DRAMA PLAYS IN MANCHESTER
DRAMA PLAYS IN MANCHESTER
Most Popular Drama Plays in Manchester
Murder Trial Tonight V - Death in the Family
The Bridgewater Hall
Thu 25 Mar - Fri 21 May 2027
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Manchester Opera House
Tue 2 - Sat 6 Mar 2027
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Even These Things
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Tuesday 9 - Monday 15 June 2026
An epic story of Manchester and Ireland by multi award-winning playwright Rory Mullarkey premieres at the Royal Exchange Theatre, 30 years after an IRA bomb devastated the heart of the city. Three centuries. Three moments in time. In 1846...Punk Rock
Altrincham Garrick, Altrincham
Tuesday 9 - Sunday 14 June 2026
From Manchester power-house playwright, Simon Stephens, Punk Rock is a brutal and urgent examination of contemporary adolescence. "I hate normal people. Normal people should be eviscerated." Tucked away in a library in a Stockport grammar s...Plaza Murder Mystery Fundraiser
Stockport Plaza, Stockport
Tuesday 9 - Thursday 11 June 2026
The Plaza's very own 'Plaza Players' are back with another fundraising Murder Mystery event that will be.... deadly! This time, it's Eyes Down for a Full House back to 1969 as the staff at the Plaza Bingo Hall arrive for just another nig...Malory Towers
HOME, Manchester
Wednesday 10 - Saturday 13 June 2026
Nostalgic, naughty, and perfect for now, Enid Blyton's Malory Towers is the original 'Girl Power' story. Get ready for high jinks, high drama and high spirits, all set to sensational live music, as Emma Rice Company's production has been de...The Crocodile of Sadness
Lowry, Salford
Wednesday 10 June 2026
The Crocodile of Sadness by John Powell Jones is an experimental performance exploring grief, care and shared responsibility. Presented in Lowry's Studio Theatre, the work invites audiences into an intimate, imaginative space where storyte...DYKE Systems LTD
Lowry, Salford
Thursday 11 - Friday 12 June 2026
Step into the glittery, unhinged world of multi-level marketing mayhem with Fag Packet, Kheski Kobler and Holly Wilson-Guy, the award-winning cabaret and theatre double act. Equal parts corporate seminar and queer fever dream, DYKE Systems ...Social Experiment
Contact, Manchester
Thursday 11 June - Thursday 19 November 2026
Presented by Word of Warning and Contact, Social Experiment is a gathering for anyone interested in Live Art and contemporary performance to meet, chat, and try ideas out... A free and informal, semi-regular evening event which is a uniqu...Nell Gwynn
Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot
Friday 12 June - Saturday 4 July 2026
London, 1660. The theatres are alive, the monarchy's restored, and women are finally allowed on stage. One woman is about to take it by storm. Orange-seller, wit, trailblazer, Nell Gwynn is a woman who knows what she wants and isn't afraid ...Desperate Scousewives
St Helens Theatre Royal, St Helens
Friday 12 June 2026
Get ready for a riotous, fast-paced comedy following the lives of three loud, no-nonsense Liverpool women and one nervous newcomer, all navigating life, love, loyalty, and lipstick on a tightly knit street. Susan, Vanessa and Lily dominate ...National Theatre Live - Playboy of the Western World (12A)
Altrincham Garrick, Altrincham
Sunday 14 June 2026
Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton) joins Eanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment) and Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls) in John Millington Synge's riveting play of youth and self-discovery. Pegeen Flaherty's life is turned upside down when a young m...Silent Struggles
53two, Manchester
Sunday 14 June 2026
A play that follows a young Black boy coming out as gay within the Black Christian community. Please note that whilst the drama explores serious and emotional themes, there are also moments of humour throughout. ...The Other Neville
53two, Manchester
Thursday 18 - Saturday 20 June 2026
Imaginatively inspired by England netball legend Tracey Neville, this gripping new one-woman play steps into the shadows of success - where gold medals, grief and game plans quietly collide. It's March 2019. Months after leading the Roses t...Murder Mystery Evening
East Lancashire Railway, Bury
Friday 19 June - Friday 18 December 2026
Nothing works up an appetite like exercising those brain cells. So bring your best detective skills and join us for a night of mystery and murder on one of our stunning heritage steam trains. If you love Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes -...All The Single Ladies
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Friday 19 June - Friday 16 October 2026
"All The Single Ladies" is the latest comedy from MaD Theatre Company which explores the modern phenomenon of the 'Sandwich Generation' where people find themselves looking after their adult children as well as their ailing parents. Cath ...Twelfth Night (by HER Productions)
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Wednesday 24 June - Sunday 5 July 2026
HER Productions return in 2026 with Unseemly Shakespeare, taking on the Bard's ultimate romantic comedy: 'Twelfth Night'. Shipwrecked and separated from her twin, Viola washes ashore in Illyria. Disguising herself as the suave Cesario, she...
