Featuring everything from global smash-hits, gripping thrillers, cosmic journeys and poignant historical explorations, Manchester’s upcoming theatre programme delivers another diverse slate of acclaimed productions to suit thespian connoisseurs and first-time audiences alike.
Here’s our pick of the best theatre shows you can book now in Manchester.
Has there been a more fitting backdrop for a retelling of H.G. Wells’ iconic The War of the Worlds? The classic tale is reimagined at Jodrell Bank as a gripping solo performance by storyteller Gav Cross.
Delivered in the intimate style of a Victorian parlour reading at Jodrell Bank, this abridged production thrusts audiences into the terror and urgency of a world in chaos, consumed by the unstoppable force of a Martian invasion.
Inspired by the life of Nina Simone, and featuring many of her most iconic songs performed live, Apphia Campbell’s acclaimed play follows a successful singer and civil rights activist as she seeks redemption after the untimely death of her father.
Blurring the boundaries between classical music and other artforms, Manchester Collective join forces with dance-theatre company Thick & Tight to present a searing live performance that draws on queer culture. Daniel Hay-Gordon and El Perry’s radical work flits between ballet and cabaret, the absurd and the disarmingly moving. At the heart of the show is Kaija Saariaho’s Sept Papillons – a set of seven miniatures for solo cello performed by Laura van der Heijden, one of the leading cellists of her generation.
The first in a series of new productions, English National Opera (ENO) and Factory International present the UK premiere of Du Yun’s Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary opera Angel’s Bone with a libretto by Royce Vavrek – a major new production directed by the visionary theatre maker Kip Williams, in collaboration with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Even These Things, a new play that explores three moments in Mancunian and Irish history, including the day that an IRA bomb exploded in the city centre, comes to the Royal Exchange.
Award-winning Film and Television star Elaine Cassidy makes her Royal Exchange debut, alongside Katherine Pearce, who returns to the Royal Exchange after starring in NO PAY? NO WAY! (2023).
Thirty years after her first Glastonbury, Neddy returns to celebrate her late sister’s 50th birthday in this high-voltage, one-woman rollercoaster through grief, sisterhood, and the strange magic of losing — and maybe finding — yourself in a field of strangers.
Murder comes to the countryside in the theatrical world premiere of the critically acclaimed television favourite Midsomer Murders.
When well-loved spinster Emily Simpson is found dead in the picturesque village of Badger’s Drift, her friend Lucy Bellringer refuses to accept it was an accident. DCI Tom Barnaby and Sergeant Gavin Troy are called in to investigate, uncovering a world of hidden passions, long-buried secrets and deadly rivalries.
Drawing on the legacy of pioneering Black American sopranos Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, Le Gateau Chocolat’s Spirituals arrives at Lowry as both an homage and reinvention, threading a tapestry from music, memory and identity into an epiphanous tribute to Black Queer excellence.
Billed as the original ‘Girl Power’ story, the hit musical Malory Towers returns to Manchester later in the year. Based on Enid Blyton’s books, the nostalgic show follows short-tempered Darrell Rivers and the new-found relationships she must develop at her new boarding school.
Now in its 17th year, Off Cut Festival returns to 53Two, bringing 20 plays to the theatre over a two-week period. Throughout the festival, audience members vote for their favourite, with the top eight playing again in an exciting final show, after which the winning play is revealed. Off Cut has become one of the UK’s most renowned platforms for discovering new writing, acting and directing, with the winning play receiving £10,000 worth of support, and being produced, in full, at 53Two.
The world premiere of a dance work inspired by Sinéad O’Connor, created by Tony Award-winning choreographer and director Sonya Tayeh, heads to Aviva Studios in the summer. Fierce, unflinching and tender, The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor is a meditation on voice, protest and the courage to live a life that defies the norm.
The internationally award-winning Wright&Grainger (HELIOS, ORPHEUS, THE GODS THE GODS THE GODS) brings its latest show, SELENE, to Jodrell Bank this summer.
Delivered by a solo storyteller against an epic, electronic score, SELENE is an immersive story about the light sides of us, the dark sides of us, and the things we grow up in the orbit of.
A unique 24-hour performance piece by artist and activist Ai Weiwei comes to Aviva Studios this July, coinciding with the largest site-specific exhibition by the artist, which will be on display this summer.
Running across Fri 3 Jul – Sat 4 Jul, Sewing a Button will give audiences an unflinching look at Ai Weiwei’s secret detention by Public Security in China in 2011 and is the first time the artist has reenacted his experience.
For the first time ever, a novel by John le Carré, the undisputed master of the modern spy genre, is brought to life in a thrilling stage adaptation.
Starring Ralf Little, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is a riveting journey through the fog-shrouded terrain of Cold War espionage, deception, and moral compromise.
To save their home, the unconventional sisters of St. Magdaline’s are planning the ultimate “holy” heist. Facing a future of shopping centres and student flats, this misfit family of “last chance” nuns must band together to “borrow” their way to salvation by targeting the Church’s own coffers.
- Words:
- Wire Editor
- Published on:
- Thu 7 May 2026
Narrated by Richard Armitage, audiences are invited to experience the thrill of launch, the challenges of life in space and cutting-edge NASA tech in this spectacular dome show at the iconic UNESCO heritage site, Jodrell Bank, throughout January.