Select 2023

Barnsley

Having graduated from Sheffield Hallam University in 2012, Lindsey Mendick returns to Yorkshire with an immersive installation that excavates her own memories, the history and myths of the Bretton Estate, and television and cultural experiences from the 1980s to early 2000s.

1 Apr-3 Sep, The Weston Gallery (westongallery.com)

Manchester

This year’s BBC Radio 6 Music Festival will feature live performances from Loyle Carner, Christine and the Queens (pictured), Arlo Parks, Wu-Lu, Lava La Rue and The Big Moon, alongside DJ sets from Afrodeutsche, Erol Alkan, Daniel Avery, Don Letts, Good Future, Tim Burgess and more.

24-26 Mar, various (bbc.co.uk/events/ewwn5v)

Blackpool

Meet landlady Annie and all her regular madcap customers from Irish Annie’s to celebrate the very best of Irish culture. Ricky Tomlinson has recently joined the cast, which also includes Catherine Rice as Irish Annie, Asa Murphy, Nathan Murphy, Sam Conlan and Pauline Donovan.

27 Mar, Grand Theatre (blackpoolgrand.co.uk)

Sheffield

Signs of Creativity – Discover British Sign Language allows audiences to learn British Sign Language (BSL) vocabulary while viewing new displays with Martin Glover, a deaf BSL user, architect and art facilitator. Afterwards, guides will offer a tour of the museum delivered entirely in BSL. 

25 Mar, Graves Gallery (sheffieldmuseums.org.uk)

Kendal

On his 15th birthday, Noble transforms into a bird and must reach his sister Cleo, stationed on a remote island with the British Antarctic Survey. Billie Collins’ Too Much World At Once is a coming-of-age story about growing up queer in rural Northern England.

29 Mar, Brewery Arts (breweryarts.co.uk)

Leeds

Portuguese visual artist Add Fuel has created a new 10m x 9m mural, Echoes. Painted on the two-storey gable end of a former pub in Mabgate, Leeds, it celebrates the area’s ceramics heritage and features as part of the city’s Year of Culture 2023.

27 Mar, East Street Arts (eaststreetarts.org.uk)

Liverpool

To raise awareness of food inequality, Feeding Liverpool and the Florrie are hosting Food Aid Liverpool, a festival of UK tribute acts, including Queen II, Ultimate Coldplay, the Cavern Club Beatles, Arctic Roll, Spice Girls Experience, LMXT, Northern Soul Train and Midnight Soul Sisters.

1 Apr, The Florrie (theflorrie.org)

Wakefield

If Not Now, When? Generations of Women in Sculpture in Britain, 1960-2022 explores the lives of female British sculptors during a significant period of social and artistic change, organised in collaboration with art historian Griselda Pollock and sculptor Lorna Green.

31 Mar-24 Sep, Hepworth Wakefield
(hepworthwakefield.org)

Manchester

As part of the Mini Cini’s All About Women month, Grimmfest is screening two female-centric horrors: Rosemary’s Baby, in which a young couple find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbours, and Carrie, in which a teenager unleashes telekinetic powers at her high school prom.

24 March, Ducie Street Warehouse (grimminicini.eventive.org)

York

The 2023 Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition brings together 21 artists in fields ranging from painting, photography and sculpture to installation, mixed-media and video. Artists including Jacob Talbot (work pictured) survey the ethics of representation, mass digitisation, globalisation, diaspora and environmental fragility.

24 March-4 Jun, York Art Gallery (yorkartgallery.org.uk)

Liverpool

Last year, Norfolk rock duo Deaf Havana, reformed from the original 2005 line-up, released their seventh album, The Present Is A Foreign Land, which reached 23 in the UK album charts. Now they are embarking on a UK tour, ending in the North.

26 March, Camp and Furnace (campandfurnace.com)

Wakefield

At this year’s Hepworth Wakefield Print Fair visitors will be able to buy work directly from over 60 emerging and established artists and collectives – working in linocut printing, mono-printing, screen-printing, collagraph, woodcut, risograph, cyanotype, textile design and more – alongside a selection of galleries.

25-26 March, Hepworth Wakefield (hepworthwakefield.org)

Leeds

Following the release of their seventh studio album, Sundowners, on St Patrick’s Day, Northern Irish rock band The Answer, formed in 2000, are embarking on a UK and European tour, beginning with a sold-out show in Blackpool before returning to the North.

