DRAMA PLAYS IN MANCHESTER
DRAMA PLAYS IN MANCHESTER
Most Popular Drama Plays in Manchester
Tue 25 Nov 2025 - Sat 3 Jan 2026
Fri 24 Jan - Sat 1 Feb 2025
Tue 25 Feb - Sat 1 Mar 2025
Tue 25 Feb - Sat 1 Mar 2025
Driftwood
Thursday 20 - Friday 21 March 2025
An inspiring story about hope, love and belonging from the company that produced hit shows Peak Stuff and How Not To Drown. Two brothers on a beach need to figure out what to do with their dad - but the sea has other ideas. Mark and Tiny wa...
Learning To Fly
Friday 21 March 2025
With a 5 star review in the Guardian, who described it as "a riveting remarkable hour of theatre," this uplifting, big hearted and hilarious new one man show from James Rowland promises a glorious and irreverent evening with one of the UK's...
Pig Heart Boy
Wednesday 26 - Saturday 29 March 2025
Is it better to have a pig's heart that works ... than a human heart that doesn't? Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is to be normal - have friends, go to school, and dive to the bottom of his local swimming pool. But he desperately nee...
Of Mice and Men
Wednesday 26 March - Saturday 12 April 2025
A gripping tale of hope and friendship. Lennie and George are unlikely best friends, two drifters bound together by a shared faith and the ambition to live the great American dream. Landing a job on a Californian ranch during the Great Depr...
National Theatre Live - Dr. Strangelove
Thursday 27 March - Saturday 12 April 2025
Seven-time BAFTA Award-winner Steve Coogan plays four roles in this pre-recorded cinema screening of the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove. When a rogue U.S General triggers a nuclear a...
Murder, She Didn't Write
Sunday 30 March - Wednesday 23 April 2025
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...
Tambo and Bones
Tuesday 1 - Saturday 5 April 2025
Winner of 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and UK Theatre Awards. Tambo and Bones are stuck in a minstrel show. It's hard to know what's real when you're stuck in a minstrel show. Their escape plan: get out, get rich, get even. In thi...
Abigail's Party
Friday 4 April - Saturday 17 May 2025
Mike Leigh's tragicomic masterpiece ABIGAIL'S PARTY has garnered cult status across the decades. In the Royal Exchange's distinctive space, award-winning Director Natalie Abrahami draws on the unique in-the-round stage to create an intima...
BI-TOPIA
Friday 4 April 2025
A "hilarious, honest and raw" exploration of an authentic Bisexual experience, taking inspiration from personal experiences and expanding to the wider LGBTQ+ narrative, BI-TOPIA sheds a very timely spotlight on the Bisexual experience and r...
Little Women
Tuesday 8 - Saturday 12 April 2025
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was an immediate critical and commercial success. The book was inspired by Alcott's experiences growing up and is one of the best loved novels of all time. Experience the enduring journey of the March sister...
The Moth
Thursday 10 - Saturday 12 April 2025
Acclaimed Elysium Theatre Company return after their celebrated 50th Anniversary production of 'The Island' in 2024 with a drama by Paul Herzberg that will grip you from the beginning and not let go. 1994: a chance meeting on a train betwee...
Peter James' Picture You Dead
Wednesday 16 - Saturday 19 April 2025
Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is back, for the seventh Peter James stage adaptation, with the bestselling PICTURE YOU DEAD. Back home in Brighton, DCI Grace investigates a cold case that leads him to the rarified air of fine art but be...
The 39 Steps
Wednesday 16 April - Saturday 10 May 2025
Brilliantly bonkers and hilarious adaptation of Hitchcock's iconic thriller Follow the dashing Richard Hannay as he embarks on a thrilling adventure filled with daring antics, romantic encounters and ghastly murders. Get set for a whirlwind...
Toxic
Wednesday 16 - Saturday 19 April 2025
The hotly anticipated explosive new show written and performed by award-winning theatremaker Nathaniel J Hall, and presented by Dibby Theatre. Manchester 2017. A chance meeting on a hook-up app sets two damaged thirty-something hearts ...
Boys from the Blackstuff
Tuesday 22 - Monday 28 April 2025
Bill Kenwright Ltd presents Liverpool's Royal Court and National Theatre production of Alan Bleasdale's "Boys From The Blackstuff" by James Graham. Gizza job. Go on, gizzit. 80s Liverpool. Chrissie, Loggo, George, Dixie and Yosser are used ...
