Liverpool’s international festival of contemporary physical theatre returns this September with a week of performances, workshops and events featuring artists from across the world.
Physical Fest 2026 will take place from 7-12 September, with performances at Unity Theatre and a programme of workshops, talks and debates at Arts Bar Studios on Hope Street.
Produced by Merseyside-based, female-led company Tmesis Theatre, the festival celebrates visual and movement-based performance and brings international physical theatre work to audiences in the North.
This year’s festival will also offer a first look at Demonology, a new show from Tmesis Theatre created in collaboration with acclaimed Liverpool-based writer Lizzie Nunnery.
Set in a remote village in 1590 beset by witches, Demonology explores the stories people inherit and those they choose to tell.
Physical Fest launches on Monday 7 September, before the performance programme begins at Unity on Tuesday 8 September with renowned director, performer and theatre maker Peta Lilly.
Their show Ungirlfriended follows wannabe woke ‘cis-het-straight-white-man’ Parker Dee as he battles back from heartbreak through quirky interpretations of pop standards and original songs.
On Wednesday 9 September, Japanese visual artist Izumi Ashizawa brings Kurogo Me, Together! to the Unity stage.
The participatory performance invites audience members to help make the performer “invisible” by dressing them in pieces of a traditional Kurogo costume.
Thursday’s programme features a Double Bill of Clowning, before Lizzie Nunnery and Tmesis Theatre present Demonology on Friday 11 September.
The Unity programme concludes on Saturday 12 September with a double bill of pioneering physical theatre.
Zoe McWhinney presents Upon A Stale Sun, a kinetic and cinematic piece of storytelling, followed by Pesadilla, a visually striking fusion of dance, circus and physical theatre choreographed by Italian-Belgian choreographer Piergiorgio Milano.
Pesadilla follows an ordinary man trapped inside his own dreams as he desperately fights to stay awake.
Alongside the performances, Physical Fest’s Learning and Participation programme will run at Arts Bar Studios on Hope Street.
Sessions will cover disciplines including Commedia, clowning, ensemble work, Japanese performance and stage diving, giving artists the chance to train and experiment with leading practitioners.
Established in 2005, Physical Fest is one of only two dedicated physical theatre festivals in the UK and attracts performers and participants from around the world.
Head to the website to check out the full programme and to book tickets.
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