21 March, The Key Club (thekeyclubleeds.com)

Blackpool

Sophie wants her dad to give her away at her wedding – but according to her mother’s diaries, he could be one of three men. Feelgood Abba jukebox musical Mamma Mia! is coming north. 

21 March-1 April, Winter Gardens Blackpool (wintergardensblackpool.co.uk)

Sheffield

Jay Gatsby’s Long Island mansion buzzes day and night. But as the champagne flows, glamour gives way to tragedy. Northern Ballet’s acclaimed production of
F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby features choreography by David Nixon and a score by Richard Rodney Bennett.

21-25 March, Lyceum Theatre (thelyceumtheatre.com)

Lancaster

Scribble and Clipboard have to sort the recycling. But when Scribble discovers a mysterious egg hidden in the rubbish, the pair need the audience’s help to rescue an unborn chick. Aimed at 3-7 year olds and parents, Curious Investigators champions science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths.

25 March, The Dukes (dukeslancaster.org)

Leeds

In the midst of war, a group of British children from various schools and backgrounds are stranded after surviving a plane crash. As tensions rise in Nigel Williams’ modernised adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the group begins to divide.

18 March-8 Apr, Leeds Playhouse (leedsplayhouse.org.uk)

Sheffield

Sheffield Theatres is marking the 80th anniversary of Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan, in which three gods search for one honest person on earth to justify humanity’s existence and reward the penniless but principled Shen Te with a life-changing fortune.

11 Mar-1 Apr, Crucible Theatre (sheffieldtheatres.co.uk)

Wakefield

Regarded as one of the UK’s leading watercolour artists, Simon Palmer’s new solo exhibition Observation of Landscape draws inspiration from the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales around Wensleydale, where he has lived and worked for the last 40 years.

4 Mar-1 Jun, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (ysp.org.uk)

Liverpool

As the new managing director of Top Girls Employment Agency, Marlene hosts a dinner party to celebrate her achievements. But what is the true cost of success in a man’s world? Top Girls, the 1982 play by Caryl Churchill (pictured), returns to the North.

3-24 Mar, Liverpool Everyman (everymanplayhouse.com)

Hull

In a one-bed flat in Hull, three women battle through the friendship, drama and love of mother-daughter relationships. From slammed doors to living room karaoke, new comedy Mumsy explores the highs and lows of motherhood and daughterhood. Includes baby-friendly shows and concessions tickets.

2-25 March, Hull Truck Theatre (hulltruck.co.uk)

Scarborough

Squaring the Circles explores how 10 contemporary photographers use traditional techniques and approaches, including cyanotypes, daguerreotypes, pinholes and cameraless imagery, to address contemporary issues and demonstrate the beauty of the photographic image, curated by RPS honorary fellow and lecturer Zelda Cheatle.

4 Mar-1 May, Scarborough Art Gallery (scarboroughmuseumsandgalleries.org.uk)

Leeds

Out of Redness Comes Kindness is a retrospective exhibition including paintings, prints and mixed media pieces of ‘emotional mapping’ of the human body and natural world from the 1990s to the present, spanning the last 30 years of Sam Ainsley’s career.

30 Jan-24 Mar, Leeds Arts University (leeds-art.ac.uk)

Sheffield

Hair: Untold Stories weaves together work of artists, filmmakers and designers with numerous objects and archive material reflecting our connection with our hair. Together, they tell personal, powerful and surprising stories, from Sheffield hair salons to the global hair trade.

10 Feb-29 Oct, Weston Park Museum (sheffieldmuseums.org.uk)

Leeds

Feathers and Fur features the work of several British ceramicists, jewellers, sculptors and mixed media artists whose work focuses on celebrating the other species we share our world with, from the domestic to the wild and the native to the exotic.

4 Feb-29 April, Craft Centre Leeds (craftcentreleeds.co.uk)

Manchester

The People’s History Museum’s 2023 Banner Exhibition features 25 banners, some over 150 years old and others recently created, united by the fact that they carry calls for change and have been created by people seeking a fairer society.

Ongoing, People’s History Museum (phm.org.uk)

Manchester

Opening on Holocaust Memorial Day, Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors is an exhibition of new, never-before-seen photographs of North West-based Holocaust survivors – some as old as 95 – by 13 photographers, highlighting their experiences and relationships with younger members of their families.

27 Jan onwards, Imperial War Museum North (iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-north)