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Northern Theatre News
September - Week 4
Anthony Cawood
September 24, 2025
September - Week 4
Welcome to Northern Theatre News!
This week saw me brave the A64 again as I returned to Scarborough for Earth Angel, the new play from Alan Ayckbourn, which debuted at Stephen Joseph Theatre last week - one of my fave venues!
News in of a sterling effort by our northern venues and productions with nominations for the UK Theatre Awards. A special shout out to Sheffield Theatres who lead the way with three nominations, more than any venue in the entire country, and Stephen Joseph Theatre who’ve been nominated three years on the trot.
Plus we have the usual mix of news, listings, offers, competitions and so much more in this weeks jam packed edition.
I’d love to hear your feedback. So let me know what you’d like to see featured (or not!) in future editions of your newsletter.
Enjoy, and see you in the stalls!
News roundup
A number of our wonderful northern venues have been announced as nominees in the UK Theatre Awards with Storyhouse, Theatre by the Lake, Shakespeare North Playhouse, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse leading the way in the Off Stage nominations.
In On Stage noms Opera North, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Sheffield Theatres, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Storyhouse, Leeds Playhouse, Opera House Manchester are recognised for their creative achievements.
Full list of nominations below.
News just in for the upcoming tour of Legally Blonde! Amber Davies is to star as Elle Woods (The Great Gatsby and Pretty Woman)! The tour will be hitting Sheffield Theatres, Liverpool Empire, Grand Opera House York, Theatre Royal Newcastle, Leeds Grand Theatre, Hull Theatres, Manchester Opera House and Sunderland Empire in 26/27. |  |
Leeds Playhouse has announced a new play from Olivier Award-winning director Matthew Xia, Small Islands, a co-production with Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse debuting Spring next year.
And back to Ayckbourn for a moment, news just in that Sheridan Smith will be starring in Woman in Mind next year and visiting Sunderland Empire on its dates outside of London.
Subscriber giveaway
£50 monthly prize giveaway
Every month we give away a £50 Theatre Token to one of our subscribers, usable at over 250 venues across the UK (including loads in the North). Just stay subscribed and you’ll be in the draw!
Our August winner has been selected, [email protected], and has been notified - congrats, check your Inbox!
What’s on over the next few weeks
North East
Newcastle’s Live Theatre has the harrowing Bad Lads, brand new and based on real testimonies from boys held in Medomsley Youth Detention Centre, runs 2 - 11 Oct, and with a post show discussion on 9 Oct .
Newcastle’s Theatre Royal has the brand new adaptation of Miss Saigon 4 - 25 Oct
Darlington Hippodrome has a new adaptation of the classic Little Women, runs 30 Sept - 4 Oct
Sunderland Empire has Friends! The Musical Parody 23 - 27 Sept followed by the incredible Mary Poppins 1 - 25 Oct.
Billingham’s Forum Theatre have Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty 25 - 27 Sept followed by Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story 30 Sept - 4 Oct.
North West
Liverpool’s Everyman has Romeo & Juliet 13 Sept - 4 Oct.
The Playhouse Studio in Liverpool has Syncopated, a new play 23 Sept - 4 Oct.
The Liverpool Playhouse has The Last Laugh 23 - 27 Sept.
Liverpool Empire has Fiddler on the Roof 23 - 27 Sept, followed the hilarious Book of Mormon 30 Sept - 4 Oct.
Liverpool’s Royal Court has Derby Days, a brand new comedy that’s more than just a game, 12 Sept - 18 Oct.
Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre has Shake It Up Baby running 26 Sept - 11 Oct. Review in next week’s edition!
Opera House Manchester has 13 Going On 30 - The Musical, based on the hit film and running 21 Sept - 12 Oct.
Palace Theatre in Manchester has the spectacular Moulin Rouge until 4 Oct.
Home in Manchester has The Shawshank Redemption 7 - 11 Oct
Over in Blackpool, the Winter Gardens have The Bodyguard 1 - 4 Oct
Also in Blackpool and the Grand Theatre has The Shawshank Redemption 23 - 27 Sept.
The Lowry, in Salford, has Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story 22 - 27 Sept followed by Death on the Nile 26 Sept - 4 Oct. In the Quays Theatre they have Eddie Izzard’s Hamlet 1 - 2 Oct
Storyhouse in Chester has the spooky The Woman in Black 24 - 27 Sept
Octagon Bolton has Noel Coward’s Private Lives running 4 - 27 Sept. Followed by King Arthur 30 Sept - 4 Oct.
Theatre by the Lake in Keswick has Di, Viv and Rose 19 Sept - 11 Oct.
Touring the North West for the next few weeks we have Silent Approach, based on police officer Rebecca House’s harrowing real-life experience of a drug-induced psychotic episode and psychiatric detention.
New Adelphi Theatre, Salford - 25 Sept - Tickets
Dukes Theatre, Lancaster (with £5 ticket offer!) - 26 -27 Sept - Tickets
Central Library, Blackburn - 1 - 2 Oct - Tickets
Lowther Pavilion, Lytham St Annes - 5 Oct - Tickets
Oak Theatre, Scarisbrick - 11 Oct - Tickets
Yorkshire & Humberside
Leeds Playhouse has Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird at the Quarry theatre, 8 Sept - 4 Oct.
Check out our Northern Theatre News review
Leeds Grand Theatre has a range of Opera North shows on over the next few weeks.
Bradford Alhambra has The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 23 - 27 Sept, followed by Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell 30 Sept - 4 Oct
Touring Bradford from 23 Sept - 16 Oct is Otherhood, a new play created for Bradford 2025 - UK City of Culture.
Over at Bingley Little Theatre we have David Ayres’ Dead London 3 - 5 Oct.