Strawberry Jack: A Tale from Paradise Heights
Wednesday 23 April 2025
From the award winning writer/director of The Haunting of Blaine Manor, and The Bench: A Tale from Paradise Heights written and directed by Joe O'Byrne. A childhood accident left Strawberry Jack Grundy horrifically scarred - a wild child th...
Singin' I'm No A Billy, He's A Tim
Friday 25 April 2025
The 20th anniversary tour of the play exploring bigotry and ethnic identity. "Singin' I'm No a Billy, He's a Tim" is a phenomenon in Scotland where it has sold out countless nationwide tours, a sensation at the Edinburgh Festival and now t...
The Silence of Snow: The Life of Patrick Hamilton
Friday 25 - Saturday 26 April 2025
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...
North by Northwest
Tuesday 29 April - Saturday 10 May 2025
Adapted and Directed by Emma Rice It would be strange, would it not, if, in a city of seven million people, one man were never mistaken for another... But that is exactly what happens to Roger Thornhill, reluctant hero of North by Northwest...
Little Gem
Tuesday 29 April - Sunday 4 May 2025
An Altrincham Garrick production of Elaine Murphy's multi-award winning play. Love, sex, birth, death and salsa classes. Three generations of Irish women. One extraordinary year. Happy-go-lucky Amber, fresh out of school, is high on life, d...
Vignettes - Letters to the NHS
Wednesday 30 April - Sunday 4 May 2025
Presented by HER Productions, Vignettes is an evening of six short plays by established and emerging female-identifying Manchester-based playwrights, inspired by whatever they choose. Vignettes returns in 2025 with a very special 'Lette...
Of Mice and Men (Garrick Production)
Thursday 8 - Sunday 18 May 2025
"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place... with us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us." George and...
Kook Ensemble - Sand
Saturday 10 May 2025
Sand is Circus Theatre group Kook Ensemble's second show, hard on the heels of their critically acclaimed tour of 'Filibuster' in 2024. Dylan has dementia. Heather must watch the love of her life drift away and battle with the erosion of hi...
Austentatious - An Improvised Jane Austen Novel
Sunday 11 May 2025
Austentatious is saddling the horses for a Grand Tour of the United Kingdom! Austentatious is an improvised comedy play starring a cast of the country's quickest comic performers. Every single show the cast conjures up a brand new 'lost' Ja...
Plaza Murder Mystery Fundraiser
Wednesday 14 - Thursday 15 May 2025
The Plaza's very own 'Plaza Players' are back with another fundraising Murder Mystery event that will be.... deadly! Lights..... Cameras..... Murder! Mr Cyril G De Thrill is filming his latest and greatest Silver Screen spectacular at The P...
Murder, She Didn't Write
Thursday 15 May 2025
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...
The Dad's Army Radio Show
Friday 16 May 2025
The nation's favourite sitcom returns! The boys are delighted to head to Lowry with three new episodes. Two actors, two microphones, over twenty-five characters - and lots of sound effects! Dad's Army Radio Show bring's Perry and Croft's cl...
Dracula
Wednesday 21 - Saturday 24 May 2025
A powerful stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's gothic classic The time is 1897. Mankind is on the cusp of vast technological change, scientific mastery and media innovation. But poised between traditional beliefs, the threat of the unknown an...
Dear England
Thursday 29 May - Sunday 29 June 2025
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A theatrical spectacle as uplifting as any England victory.' TELEGRAPH The National Theatre's Olivier-Award winning smash hit is coming to Salford for four weeks only, following a record-breaking run in the West End. The co...
Myra's Story
Thursday 29 - Friday 30 May 2025
Direct from London's West End, where every performance received a huge standing ovation and the smash hit of four Edinburgh fringes. The incredible story of middle-aged homeless alcoholic, Myra McLaughlin living rough on the streets of Dubl...
Breathe
Sunday 1 June 2025
Part gig, part puppet theatre and part live film, Breathe explores the inner workings of trees, beautifully realised with a combination of stunning puppetry, breathtakingly detailed sets, and groundbreaking live camerawork. Underscored th...
Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial
Monday 2 - Saturday 7 June 2025
A story stranger than fiction that blurs the boundaries of tabloid scoop, court case and soap opera, The Wagatha Christie Trial explores privacy and celebrity in modern Britain. On 9 October 2019, Coleen Rooney publicly accused Rebekah Var...
