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Regeneration

Shakespeare North unveils its spring season in Prescot

The Prescot playhouse's spring 2026 line-up runs from A Midsummer Night's Dream to Nell Gwynn, with Ricky Tomlinson and the metro mayors also on the bill.

Community
St Mary's Church in Prescot town centre, near the Shakespeare North Playhouse
Photo: Rodhullandemu / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Shakespeare North Playhouse has announced its spring 2026 season, a run of reimagined classics, northern stories and new writing at the Prescot theatre.

The season opens in February on the playhouse’s Cockpit stage with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, staged in partnership with Shakespeare’s Globe, Headlong, Bristol Old Vic and Leeds Playhouse. It is followed by a neon-lit reworking of Antony and Cleopatra from 1623 Theatre Company.

In March the playhouse stages Jim Cartwright’s TWO, with Dash Arts’ Our Public House to come in May. June brings Nell Gwynn, a comedy co-produced with Theatre by the Lake and Storyhouse.

Alongside the plays, the programme mixes music, comedy and family events. Highlights include An Evening with the Mayors, featuring the Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram and Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham, plus appearances from comedian Justin Moorhouse and the actor Ricky Tomlinson.

The £38m theatre, built largely during the pandemic with public funding and donations, has become a centrepiece of Prescot’s regeneration. It is expected to draw more than 140,000 visitors a year into the town.

The season opens in February and runs through to June. Tickets and the full programme are on the Shakespeare North Playhouse website.

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