Up Next October

Liverpool is one of the most creative cities and – better still – one of the most supportive when it comes to encouraging new talent.

The Unity Theatre’s Open Call programme funds around 22 Liverpool-based artists each year, giving them the chance to reveal their work or develop ideas. 

And Up Next Festival is where they show it to us, in a three-day celebration showcasing exciting new work from some of these amazing Merseyside performers.

“In the first Up Next Festival weekender in September, we were looking at the audience’s response and so many comments were about how nice it was to be able to see someone on stage whose story they could relate to,” says Rachael Welsh, business development manager for the Unity. 

“Giving Liverpool artists a chance to tell a broad, diverse range of stories means everyone is finding a bit of themselves in them. That’s been lovely to see, and it’s brilliant to see these artists have the chance to perform and get the audience support.”