Pride & Prejudice
Thursday 5 - Saturday 28 June 2025
Jane Austen's most iconic love story is brought dazzlingly to life on stage When it comes to the subject of marriage, headstrong Lizzy Bennet is determined to resist the mounting pressures and expectations from society. But can she resist l...
Sorry (I Broke Your Arm and Legs)
Thursday 5 June 2025
A riotous debut PowerPoint presentation from James Akka (Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!), combining all the thrills of World Book Day with the hilarity of the Maths Olympiad. Sam's obviously the correct choice for Head Boy. He's got the Powe...
Local
Friday 6 June 2025
A show about home, belonging or not, and letting go. 'Local' is a solo show where storyteller Liz Richardson revisits her childhood memories and home in West Cumbria in an attempt to understand whether she still belongs there, or ever did. ...
Translations
Tuesday 10 - Sunday 15 June 2025
Brian Friel's modern masterpiece examines the fractious relationship between people and nations through the lens of language and (mis)communication. It's August 1833. The pupils have gathered in a hedge-school in the townland of Baile B...
Lil.Miss.Lady
Friday 13 - Saturday 14 June 2025
Part rave, part drama - LIL. MISS. LADY (Lady Lykez) from HighRise Entertainment explores the history of Grime through the eyes of a vigorous female MC. From the early stages of Jungle, ravers will take an immersive journey through the soun...
180° Chord
Saturday 14 June 2025
A new play written and directed by Chris Leicester. You're the pride of the police force. You're ruthless and unethical. Then fate intervenes. One moment you're a detective sergeant and the next, a convicted murderer. Now you're in the very...
The Whirligig of Time
Sunday 13 July 2025
From the team that brought you the five-star Shakespeare's Fool, Tortive return with another spectacular one-man hit show. To hell with anger management! Malvolio was done notorious wrong; so much so that he swore to be revenged on the 'who...
The Last Laugh
Tuesday 29 July - Saturday 2 August 2025
Direct from a sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Last Laugh is a brand-new laugh-a-minute play which re-imagines the lives of three of Britain's all-time greatest comedy heroes - Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse. F...
By Royal Appointment
Wednesday 6 - Saturday 9 August 2025
The late Queen Elizabeth II was famous for her discretion. She never said anything in public that could ruffle the lightest of feathers. But she had one way of expressing what she really thought - through her wardrobe. By Royal Appointment ...
2:22 A Ghost Story
Thursday 7 - Saturday 16 August 2025
Following seven West End seasons, a record-breaking UK and Ireland tour and twelve productions across the globe, the stage phenomenon 2:22 A Ghost Story now comes on a UK tour. Winner of BEST NEW PLAY at the WhatsOnStage Awards, this edge-o...
Derren Brown
Tuesday 2 - Saturday 13 September 2025
Prepare to be astonished! The multi award-winning master of mind control and psychological illusion, Derren Brown, returns with his brand new live show, ONLY HUMAN. The content of ONLY HUMAN is still under wraps, but we can guarantee you a ...
Jekyll & Hyde
Saturday 6 September 2025
In a new and enthralling one-man stage adaptation of the classic tale of terror, acclaimed actor Jonathan Goodwin plays both Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde in this production from Don't Go Into The Cellar! Victorian theatre company. Journey...
IDEAL - Starring Johnny Vegas
Monday 8 - Saturday 13 September 2025
Critically acclaimed and a ratings hit, the multi-award winning BBC sit-com Ideal ran for 7 seasons and 53 episodes. Now Moz and friends are back. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first episode's broadcast, this new stage show is da...
King Arthur
Tuesday 30 September - Saturday 4 October 2025
Award-winning funny men, Le Navet Bete, return to the stage with a a brand-new laugh-out-loud show for theatre. This hilarious retelling of the Arthurian legends, suitable for the whole family, will have audiences crying with laughter and b...
Fawlty Towers - The Play
Tuesday 4 - Saturday 8 November 2025
Nearly 50 years since it first hit our TV screens, the "Greatest British sitcom of all time" (Radio Times) is now a brand-new stage play, adapted by comedy legend John Cleese and directed by Caroline Jay Ranger. Featuring your favourite ...
Tina - The Tina Turner Musical
Tuesday 25 November 2025 - Saturday 3 January 2026
West End mega-hit TINA - The Tina Turner Musical announces its first ever UK & Ireland tour. From humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her triumphant transformation into a multi award-winning global superstar, Tina Turner didn't just...
