A REVIVAL of Roger McGough’s Tartuffe will lead an entire programme of in-house productions celebrating the Liverpool Playhouse’s 100th birthday this autumn.

The Mersey poet’s version of Molière’s celebrated farce, a Capital of Culture year hit, will open the theatre’s new season in September before embarking on a UK tour.

The centenary season will also see the venue’s Studio performance space re-opened for a new generation of playwrights. Seating 80-100, it will provide a platform for more challenging work, launched by the world premiere of a piece by Liverpool playwright Lizzie Nunnery.

Read Laura Davis's verdict on the Playhouse's centenary season by clicking here.

Artistic director Gemma Bodinetz said: “The renaissance of the Playhouse Studio is our birthday present to the theatre.

“Many of our celebrated theatre practitioners took their first steps as artists in the safe yet utterly daring Playhouse Studio. Whilst we will still have to use it as a rehearsal room, we have fitted it out to allow public access and technical support for use as a studio theatre whenever we can.”

Nunnery’s psychological thriller, The Swallowing Dark, is the story of a refugee and his son who have escaped the horrors of Zimbabwe under Mugabe.