National Theatre Connections Festival
Lowry, Salford
Thursday 25 - Sunday 28 June 2026
Connections is the National Theatre's annual, nationwide youth theatre festival. The programme is 30 years old and has a history of championing the talent of young people from across the UK. Every year, Connections commissions new plays for...National Theatre Live - Les Liaisons Dangereuses
HOME, Manchester
Thursday 25 - Saturday 27 June 2026
Marianne Elliott directs Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner in a striking new adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' classic novel. A thrilling game of love, lies and social warfare. Among the glittering salons of the super-rich, patriarchy equal...Romeo and Juliet (Oddsocks Production)
Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot
Friday 26 - Saturday 27 June 2026
A family fued divides the community! Violence stalks the streets. Who can see beyond the hate and dare to follow their heart? A pair of star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet! Oddsocks return with their new take on this well-loved classic, f...Creative Tiny Humans
HOME, Manchester
Friday 26 June 2026 - Friday 26 March 2027
Join us in the Creativity Corner for our baby and toddler group drop in session to enjoy crafts, chats and creativity. Expect making for tiny hands, stories and most importantly PLAY. Join artist and community facilitator Phoebe Foxtrot on ...Life Out There
Lowry, Salford
Wednesday 1 - Saturday 4 July 2026
Written by Bruntwood Prize-winning playwright Tim Foley and created by Ransack Theatre, Life Out There is a sharp, funny and quietly horrifying new sci-fi drama, exploring the ethics of space exploration, human selfishness, and the fragil...(you are witnessing) My Villain Era
Waterside, Manchester
Thursday 2 - Friday 3 July 2026
The culmination of 5 years of actor training with Dark Horse, one of the UK's most exciting learning disabled led theatre companies. Come on in, pull up a chair. We meet in secret, but you're welcome here. Don't worry, it's just a gam...Ai Weiwei - Sewing a Button 24-Hour Performance
Aviva Studios, Manchester
Friday 3 - Saturday 4 July 2026
Ai Weiwei re-enacts his secret detention in Sewing a Button - an unflinching 24-hour live performance. Fifteen years ago, Ai Weiwei was secretly detained without any formal charges by Public Security in China. For 81 days, he lived in a s...National Theatre Live - Playboy of the Western World (12A)
Stockport Plaza, Stockport
Friday 3 July 2026
Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton) joins Eanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment) and Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls) in John Millington Synge's riveting play of youth and self-discovery. Pegeen Flaherty's life is turned upside down when a young m...National Theatre Live - Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Lucem House, St Helens
Friday 3 July 2026
Marianne Elliott directs Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner in a striking new adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' classic novel. A thrilling game of love, lies and social warfare. Among the glittering salons of the super-rich, patriarchy equal...Altrincham Garrick Play Reading Club
Altrincham Garrick, Altrincham
Friday 3 July - Friday 4 December 2026
If you like theatre... no, if you love theatre, drama, comedy, musical theatre, play reading, poetry and much more and would relish the opportunity to meet new people, then the new 'Altrincham Garrick Play Reading Club' is for you. Here is ...Playreading Sessions
HOME, Manchester
Friday 3 July - Friday 4 December 2026
HOME's popular Playreading group meets on the first Friday of most months. The sessions, which are open to all, offer an opportunity to read and discuss plays that are linked to our theatre productions, or discover new plays from local tal...National Theatre Live - Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Altrincham Garrick, Altrincham
Wednesday 8 July 2026
Marianne Elliott directs Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner in a striking new adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' classic novel. A thrilling game of love, lies and social warfare. Among the glittering salons of the super-rich, patriarchy equal...Diane's Deli: A Tale from Paradise Heights
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Thursday 9 - Saturday 11 July 2026
Following on from the fabulous success of the award winning The Haunting of Blaine Manor and The Bench: A Tale from Paradise Heights, Joe O'Byrne returns with the next tale in his critically acclaimed Supernatural meets Northern Noir ser...The Tiger Who Came To Tea
Waterside, Manchester
Saturday 11 - Sunday 12 July 2026
Based on Britain's best-loved picture book by Judith Kerr, the Olivier Award nominated smash hit show The Tiger Who Came to Tea returns to the West End. The doorbell rings just as Sophie and her mummy are sitting down to tea. Who could it p...Embrace presented by Glitter Bloke
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Tuesday 14 July 2026
Glitter Bloke present Embrace, an intimate, darkly tender exploration of queer connection, where desire gives way to vulnerability, and humour sits alongside unease. Five gay strangers. One orgy. A night that promises everything. They arr...
