is the company's artistic director, said: “We’ve been creating high quality performances with people aged over 60 for years now, giving a voice to generations that have been forgotten. These people have full lives and experiences worth sharing and we are revealing and celebrating them in new, beautiful and emotive ways.” The ensemble has just become an Arts council England National Portfolio Organisation, which neans it is guaranteed national funding. "We want to say life doesn’t stop as you get older," said Alan, who himself is 73. "In becoming an NPO we have been able to offer 12 new roles in the company to people usually closer to considering retirement; each of them bringing a lifetime of expertise and enthusiasm.” More info here

Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot will celebrate the Bard’s birthday on April 27 with a packed open day of workshops and drop-in sessions for all ages, from masterclasses with renowned Shakespearean practitioner Ben Crystal to poetry workshops and storytelling. Crystal will be offering actors across the Liverpool region a workshop of text exploration, while director Chris Tomlinson will host workshops for 14 to 18-year-olds, exploring some of Shakespeare's most famous characters and scenes. TV writer Mandy Redvers Rowe will host Writing With Shakespeare’s Words for 11 to 14-year-olds, in which participants will use some of the many words that Shakespeare invented to create new pieces of writing. For visitors aged 4-8, Story Telling with OG the Giant will be running throughout the day, as will children’s drama sessions for 8 to 11-year-olds. In the evening, Becoming Othello by Debra Ann Byrd is an autobiographical solo show that chronicles the trials and triumphs of her life, including her encounter with a troupe of Shakespearean actors and her journey to playing Othello. This year’s open day progamme has been aided by the Our Town’s Sound project, which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This year-long project focuses on the way language has developed in the local areas of Prescot, Knowsley and Merseyside, and is inspired by the idea that Shakespeare is credited with creating or adding 750 new words or phrases to our language. The project is uncovering how language has changed in the area, and the open day will offer a selection of workshops and drop-in sessions focused on the theme. One is a telephone box installation in the theatre cafe, in which visitors will be able to record messages about language unique to the local area. More information, including timings and tickets, here

Know your theatre: Clonter Opera Theatre, Congleton Clonter, sometimes called ‘the Glyndebourne of the North’, is on a working farm in the Cheshire countryside, not far from the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. Clonter began as informal gatherings in a barn, with seating on bales of straw. Today the venue has a 400-seat theatre (though a former hen house is still part of the backstage facilities), and a well-established programme of events. Clonter notably showcases young operatic talent, but also jazz and folk. Front of house now offers sufficient accommodation for the entire audience to enjoy a meal under one roof, either before or part-way through the performance (ordered from the house caterer or your own picnic), which is something even Glyndebourne cannot offer. Expect to meet the Cheshire set in full cry (especially after imbibing during a long interval) as your fellow opera-buffs, but this stage frequently offers future international stars in the making, so it can be worth it... Address: Swettenham Heath, Trap Rd, Congleton CW12 2LR Phone: General inquiries and box office: 01260 224514 (10am-4pm Mon-Fri and performance days). The theatre is large, the building boasting separate rooms of various sizes, allowing it to function as a theatre and for corporate hires and schools use throughout the year. The theatre website offers a range of accommodation choices for long-distance visitors. Disabled visitors are well catered for Facilities: Parking: There is a drop-off point outside the theatre entrance, and free parking. Eight bays close to the main entrance can be reserved for those with reduced mobility. Online box office: Go here if you haven't booked online at Clonter before, or here if you have. You need to open an account for online booking.

Know your theatre: Opened in 1887, the Coliseum was one of the oldest British theatres still operating, and was much loved by its loyal supporters – perhaps more so since its demise in March 2023. Once a circus, in the 1930s it was briefly a cinema before becoming the members-only Oldham Repertory Theatre. It was said to be one of the most haunted theatres in Britain, and a famous stage death occurred there in the 1940s. By the 1950s-60s the resident company helped to form the careers of Coronation Street stars Jean Alexander, Pat Phoenix, Roy Barra-clough, William Roache and local girls Barbara Knox and Anne Kirkbride. In 1978 it became the Arts Council and local authority-supported Oldham Coliseum, offering a mix of professional productions of its own and other touring shows, It was famous for its massively-popular annual pantomime. Plans for a new building were scrapped in late 2018 and the withdrawal of an Arts Council "NPO" grant in late 2022 led to the theatre's closure in March 2023. Plans are supposedly in place for a smaller replacement within three or so years, which might not retain the name. Coliseum Theatre, Oldham (closed Mar '23) Address: Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Fairbottom Street, Oldham OL1 3SW Phone: Facilities: Parking: Some on-street metered parking. Bradshaw Street car park is nearby, with a concessionary rate after 6pm. More information here Online box office:

Know your theatre: Theatre architect Frank Matcham's masterpiece sits on a windy street back from the prom, on an awkward corner site that was once a circus. Built between December 1893 and July 1894 at a cost of £20,000, today it is known as "Matcham’s masterpiece", a glorious, Grade II* listed, 1,100-seater four-level wonder of ornate gilded plasterwork. The Grand is one of several Matcham masterpieces, but for Blackpool he was asked to design “the prettiest theatre in the land”. There might be arguments about that (Matcham's Buxton Opera House anyone?), but as well as being beautiful it had innovations such as cantilevered tiers, which needed fewer pillars and offered unobstructed views. The theatre had been successful until the 1930s, but then faced competition from talking pictures. Outside summer seasons it also had to operate as a cinema. The vast, nearby Opera House in 1938, and later the arrival of TV, put the theatre into financial decline. Popular summer farces in the 50s and 60s couldn’t sustain it year-round, but thanks to Jeffrey Finestone of the Victorian Society, it was listed as Grade II* in 1972 and demolition plans proposed months later were rejected. After tortuous negotiations and time as a bingo hall, the Friends of the Grand, with Blackpool Council, bought the theatre in 1980 and it reopened with an Old Vic performance of The Merchant of Venice , with Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Vast amounts of fund-raising have produced a couple of major restorations since then, and the "Glorious Grand" is now the UK’s National Theatre of Variety, and Lancashire’s top touring-show theatre. Grand Theatre, Blackpool Address: 33 Church Street, Blackpool, FY1 1HT Phone: Box office 01253 290190. Theatre administration: 01253 290111 Facilities: As a late-Victorian theatre in a busy town, the Grand has the usual run of bars and a place for coffee and light snacks (Matcham Court Bar), but no restaurant. The theatre has relationships with a number of nearby chain restaurants, which sometimes offer deals on food for theatregoers. The theatre has baby-changing facilities and disabled loos (rear stalls). Assistance dogs are welcome. Parking: Online box office: The nearest car park to the Grand is West Street car park. The theatre offers a special parking ticket at this site only (£2.50, 5.30pm-12.30am, which is car park closing time), available only with a show ticket. Tickets can be purchased at the time of booking or on the evening at the box office. Go here and follow the booking route to your show choice