SHAKESPEARE North have announced their next line up of performances with Macbeth as the headline attraction.

The theatre opened last year with much fan fare and is going from strength to strength winning awards and producing top shows.

The second wave of shows announced includes Macbeth as the headliner, which will be a co-production between Shakespeare North Playhouse, English Touring Theatre, Northern Stage and Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg.

Also as 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio publication, and Shakespeare North Playhouse aim to celebrate this through programming that pays homage to the First Folio and its historic significance.

So with that in mind, Shakespeare’s Globe will visit Shakespeare North Playhouse with their production of Midsummer Mechanicals from July 15 to 18 running for six performances with both schools and public performances.

Creative Director of Shakespeare North Playhouse, Laura Collier said: “It has been an incredible first 6 months at Shakespeare North Playhouse and we’re so excited to announce the second half of our opening year.

“We can’t wait welcome our friends including English Touring Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe and Headlong Theatre and to celebrate a year of Shakespeare North Playhouse this 2023.”

Meanwhile the star of the show is the co-production of ‘Macbeth’ (1st - 23rd September) at Shakespeare North Playhouse this September in partnership with English Touring Theatre promising to be a ‘visceral and claustrophobic’ show.

The performance in the iconic cockpit theatre will will speak to a world that we find ourselves living in now, watching those who hold the highest responsibilities in our society, brazenly use deceit and misinformation in their quest for power.

A struggling and divided nation, tearing itself apart.

So, when the Macbeths see their chance at the crown, why shouldn't they take it? But things don’t go according to plan.

Also, Headlong and Barbican will join Shakespeare North Playhouse with their production ‘Headlong- A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction’ from May 16-20.

Written by Miranda Rose Hall, this darkly funny, life-affirming show is a bold experiment in eco theatre-making.

Sharing learning from Europe, Katie Mitchell and Headlong present an innovative touring model, the first of its kind in the UK, which sees a play tour, while the people and materials do not.

Shakespeare in Love will be the first film to be shown at Shakespeare North Playhouse on February 17.

The film, directed by John Madden and starring Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow and Dame Judi Dench, is a multi-award-winning romantic comedy released in 1998 which follows the Bard as he embarks on a passionate love affair that would inspire one of his greatest works.

Dame Judi Dench kindly donated wood from the film set to Shakespeare North Playhouse which has been repurposed into crafting the front desk and various other elements of the building.

Other notable shows are:

  • The Ink and Curtain Theatre Company’s performance of The Red Queen and other Monsters from July 28-30 in the Studio.
  • SHEWOLVES Productions will perform their uplifting coming-of-age comedy for teenagers and anyone who has ever been a teen, ‘SHEWOLVES’, named one of The Stage’s Best Shows of the Year in 2022 (May 24).
  • ‘WILD TIME: A Theatrical Novel’ (June 24) - a punk prose retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the lovers and the haters which was featured in The Guardian ‘Hottest front-room seats’ and Lyn Gardner’s Pick of the Week.
  • ‘Ladyfriends (a period drama)’ (March 23 -24) a high-octane romp through love letters, third dates, and lesbian period dramas – via the (probably) true stories of Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst. Rammed with live music and film, it digs up real-life queer history to ask the age-old question: “are we dating, or are we just really good friends?”                                                              Emily Parr presents ‘No Coward Soul’, a tragicomic one-woman show...containing 37 characters. Documenting one woman as she strives to survive along after a painfully amicable divorce. This will be followed by Sam Freeman’s ‘Every Time I Close My Eyes, All I See Is You’, A storytelling show about time passing, love, laughter and longing on July 4.
  • Mooncup Theatre will perform their production ‘Off Your Bonnet’ (March 10 -11). A new theatre piece that explores the themes of isolation, feminism and imagination through the parallel of our modern world and the world that the Bronte sisters inhabited.