Merseyside's newest theatre is set to hold its grand opening this week, the ground-breaking new venue becoming home to the only 17th-century style, timber-built "Cockpit" theatre outside London.
Coinciding with Knowsley's year as Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture, Prescot's Shakespeare North Playhouse opens this Friday, July 15. And we were recently given a first look inside the new £38m theatre.
But some may be unaware of Shakespeare's links to the town that goes back generations. Dating back to the 1500s, The Earls of Derby and Prescot had unique ties to Elizabethan drama and legendary playwright William Shakespeare, the ECHO previously reported.