The Liverpool Playhouse Theatre has temporarily closed to the public, with a note left on the venue doors explaining that routine summer maintenance is underway. The city-centre theatre is scheduled to reopen on Friday, September 4, 2026, and ticket booking remains available online during the closure.
Annual maintenance closure
A spokesperson told the ECHO: “The temporary closure of our theatres takes place annually in order to allow us to undertake routine maintenance work on our venues. This is pre-planned into our schedule. No performances are scheduled at this time of year in order to allow this work to take place.” The note on the theatre doors reiterates this.
The closure comes as the Playhouse, alongside Liverpool Everyman, prepares for a major transformation. Liverpool & Merseyside Theatres Trust, the charity behind both theatres, has been awarded £999,999 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Arts Everywhere Fund.
Funding for upgrades
The investment will fund improved access equipment across both theatres and vital upgrades at the Liverpool Playhouse as a first step in its major capital ambitions. For more than 160 years, the Grade II* listed Playhouse – the Northwest’s oldest working theatre since opening as The Star in 1866 – has been a national cultural landmark.
The team said this near-million pound award is the first step within a major transformational project for the Playhouse, ensuring audiences and artists can continue to enjoy and work in this iconic venue.
Chief executive's response
Chief executive Mark Da Vanzo added: “This is brilliant news for the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres and for the city as a whole. To receive this level of investment is a powerful vote of confidence in our theatres’ past, present and future. These funds will help us to address critical issues in the short-term and help to kickstart the next chapter for the Playhouse - restoring its historic splendour while making it a welcoming, comfortable and sustainable theatre for generations to come. We are enormously grateful to DCMS and Arts Council England and excited to get on with this critical work.”
The Playhouse's longer-term capital plans aim to significantly enhance the audience experience, including a larger, more accessible entrance, improved sightlines, wider seating, upgraded acoustics, and the creation of new social and community spaces. The project will also restore and highlight the Playhouse's historic character, from its original entrance to the distinctive star-tiled foyer. A reconfigured stage, better backstage access, and a flexible second performance space will open up opportunities for a broader and more diverse programme, ensuring world-class productions such as Prima Facie continue to play a vital role in Liverpool’s cultural scene.
Wider investment package
Sustainability is central to the plans, with integrated measures designed to move the Playhouse towards zero emissions and set a new benchmark for environmentally responsible theatre-making. This investment is part of the Arts Everywhere Fund, a £1.5 billion government initiative supporting cultural infrastructure projects.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “I want everyone, everywhere to feel a sense of pride about where they come from. Cultural organisations across the North West are important custodians of local identity and play a key role in the story we tell ourselves as a nation. Our Arts Everywhere Fund is delivering on our commitment to support cultural assets across the country, increasing access and preserving them for future generations. Arts and culture are the beating hearts of our communities, they have the power to unite us in the face of division and break down barriers to opportunity. We want to harness that power to help build a brighter future for the people of the North West.”
The award is part of a wider North West package, which sees 17 cultural venues, museums and libraries in the region receive a share of £16.9 million to protect and improve cultural infrastructure. Rebecca Ball, area director for the North of Arts Council England, said: “Our museums, libraries and arts organisations have the power to change lives, giving us access to new worlds, teaching us about our heritage and offering fresh perspectives. I’m pleased we can support so many cultural organisations in the North with this capital investment, ensuring they can continue to deliver incredible arts and culture to their communities.”
The upgrades will be phased to minimise disruption to performances and will feed into planning and fundraising for the wider Playhouse transformation.
