A new festival launches tomorrow aiming to shine a light on the hidden talent in Merseyside.
Up Next festival which will run until the 4th of May is to be held at the Unity Theatre and will cover a range of different platforms.
There will be world premiere plays, poetry, cabaret, sound installations and music.
The theatre is renowned for asking uncomfortable questions and breaking boundaries.
One of these pieces hoping to start tough conversations is Buckled by Helen Jeffery.
The performance will explore society’s relationship with alcohol and how it is woven into the fabrics of our being.
Jeffrey uses her characters to get us to reflect on the hardships of being sober in a society which orbits around alcohol.
Jeffrey said: “There’s a certain amount of personal reflection but I also wanted to understand the bigger picture
“There’s been quite a lot of research that has gone into this. I found that people were very open and honest in the survey about the reasons why they drank and their interactions.”
She added that she hoped the production would raise questions and get people talking: “In this piece the central question is how do you navigate sobriety. It isn’t just a question for the characters in the play its a question for everyone who’s watching”.
Buckled will premiere at 8:00pm, May 3rd, at the Unity Theatre.
There will be a Q&A following the performance.
