Queer and Non-Binary Artists Take Centre Stage at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre This Autumn

Queer and non-Binary Artists are shining brightly at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre this Autumn, presenting shows that explore identity, community and solidarity, alongside the return of Homotopia Festival – who launch their 2025 edition at the venue on November 1st, followed by a further 3 shows throughout the month.

Serving as a counterpoint to the mainstream, Unity exists to champion diverse arts and platform underrepresented and marginalised voices – and this season’s programme does just that. 

Unity has been behaving radically onstage since the 1930s, with its roots in The Unity Theatre movement – a national theatrical initiative that produced politically left-wing works by and for working class audiences. Today, Unity Theatre is the only surviving member of that movement, and the organisation continues its mission with the same sentiment dating back to the 30s – investing in local work, emerging artists and theatre companies – and producing high-quality radical and groundbreaking theatre.

Unity Theatre has developed into not only a fantastic city-centre performance space but a fully-fledged cultural hub for Merseyside-based creatives and the wider community. Unity’s activity now extends far beyond the world of traditional theatre and programming, with a vibrant exhibition space, music events, film screenings, creative workshops and a dedicated talent development programme for emerging performance artists.

Unity Theatre Autumn 2025 Events

Homotopia Festival Launch Party
Saturday 1 November, 6:00pm
£ (Pay What You Feel)
Tickets

Homotopia 2025 opens its festival with an immersive evening of performance, community and solidarity inside Unity Theatre. With seats retracted and the space transformed into cabaret-style, the night invites audiences into something intimate, playful and boundary-blurring. Artists weave through the crowd, performances unfold around you, and the adjoining bar comes alive with conversation and connection.

Blending drag, live music, visual art and collective action, the launch embodies this year’s theme UPRISING: Right Here, Right Now. It is both celebration and defiance. A gathering of queer voices and allies will come together to imagine, resist and rise.

Homotopia presents
Mr Blackpool’s Seaside Spectacular
Friday 14 November, 7:30pm
£15 – £7
Tickets

Mr Blackpool’s Seaside Spectacular is an end of the pier show at the end of the world from performance artist and theatre maker Harry Clayton-Wright.

Set in the not too distant future against the decimated backdrop of climate collapse or late stage capitalism – you decide, could be both – four Blackpool performers embed the history of ‘end of the pier’ entertainment, cabaret, variety, drag and dance into a series of turns inspired by conversations and autobiographical references to the performers, their lives and relationships to this iconic seaside town.

Mr Blackpool’s Seaside Spectacular is created and performed in collaboration with Oliver Gregory, aka Miss Titty Kaka, an international showgirl sensation who started their performance career at Blackpool drag institution Funny Girls when they were 18 years old. Also featuring Aysh De Belle and Sam De Belle, a married dancing duo from Blackpool whose work has been seen on stage and screen.

Homotopia presents
An Evening with Dross
Saturday 15th November, 7:30pm
£15 – £7
Tickets

In a world increasingly defined by division, what if we dared to imagine something different? What if the stories we told – to ourselves and each other – became tools of transformation? What if the voices of our queer ancestors could light the way forward?

AN EVENING WITH DROSS is a radical act of queer dreaming: a kaleidoscopic patchwork of biography and fantasy, weaving together film, lip-sync, physical theatre and cultural memory into a powerful, genre-bending ritual. At its heart is Dross herself — a shape-shifting conduit of forgotten histories, fierce glamor, and emotional truth. Here, the Drag Queen becomes an oracle, a living archive, a guide through the wild contradictions of identity, grief, joy and resistance.

Homotopia x Unity Scratch Night
Wednesday 26 November, 7:30pm
£7
Tickets

In partnership with Homotopia, a fantastic night of new queer work from local artists at Unity Theatre. They are inviting proposals for short works of 15–20 minutes – rehearsed readings, works in progress, fully formed excerpts – whatever stage your piece is at, as long as it’s bold, daring, and unapologetically queer. This scratch night is a chance to take risks, play with form, and bring your ideas to life in front of a supportive, lively audience.

Merseyside King Collective present
Merry Manarchy
Wednesday 17th & Thursday 18th December, 8:00pm
£15 – £7
Tickets

They’ve lost the plot, the presents, and maybe even their pants, and nobody can really remember what the hell Christmas is about. Peace on earth? Party hats? Power ballads? Chest hairs? Chestnuts? Who knows? Join us as your holiday heartthrobs strut, stumble and strip through the falling snow in seasonal disarray in a ridiculous yet fabulously camped-out search for what Christmas is all about.

To find out more about unity Theatre and their full programme of events visit unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk.