Merseyside’s new Shakespeare theatre opens by celebrating builders and footballers

Local heroes including screenwriter Jimmy McGovern and comedian Johnny Vegas will take stage at Shakespeare North Playhouse this summer

A new Shakespearean theatre is to open in Merseyside this summer with a ceremony that celebrates local heroes" including the builders who constructed it.

The 30m Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, Knowsley, has a 470-seat theatre, the Cockpit, modelled on Inigo Jones's cockpit-in-court design in 17th-century London. The site also has an outdoor performance garden, funded by Liverpudlian comedian Ken Dodd's charitable foundation, and a small studio theatre, as well as exhibition and educational facilities.