Our summer 2025 season is now on sale!

2025 March 19

Our new season is now on sale with a sizzling line up that showcases local talent in our region and offers fun events in the sunshine. Our summer 2025 season features bold new dance theatre and drama from Northern artists and the return of our annual outdoor festival of entertainment Summer in the Courtyard.

Have a flick through our full programme below.

This summer we are celebrating incredible local artists from the region. We are proud to present two brand-new shows from our Associate Artists Gary Clarke and Philip Stokes, established Northern artists who we have supported through the development of new work, which is presented on our stages, giving our local community access to brand-new world-class theatre.

DETENTION, Gary Clarke Company's new dance theatre sequel to COAL and WASTELAND, explores SECTION 28, which 'prohibited the promotion of homosexuality', forcing the LGBT+ community into a place of secrecy, fear and shame; set to a backdrop of nationwide industrial turmoil and the onslaught of AIDS. Gary Clarke uses powerful storytelling drawing on verbatim testimonies with vivid choreography performed by a company of exceptional dancers, narrator, and local cast of LGBT+ people. Featuring music tracks by iconic TEST DEPT, DETENTION is a bold and moving portrayal of the remarkable resilience of the individuals and organisations of the time.

We are presenting the world premiere of a new play by Philip Stokes as part of our summer season. Recognised by the British Library as a culturally important playwright of the 21st Century, Philip’s recent show Shellshocked had highly successful seasons at the Adelaide Fringe and Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters NYC, gaining huge critical acclaim. His new play, Brighton’84, is a gripping drama set in the Grand Hotel, Brighton on an infamous 1984 night in British political history. A hotel. A bomb. Thatcher is working. Guests are sleeping—53 minutes until detonation. Two strangers enter Room 102. What happens next will change history, especially for Barry and Johnny.

The summer is an opportunity for us to take the theatre outside, making the most of our beautiful courtyard space. Our annual outdoor festival Summer in the Courtyard is back bigger and better than ever this year with a fresh new line-up of live music, comedy, headline DJs and family fun. Courtyard Live, a free festival of live music on Friday & Saturday nights, is a chance for people to get together with friends and family and enjoy performances from local bands in the sunshine that’s entirely free. Local theatre company Mikron will bring their new show Operation Beach Hut to our outdoor stage and our Courtyard Comedy Festival returns, an alfresco weekend of stand-up featuring some of the UKs best comedians. Our monthly Dinky Disco will be heading outdoors for Dinky Disco: Festival Style! with DJs, games and face painting and our Summer in the Courtyard will come to a spectacular close with an open-air headline DJ set from house music legend Graeme Park.

Becky Dash, Chief Executive of the Lawrence Batley Theatre said “As the only professional theatre in Kirklees, we recognise the importance of nurturing and celebrating the wealth of talent we have in our region. This summer we’re proud to be bringing incredible local artists to our stages alongside a whole host of other world-class entertainment the people of Huddersfield deserve to have on their doorstep. Across dance, drama and music the standout shows in our summer season come from local artists and we have the pleasure of hosting them here in our beautiful building. As a registered charity (No. 510693) we can’t continue to do this without our audience's support. So come see a show, dance the night away in our courtyard, cool off with an ice-cream or treat yourself to a pint at the interval. We hope you’ll join us for a summer of magic.”

Visit here to see what's on this summer