And in Wakefield at the Theatre Royal we have Calendar Girls 24 - 27 Sept
York Theatre Royal has their own fantastic production of Military Wives - The Musical, 10 - 27 Sept. Check out our Northern Theatre News review. That’s followed by Lost Atoms from Frantic Assembly 7 - 11 Oct, review to come.
The Grand Opera House in York has Friends! The Musical Parody 30 Sept - 4 Oct.
Stephen Joseph Theatre has the premier of Earth Angel, the new play from Alan Ayckbourn,13 Sept - 11 Oct.
East Riding Theatre has a brand new production of Answering Machines, 11 - 27 Sept.
Hull Truck Theatre have Pride & Prejudice 18 Sept - 11 Oct.
Hull New Theatre has the toruing production of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe 30 Sept - 4 Oct
Sheffield’s Playhouse has the twisted black-comedy Consumed, check out this insightful interview with the award winning playwright Karis Kelly - running 24 Sept - 11 Oct
Continuing in Sheffield at the Lyceum we Matthew Bourne’s spectacular The Midnight Bell 23 - 27 Sept.
And at the Crucible Sheffield, we have Dancing at Lughnasa, 13 Sept - 4 Oct.
Northern Theatre News reviews
When we’re lucky enough to be invited to press nights we add the review to the very next newsletter - this week it’s reviews!
Here are the shows we’ve seen recently.
Excerpt… “In our overtly suspicious and cynical age, where the internet normalises mask wearing, we are asked to consider goodness. Whether someone, in this case Daniel, can just be what they say, a good person who wants to help.”
Excerpt… “I may have cried more than I did during Come From Away, which always floors me. At one point the lovely lady next to me apologised if her crying had disturbed me - her son had done four tours. No apology needed, given my two sob-a-thons during the most emotionally raw sections later on.”
Excerpt… “The play not only challenges the audience to consider the ugly truth of racism, but the fact that unless we stand up, we are at the very least complicit.”
Coming soon, Earth Angel and Shake It Up Baby
Ticket offers not to miss!
I’ll try and bring you all the ticket deals and offers I can find!
Summer Saver offers
ATG Entertainment, who run a number of theatres up and down the country, has a Summer Saver offer on, select tickets are discounted on over 120 shows, including the Liverpool Empire, Manchester Palace Theatre, Manchester Opera House, Stockton Globe, and Sunderland Empire.
Theatre competitions
They’re not all northern, but when they’re not they do involve a hotel stay too, good luck! All are free to enter and run by 3rd parties (not me!), and I will keep them in each newsletter whilst the entry date is still valid.
Theatre spotlight
I’ll look at one of our great Northern Theatres each week and give a little more info on the theatre and its rich history. This week is a re-run as I’m visiting again for Earth Angel, any excuse to go to this amazing venue!
Stephen Joseph Theatre
 The incredible Art Deco exterior at night All images are credit Tony Bartholomew or SJT unless otherwise stated.  Stephen Joseph Theatre by Peter McDermott, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons  The SJT venues over the years  The Round auditorium  A production in The Round  The McCarthy auditorium  The McCarthy stage/cinema  Couldn’t resist another great shot of the SJT at night! | Born in a library, raised in a school, and now thriving inside an Art Deco haven, Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre (SJT) has been reinventing itself (and British theatre) for 70 years! On 14 July 1955, pioneering director Stephen Joseph opened the UK’s first professional theatre-in-the-round upstairs at Scarborough Library. It was intimate, eccentric and… it worked. The little Library Theatre quickly became a sanctuary for new writing and emerging talent, including an 18-year-old Alan Ayckbourn, who arrived in 1957 as an acting ASM and has never really left. By 1976, the company had outgrown the library and moved to a 'temporary' new home at Westwood (a former school), where it kept the in-the-round format, and kept developing Ayckbourn’s work as writer-director. In 1996, a long-held dream came true when the company took over Scarborough’s 1936 Odeon cinema, preserving the glorious foyer and 30s detailing while building a purpose-designed roundhouse at the former screen end. The new SJT opened with By Jeeves, an Ayckbourn & Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, after previews from 24 April and an official launch on 1 May 1996. A new theatre mecca was born! Today the building houses two auditoria, The Round, with 404 seats, and The McCarthy with 165 seats, an end-stage studio and sometime cinema. The Round even boasted a UK first when it opened, with a stage lift and a wire-mesh trampoline lighting grid for rapid changeovers. It can even be adapted to 3 sided should the need arise. The SJT produces five or six shows a year, often including a new Ayckbourn, a big 'popular excellence' comedy, and a much loved Christmas show. They run alongside many visiting events spanning drama, music, comedy, dance and more. This summer’s headline comedy is Noises Off (9th August to 6th September), never before staged in-the-round! This year also saw this legendary theatre mark its 70th birthday with a wonderful gala celebration As for local legends, well Scarborough remains Ayckbourn’s creative home, he served as Artistic Director from 1972 to 2009, returned to work after a 2006 stroke, and continues to premiere his new plays at the SJT with Earth Angel his latest. The current Artistic Director is Paul Robinson (appointed 2016), who has steered the theatre through recent seasons with a sure hand and plenty of Yorkshire gumption. |
Theatre index
I’ve collated an index of all the northern venues I could find, it’s broken down by region so you can find the ones nearest you.
Do let me know if I’ve missed any.
Courses & training
I’ve had a few reader requests to add theatre related courses/training to the newsletter, so when/if I find any I’ll feature them here.
If you know of any more just let me know and I’ll include them
That’s it for this week
I’d love to know what you think about this newsletter, what we could do to make it even better next time, and what else you’d like to see.
Thanks for reading and subscribing and please do spread the word.
Thanks for reading and subscribing, and please spread the news.
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