Fun-filled Elizabethan Fayre returns to Merseyside this weekend - full preview and details

Prescot's Elizabethan Fayre returns this Saturday to celebrate the town's heritage and its renaissance, all with a contemporary twist. Organisers are promising a fun-filled day packed with theatre and dance performances, circus skills, craft workshops, music, heritage walks, and more from 11 am - 5 pm.

Visitors can also experience a piece of Tudor history, with candle making, musical minstrels, and Imaginarium Theatre are putting on a Fools and Fairies parade which will go down Eccleston Street from around 1.30 pm.

Organiser Laura Orchard told LiverpoolWorld: "It's super family-friendly, and it was really important to us with the support of heritage action zone funding that we made everything as free as possible. On top of all the free, have a go, see, get involved and performances, we've also got an Artisan market."

Like other High Streets, Prescot was hit hard by the pandemic, which is why they say events like this are vital for the local economy. Louise Gillespie from Prescot Business Club said: "It's such a lovely vibrant, fun-filled day; it's lovely to see the town centre so busy and bustling."

Prescot's history is quite remarkable – in Elizabethan times, it was the only place in the country, aside from London, to have a free-standing purpose-built theatre. Today it is home to Shakespeare North Playhouse, a new theatre and cultural venue in the heart of the town inspired by William Shakespeare and his love of storytelling.

Last year the purpose-built £30m theatre opened its doors. As well as bringing their critically acclaimed Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse to the theatre this week, ArtsGroupie are also a part of the Fayre this weekend.

• Watch the video at the top of the page for a full taste of the Elizabethan Fayre.