The Bob Ross Effect
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Wednesday 15 July 2026
A happy little show about the big things in life. Artist, animal-lover and unlikely sex symbol Bob Ross brought art to millions through his TV phenomenon, The Joy of Painting. 30 years on from his death, The Bob Ross Effect is a...All The Single Ladies
The Met, Bury
Friday 17 July 2026
"All The Single Ladies" is the latest comedy from MaD Theatre Company which explores the modern phenomenon of the 'Sandwich Generation' where people find themselves looking after their adult children as well as their ailing parents. Cath ...Murder, She Didn't Write
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Monday 20 - Tuesday 21 July 2026
Don your deerstalker, grab your magnifying glass and get your 'finger of suspicion' at the ready because Edinburgh Fringe favourites, Degrees of Error, are bringing back their multiple sell-out show for your sleuthing pleasure. They'll crea...Twelfth Night
Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot
Tuesday 21 - Friday 24 July 2026
The brilliantly bold Not Too Tame return with an electrifying production of Twelfth Night, starring Les Dennis as Malvolio. The company that brought you 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' return with their unique brand of high octane theatre in a ...The Spy Who Came in from The Cold
Lowry, Salford
Wednesday 22 - Saturday 25 July 2026
For the first time ever, a novel by John le Carre - the undisputed master of the modern spy genre whose works include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Night Manager - is brought to life in a thrilling stage adaptation. Starring ...Tides (An Autism Story)
53two, Manchester
Thursday 23 July 2026
Dylan Ward is autistic. He has his own way of thinking and his own way of doing things, but no one seems to understand him. How do you navigate a world which operates on a completely different wavelength to the one that you're on? Follow...National Theatre Live - Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Stockport Plaza, Stockport
Thursday 23 July 2026
Marianne Elliott directs Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner in a striking new adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' classic novel. A thrilling game of love, lies and social warfare. Among the glittering salons of the super-rich, patriarchy equal...The Jury Experience - Diamonds, Lies and a Dead Man
The Stoller Hall, Manchester
Friday 24 July 2026
You've been called for jury duty. Step into a thrilling courtroom drama where the audience is the jury. Listen to testimonies, analyze evidence, and ultimately decide... guilty or not guilty? Scandal brews as a disgraced ex-driver stands tr...House of Life
Waterside, Manchester
Saturday 25 July 2026
Join the RaveRend on his mission to make you HAPPY. House of Life is a travelling cult collective with one goal: to get you happy, at any cost. Lead by the glitter-clad Rave-Rend you'll be invited to move to the music, and become part of a ...The Jury Experience - Death on the Port Side
The Stoller Hall, Manchester
Sunday 2 August 2026
You've been called for jury duty. Step into a thrilling courtroom drama where the audience is the jury. Listen to testimonies, analyze evidence, and ultimately decide... guilty or not guilty? On a summer night, the son of a powerful politic...The Trials
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Thursday 20 - Saturday 22 August 2026
Set in the near future, The Trials explores a world where the climate emergency has reached a tipping point - and an entire generation is being held to account. In this imagined courtroom, the jurors are teenagers, tasked with deciding resp...A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot
Thursday 27 August 2026
Step into candlelit winter woods and discover the shadowy underbelly of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream To escape a society ruled by tyrannical law, four young lovers flee to the forest beyond the city walls. Unbeknownst to them, th...Austentatious - An Improvised Jane Austen Novel
Manchester Opera House, Manchester
Friday 4 September 2026
The award-winning West End smash-hit comedy Austentatious comes to you on a strictly limited tour. For a delightful evening, the all-star Austentatious cast will improvise a hilarious new Jane Austen novel, inspired entirely by a title from...East is East
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Friday 4 September - Saturday 3 October 2026
The 30th anniversary production of Ayub Khan Din's modern classic, a story about identity, generational conflict, and the messy, unbreakable bonds of family. Salford, 1971. The Khan family are living above a chip shop and on the fault line ...Macbeth
Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot
Friday 11 September - Saturday 3 October 2026
What would you destroy to get what you want? A dagger. A crown. The original text. One musician. Ten storytellers. Fifty candles. Ninety breathless minutes. Step into the shadows. Let the scorpions in your mind strike. Watch a world turn in...
Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Monday 14 September 2026
Following his performance of Jarman, Mark Farrelly's hugely acclaimed solo play depicts Quentin Crisp at two phases of his extraordinary life: alone in his Chelsea flat in the 1960s, certain that life has passed him by, and thirty years ...The Silence of Snow: The Life of Patrick Hamilton
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Tuesday 15 September 2026
Mark Farrelly (Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope, Howerd's End, Jarman) presents his riveting, kinetic solo show portraying one of the great English writers of the inter-war years. Patrick Hamilton was a dazzling success in his twenties, producin...Jarman: The Story of Derek Jarman
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Wednesday 16 September 2026
A mighty spirit is about to reawaken. Yours. Derek Jarman: film-maker, painter, gardener at Prospect Cottage, gay rights activist, writer... his influence remains as strong as it was on the day he died in 1994. But his story, one of the ...Gallifrey Cabaret
HOME, Manchester
Friday 18 September 2026
Jump aboard the queerest TARDIS in time and space for a night of cosmic drag and cabaret, all inspired by the greatest TV show in the universe - Doctor Who. Following sell-out shows across the UK, the LGBTQ+ARDIS is materialising once again...Mrs Dalloway
HOME, Manchester
Thursday 24 - Saturday 26 September 2026
The must-see adaptation of Virginia Woolf's masterpiece novel. The immersive new stage version of Woolf's classic novel has been co-created by award-winning director Jen Heyes and Olivier Award-winning writer and performer Kit Green who als...BULL
