Physical Fest 2026: Unity Theatre – 7th to 12th of September

Events

Liverpool has been the home of Physical Fest since it launched in 2005. It’s one of only two dedicated physical theatre festivals in the UK, and it attracts an international audience with participants from all over the world.

Physical Fest is back for 2026, taking place at the Unity Theatre on Hope Place, from the 7th to the 12th of September. The exciting line up includes a range of performances and workshops, not to mention talks and debates. So it’s a niche area of theatre but the variety within it is very interesting indeed.

The performances you can see are as follows:

Ungirlfriended – Tuesday 8th September, 7.30pm: A mixture of drag, comedy, cabaret and clowning from Peta Lily, following a supposedly sensitive modern man trying to recover after being dumped.
Kurogo Me, Together! – Wednesday 9th September, 6pm: An interactive performance by Japanese artist Izumi Ashizawa in which the audience helps make the performer “invisible”.
Female Bursaries and Training Company Sharing – Wednesday 9th September, 8pm: Brand-new work from two female artists alongside a performance inspired by the Greek myth of the Minotaur.
Clown Double Bill – Thursday 10th September, 7.30pm: Two separate shows offering plenty of silliness, strange characters and big-hearted comedy.
Demonology – Friday 11th September, 7.30pm: A work-in-progress performance set in a remote village in 1590, where fear spreads after King James blames a storm at sea on witchcraft.
Upon a Stale Sun – Saturday 12th September, 6.30pm: A short Visual Vernacular performance combining mime and sign-language storytelling.
PESSADILLA – Saturday 12th September, 7.30pm: A fusion of dance, circus and physical theatre about an exhausted man trapped inside his own dreams. There is also a giant imaginary panda involved, obviously.

A separate programme of workshops, talks and debates will be held at Arts Bar Studios on Hope Street.

Tickets and Prices

With so much going on, ticket prices and availability will vary, but for the performances, you are looking at the following:

Ungirlfriended – £7 to £15
Kurogo Me, Together! – £7 to £9
Female Bursaries and Training Company Sharing – £7 to £15
Clown Double Bill – £7 to £15
Demonology – £7 to £9
Upon a Stale Sun – FREE
PESSADILLA – £7 to £15

So it’s definitely affordable. Tickets obviously need to be booked separatly.

The workshops cover everything from Japanese physical performance and Commedia dell’Arte to clowning, ensemble movement and something called Stage Diving, which surely can’t be what it sounds like!

Some workshops are open to beginners as well as experienced performers, so you don’t need to be an actor or dancer to take part. Anyone with a passing interest will be welcome too. Places are limited though, and the workshops are normally the first events of the festival to sell out.

So if you fancy seeing or doing something genuinely different in Liverpool, this should do the trick.