Liverpool Theatre Festival has revealed the 12 plays set to be premiered at this year's Little LTF, its festival of new works which returns to Liverpool city centre next month.
The second Little LTF will be staged in the open-air venue St Luke’s Bombed Out Church from May 3-8.
The festival, a sister event to the main Liverpool Theatre Festival (which returns in August for a third year), is dedicated to nurturing up-and-coming talent and new works. Last year's inaugural mini-festval attracted 1,200 people.
The new productions have been chosen from more than 30 entries by a panel of industry professionals and the first up on May 3 will be Megan Hindley and Beth Amos’s murder-mystery-comedy Not Drunk But Disorderly, followed on Wednesday 4 May by Grandmother, a heart-warming musical play by Asa Murphy.
Comedy Keeping Mum by Karl Voden, and Mark Heller’s drama Killing Mice, are both scheduled for May 5, while May 6 brings Paul Daley’s saucy, warm-hearted romantic comedy It Must Be Love, as well as Angie Waller and Claire Jones’s cabaret show An Evening With Nana Funk.
A busy weekend opens on May 7 with children's show Murder, Mayhem and Magic, followed by drama Around the World in 72 Days: The Story of Nellie Bly by writer Rebekah McLoughlin, and Sh*t Faced Santa, an outrageous festive comedy.
The festival concludes on May 8 with writer and director Victoria Evaristo’s disability arts drama Just Aretha; Rebecca Casey and company’s musical theatre extravaganza Bigger Than Broadway, and powerful Hillsborough play 97+ by Tom Cain.
Shows run between 50 minutes and 75 minutes, and there are no intervals. The festival will adhere to any Covid-19 guidelines required at the time.
Producer and artistic director Bill Elms said: “When we launched Little LTF last year, we were overwhelmed by the response. That has continued this year, with an incredibly high standard of submissions across the board.
"The ambition, creativity and talent on show means the panel has had a really tough time choosing just 12 shows. I know our audiences are going to be just as inspired and entertained as me by what they see.”
Full info and tickets for all shows on the festival website