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Northern Theatre News
February 2026 - Week 2
Anthony Cawood
February 10, 2026
February 2026 - Week 2
Welcome to Northern Theatre News!
We’re heading into Valentines weekend, so why not treat your significant other to some quality theatre, up north of course! It really does make the perfect gift and there are some great productions to choose from.
You can find your romantic fix in our usual mix of listings, news, competitions and more. 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
First up, tour news…
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is embarking on its fabulous 10th Anniversary tour and visiting Leeds, Chester, Sunderland, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool in 2027!
Leeds Playhouse has announced the exciting new cast for Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham's Punch, a true story of hope, humanity, and the possibility of change.
The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough is delighted to welcome a new Casting Director, Annelie Powell. Annelie will be casting most of the SJT's own productions, starting with Murder for Two, which can be seen at the North Yorkshire theatre from 28 March to 18 April and stars Tom Babbage and Lucy Keirl. In addition to theatre Annie has also worked in TV for Angel Studios, Hallmark, Netflix, Apple, Warner Bros, Hallmark, BBC, Amazon Prime, ITV and Nickelodeon. |  Annelie Powell CDG is a Casting Director for theatre, television and film, and Creative Associate at Jonathan Church Theatre Productions. |
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.
What’s on over the coming weeks
North East
Newcastle’s Theatre Royal has Mamma Mia! 11 - 28 Feb
Sunderland Empire has Matilda 11 - 28 Feb
North West
Liverpool Empire has Red Shoes 24 - 28 Feb.
Palace Theatre in Manchester has Barnum 10 -14 Feb followed by Priscilla Queen of the Desert 19 - 28 Feb.
Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester has Road 13 Feb - 14 March
Home in Manchester has The Lightning Thief - The Percy Jackson Musical 11 - 21 Feb
Still in Manchester, Hope Mill Theatre has The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me 10 - 14 Feb followed by Kind of Love 24 Feb - 1 March
Over to Blackpool and the Grand Theatre has Midsomer Murders: The Killing at Badger’s Drift 10 - 14 Feb and then Single White Female 17 - 21 Feb.
The Lowry, in Salford has the eagerly awaited tour of Operation Mincemeat 16 - 28 Feb
Over in Crewe, The Lyceum Theatre has Double Indemnity 17 - 21 Feb
Octagon Bolton has The Memory of Water 29 Jan - 21 Feb.
Yorkshire & Humberside
Leeds Grand Theatre has Opera North’s The Marriage of Figaro 30 Jan - 21 Feb with some Peter Grimes mixed in for good measure
Leeds Playhouse has Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty 10 - 12 Feb followed by A Midsummer Night’s Dream 14 - 28 Feb.
Bradford’s Alhambra has Dear England 17 - 21 Feb followed by Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story 24 - 28 Feb.
York Theatre Royal has The Last Picture 5 - 14 Feb followed by Annie 12 - 21 Feb.
The Grand Opera House in York has Here & Now - The Steps Musical 10 - 15 Feb followed by the Sold Out Prima Facie, and then Barnum 24 - 28 Feb.
Hull New Theatre has Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story 12 - 14 Feb
Over in Sheffield at the Lyceum we have The Bodyguard the Musical 10 - 14 Feb followed by The Tiger Who Came To Tea 19 - 21 Feb.
The Playhouse has My Brother’s A Genius 28 Jan - 14 Feb followed by Perfect Show for Rachel 18 - 21 Feb.
The Crucible has Crown of Blood 2 - 7 Feb followed by The Ladies Football Club 28 Feb - 28 March
Northern Theatre News reviews
When we’re lucky enough to be invited to press nights we add the review to the very next newsletter! Here are the shows we’ve seen recently.
Ticket offers not to miss!
Not so much of a ticket offer this time, but an offer to get an additional theatre fix from home with Marquee TV. They have a ton of theatre, opera, concerts and ballet, and they are running a new offer where your first month is subscription is just £1.
Also with a Jan offer we have The Theatre Channel at just £1.99 a month for 6 months! (Before it reverts to £5.99 a month)
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
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. 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 better, and what else you’d like to see.
Thanks for reading and subscribing, and please spread the news.
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