The best: Theatre shows to book now in Manchester

Forming part of critically acclaimed Queer Indigenous collective FAFSWAG’s upcoming takeover of HOME, SAUNIGA is a live action blend of dance, chanting and ceremony that explores the majestic world of our earliest ancestors: the animals from the land, sky and ocean.

Forming part of this year’s Manchester International Festival, Liberation is a powerful new play by writer Ntombizodwa Nyoni, directed by Monique Touko, inspired by true events in Black British History.

Commissioned and staged 80 years after the Fifth Pan African Congress took place in Manchester, Liberation explores the private lives of activists who fought to liberate Africa, and why their stories remain relevant in 2025.

A new show from Sam Danson (BI-TOPIA) and award-winning director, Rikki Beadle-Blair, Daddy’s First Gay Date is a candid exploration of identity and self-acceptance told through the awkwardness of a first date set in a local pub.

A special al-fresco performance of Jane Austen’s classic novel of scandals, scoundrels and sprained ankles comes to Ordsall Hall this July. Performed by critically acclaimed group The Pantaloons, the show promises a funny, fast-paced adaptation of Sense & Sensibility complete with live music and audience interaction.

Offcut Festival is back at 53Two this summer, bringing with it a whopping 20 plays spread across two weeks of fantastic, up-and-coming theatremakers.

Shows will be narrowed down to five finalists and ultimately one overall winner, in what has become a renowned springboard for new directors.

Following a sensational smash-hit residency in Salford last summer and sell-out successes around the world, the riotous Tudor satire SIX returns to Lowry with an irresistible pop-infused celebration of Henry VIII’s wives and their unsung bravery while wed to Britain’s most infamous king.

Divorced, Beheaded, Live – one by one, the problematic monarch’s spouses take to the mic to remix five centuries of anguish into an evening of defiantly rebellious girl power, as these overlooked icons of history deliver a series of brutal invectives with infectious melodies and ingenious lyricism, set to a rollicking original score.

Winner of Best New Play at the WhatsOnStage Awards after its West End debut in 2021, the hair-raising supernatural thriller 2:22 A Ghost Story takes over Opera House Manchester for the first time with a new slate of star performers from stage and screen, with former cast members including Lily Allen, Tom Felton, Jake Wood and James Buckley.

Billed as a ‘brilliantly funny and adrenaline-filled night’, the innovative edge-of-your-seat theatre experience introduces audiences to Jenny, a new homeowner who – to the disdain of her husband – believes the house is haunted. Over the course of an argument about belief, scepticism and the paranormal between the couple and their dinner guests, an unsettling atmosphere fills the room, and they eventually agree to stay up until 2:22am to uncover the conclusive truth.

The world-famous Moulin Rouge! The Musical comes to The Palace this year. Winner of ten Tony awards, including Best Musical, Best Director, and Best Choreography, Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life in a Belle Époque blaze of glamour, glitz and eye-popping excess.

The most unlikely of worlds collide at Lowry this October, as heavy metal and ballet come together in a celebration of one of the most famous musical groups in history. Led by the legendary Carlos Acosta, Black Sabbath – The Ballet delivers a spectacular theatrical experience featuring thrilling dance alongside orchestrations of legendary Black Sabbath tracks such as Paranoid and Iron Man, and new orchestral works inspired by their music.

This October, the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s electrifying adaptation of Joseph Stein’s epochal masterpiece comes to Manchester for two weeks as the marquee show of the Palace Theatre’s autumn season.

Described as ‘the theatre of event of 2025’, Fiddler on the Roof breathes new life into the soaring saga of joy, revolution, love and life, transporting audiences the tiny village of Anetevka in 1905, where staunchly traditional Jewish milkman Tevye lives with his five daughters. Faced with being married off through the matchmaker, each daughter begins to challenge Tevye’s long-held beliefs against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world.

Book tickets below to one of the greatest musicals of all time, featuring definitive songs like If I Were A Rich Man, Tradition, Matchmaker and Sunrise, Sunset.

Bigger, bolder and more thrilling than ever, the all-new production Cirque: The Greatest Show brings a heart-stopping fusion of musical theatre and circus performance to Aviva Studios this October.

Promising an experience ‘bursting with colour, energy and excitement’, the stunning stage spectacular blends nerve-shredding acrobatics with bombastic songs led by acclaimed vocalists in a mesmerising family-friendly bonanza.

Starring Coronation Street’s Brian Capron (Richard Hillman) as the wicked Abanazar – the original stage inspiration for Jafar – Stockport Plaza’s family-friendly pantomime spectacular whisks audiences on a magic carpet ride through the souks, streets and desert caves of Agrabah in a dazzling festive extravaganza this December.

Transforming the cavernous AO Arena into a breathtaking big top experience for one night only this Christmas, the World’s Biggest Productions presents an all-new staging of the Wicked Wizard of Oz with a show-stopping circus twist, as forty performers rework the beloved play in a whirlwind of aerial stunts and spellbinding special effects.

Led by the stars of Elf – The Arena Spectacular, the iconic pantomime collides with jaw-dropping acrobatics and incredible choreography as Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and and the Tin Man – reimagined as a ten-foot transformer – venture over the rainbow and along a yellow brick road filled with high wires, broomstick-borne witches and flying monkeys on the way to the wicked wizard’s Emerald Circus.