Hope Mill Theatre stages a vibrant and eclectic theatre programme in May and June

Hailed as ‘explosive, steamy and heart-wrenching’ in A Youngish Perspective’s glowing five-star review, Jock Night takes over Hope Mill with Manchester’s wildest party, where lust, laughter and unflinching candour collide in a breathtaking chronicle of a hedonistic year in the Gay Village.

Fresh from an acclaimed run at London’s Seven Dials Playhouse, Jock Night follows a group of men looking for love amidst the casual chemsex and fleeting flings of Canal Street, charting their struggle to navigate desire, belonging and the cost of the lives they lead across a series of uninhibited nights in the city.

Fresh from its northern premiere in 2024, Mike Bartlett’s Cock returns to Manchester with the tender yet searingly witty story of John, a man who’s caught between his long-term boyfriend and a woman he unexpectedly falls in love with.

Billed as ‘an emotionally thrilling performance buzzing with tension’, Cock reimagines ‘love and lust as blood sport’ (Guardian) in a biting, bombastic play directed Hope Mill favourite Rupert Hill (Coronation Street, HUSK).

Back at Hope Mill for the seventh time, Unseemly Women bring a thrillingly inventive take on Shakespeare’s timeless tale of power, plotting and bloodshed from Wed 18 – Sun 29 Jun.

With Scotland at war with Norway and the men embroiled in relentless battle, the women gather under cover of darkness. When a group of witches tell a Scottish general he will be king and encourage him to realise his destiny, he resolves to fulfil their prophecy. Consumed by ambition, he begins a mad-eyed crusade of murder and manipulation in a desperate bid for endless power.