The events will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio Publication and feature a host of local legends, ground-breaking productions and creative workshops that pay homage to the First Folio and its historic significance.

This first wave of events announced pays homage to the first collection of Shakespeare’s work that was collated and published in 1623. This collection is made up of 36 plays and without it many of Shakespeare’s work would have been lost.

The 2023 season will begin on the 28th January in the Cockpit Theatre with ‘An Evening with Angela Griffin’ , the baton having been passed to the actor and television and radio presenter. Angela, who is about to be seen starring in BBC drama series Waterloo Road will be interviewed by screenwriter and award-winning beloved children’s author, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Hailing from Rainhill, Frank is one of the most respected screenwriters working in the British film industry, he will be taking to The Cockpit Theatre stage for  ‘An Audience with Frank Cottrell-Boyce’ on the 4^th February.  

Comedian Freddy Quinne will be hosting the comedy evening ‘Bare Faced Comedy’, on the 7^th of February. Local legend, Hollyoaks, Brookside and Grange Hill creator, Sir Phil Redmond, joins Shakespeare North for ‘Phil Redmond – The bloke from down the road’ on the 16th February. Local theatre company, Imaginarium Theatre, will return with their much-loved production ‘Strange Tale’, 10^th-11^th February,  a play that explores Shakespeare’s connections with Prescot through a time-travelling adventure, that blows apart the myths, the man and the missing years.  

In addition to this, the first Cockpit Theatre co-production for 2023 is The Comedy of Errors (more or less), a co-production with Stephen Joseph Theatre, will open at Shakespeare North Playhouse on Friday 3 March 2023 running until Saturday 25 March 2023. Other theatre productions include Lauren Gunderson’s ‘The Book of Will’, a co-production with Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Octagon Theatre Bolton, will make its European and UK premiere at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch before taking to the stage at Shakespeare North Playhouse from Thursday 19 October until Saturday 11 November 2023. Meanwhile, The HandleBards will be returning to Shakespeare North for their laugh-out-loud version of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by William Shakespeare 14^th– 17^th June. HER productions will also be returning with their all-female adaptation of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, ‘Lear’ 21^st– 24^th June, bringing their iconic twist to the aging monarch. 

For more information visit: https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/