Scratch Night

Scratch Night is our quarterly platform for creatives to share, experiment, and connect. This is your chance to present work in progress or showcase completed pieces to a supportive audience and gather valuable feedback.

Whether you’re refining a play, testing a new script, or presenting your latest artistic venture, Scratch Night is your space. We invite artists across disciplines—actors, playwrights, performers, and creatives of all kinds—to step into the spotlight and share their work. 

Our Scratch Nights feature a mix of two featured artists (Headliners) and a limited number of bookable slots for those eager to present their work to an engaged and enthusiastic audience. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned creator looking to try something new, we’d love to hear from you. 

Got something you want share? Amazing! Contact Abby to enquire about available slots for our next Scratch night at [email protected].

Not a performer/ writer/ singer/ artist? Fantastic! Scratch Night thrives on the energy and feedback of its audience. Your input and encouragement are vital to the creative process, making this a night of true collaboration and discovery. 

Join us quarterly at Shakespeare North Playhouse for an evening of experimentation, growth, and creativity. Ready to take part? Apply for a slot or simply come along to be inspired. 

Dates: 

• 25 March 2025
• 24 June 2025
• 14 October 2025
• 16 December 2025

March Scratch Headliners:

Molly Farquhar – Hairy B*stard
Hairy B*stard – A show about self love, self loathing – and how expensive razors are. Meet Magenta. She’s a 20-something icon, who lives in her pink filled world. She’s confident, creative, and also incredibly hairy – particularly on her face. Today she’s going out on a date- perhaps he’ll be the love of her life!! OR…perhaps he’ll just stare at her moustache.  This is a semi autobiographical play, about the writer’s struggle with Hirsutism and PCOS. With lots of interactive and comedic moments, both sad and heartwarming, this one woman show will leave the audience questioning what it truly means to be ‘normal’. The first version of the show won ‘Best Original show’ at Liverpool Fringe in 2024.

About
Winner BEST COMEDIC PERFORMER 2024 @ Liverpool Fringe
Molly Farquhar is an actor, writer and creator originally from Hartlepool. She now lives in Liverpool, where she has created and been a part of many award winning shows and productions. She Trained at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, gaining her Masters Degree. She then went onto co-found Live a Little Theatre, which has been successful in touring around the UK with multiple shows. This is her first Solo show she has created as an individual performer. She is very proud of her working class heritage and aims to make work for the masses – she firmly believes that everyone should have access to the arts and wants to take this show to areas that don’t normally receive much theatre.

Grace Tompkins
‘Scrambled’ is about eggs and extremism. A comedy for people who really enjoyed school assemblies, a tragedy for people who really enjoy Elon Musk, and a work in progress no matter what way you look at it – ‘Scrambled’ tries to work out if we are all destined to be radicalised by the internet.

About:
Grace is a queer writer and performer based in Liverpool, known for their gentle butch vibe and big metaphors. Drawing inspiration from the vibrant communities she inhabits, Grace explores themes identity, nature, and power.
With a blend of visual and poetic mediums, Grace delivers thought-provoking performances. This has earned them numerous accolades, including victories in slam poetry competitions and publications in esteemed small presses like No Disclaimers and Streetcake.

Dogtale Theatre
In a sad Travelodge, Kayleigh and Ben wait. They’re a young couple whose spark has gone out, and in a last ditch effort to save their relationship, Kayleigh has invited her friend Ellie to “liven things up”. Things, obviously, do not go to plan. A comedy about buried feelings and missed expectations.

About:
Dogtale Theatre are a brand new Merseyside theatre company, who making their debut on the scene with “Boxes: Three Stories” at the Unity Theatre. Their work focuses on new writing and new folk, telling interesting stories in exciting ways. If you’re a new creative or performer with a story to tell, get in touch and say hello!

Instagram: @dogtale_theatre

Abbie Caskie – They’re Just Roommates
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a carabiner, must be in want of a wife.
They’re Just Roommates is a short play set in the flat of Benny and Dee, two unlikely friends who have been living together for a couple of months. Period drama obsessed Dee is a complete contrast to her pint drinking, heavy metal listening roommate Benny. Who somehow find themselves caught up in a romance, very similar to Dee’s favourite book, Pride and Prejudice.

About
Abbie Caskie is a queer writer, director and theatre maker from Liverpool. She has recently graduated with a 1st from John Moores University where she found a love for creating theatre that has a female or queer based narrative. She has her own theatre company, Bunny Bunny Productions, which is an all female and non-binary theatre company specialising in the history, heartbreak and humour of female-led queer stories.
With 6 years industry experience from costume to tech, acting to directing and now teaching; Abbie is looking forward to showcasing her work in new formats to reach more audiences.
Follow her on social media: @abbiecaskie @bunnyboilerproductions

T4T BnB – Undercover
A romantic comedy about a trans couple heading back to their maybe-not-so-understanding family homes, and so, together, prepare to go “undercover”.

About
The T4T BnB is a new North West based arts company ran by Misha Mond and Olive Payne, working in theatre, film productions, cinema screenings, and silly little projects under the umbrella of the “BnB”.

Scousepear In Love is a play about love, class and corruption.

Archetypal “Luvvie” actor and director: Mr Maurice Allcoche arrives at Prescott College to (on the face of it) give Drama students the experience and opportunity of Shakespearian theatre direct from the West End. Budding starry eyed young student Julie drinks it all in, with hopes and aspirations to impress and head down South. New student Billy on the other hand is less enamoured with Mr Allcoche; something is amiss and he aims to protect his secret muse, Julie.

Writer: Darren Anglesea

Darren is a member of The Lantern Writers group based in Liverpool; as a member of the group he has had several short plays produced in Liverpool and in Manchester. Last year he completed The Stage Write Playwright Development Programme at The Royal Court Theatre; the result being the completion of his first full length musical stage play “Can’t Buy Me Love.” This is still in devepolment and has had a rehearsed reading at the Jim Cartwright studio. His next play ‘The Lonely Birds’ will be performed at the Royal Court Studio in July this year.

Director and Producer: Tom Cain

Tom is the owner of TomCainTheatre Company known for the critically acclaimed ‘97+’ and ‘A Man and His Circumstance’ performing across the North West and both Buxton and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. Tom works as a Theatre Writer, Director, Producer, Events Manager & Drama Teacher, having directed a play here before at Shakespeare North Playhouse’ Studio Theatre, with Imaginarium Theatre Company for National Theatre Play ‘Replica’ as part of the National Theatre Connections Scheme in 2024. Tom also completed The Stage Write Development Programme at The Royal Court Theatre where he first met Darren, and is now honoured to have been asked to Direct and Produce his new play ‘Scousepear In Love’.