![\"Julie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/202693_233652.jpg\" "\\"Julie")
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\n\t\t Reporter: Rochdale Online
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\n\t\t Date published: 03 September 2026
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Julie Hesmondhalgh launches ticket fund for Oldham Coliseum’s Macbeth \n<\/p>\n
Actor Julie Hesmondhalgh has launched a fundraising campaign to provide free and pay-what-you-can tickets for Oldham Coliseum Theatre’s production of Macbeth.<\/p>\n
More than \u00a31,000 was donated to the Pay It Forward campaign in its first 24 hours, according to the Coliseum.<\/p>\n
The campaign is being run with the Friends of the Coliseum and asks people to donate towards tickets for those who would otherwise be unable to afford one.<\/p>\n
A concessionary ticket for Macbeth costs \u00a315, although donations of other amounts can also be made.<\/p>\n
Money raised will be used to provide free and pay-what-you-can tickets through community groups in Oldham.<\/p>\n
Free tickets will also be allocated through an online form on a first come, first served basis until the available allocation has been taken.<\/p>\n
Hesmondhalgh, who is Guest Curator at Oldham Coliseum Theatre, said: \u201cAs we launch our new production of Macbeth, we are hoping to enable audience members who cannot afford a ticket to come along. A concessionary ticket is \u00a315, but we are hoping to be able to provide a number of free and pay-what-you-can tickets per performance via community groups within the town.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if you can ‘bring someone with you’ by donating \u00a315, or even throw a couple of quid in, it would be hugely appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hesmondhalgh and her husband, screenwriter Ian Kershaw, were involved in the campaign to save the Coliseum after Arts Council England withdrew its regular funding in 2023.<\/p>\n
The Coliseum is currently staging work at temporary and site-specific venues while restoration work continues on its Fairbottom Street theatre.<\/p>\n
Macbeth will be staged at Liquid & Envy nightclub on Retiro Street in Oldham town centre from Friday 23 October until Saturday 7 November.<\/p>\n
The production is directed by Coliseum Creative Director Nick Bagnall and stars Andrew Sheridan as Macbeth and Erin Shanagher as Lady Macbeth.<\/p>\n
The season will include relaxed, audio-described and captioned performances as well as two performances interpreted in British Sign Language.<\/p>\n
Hesmondhalgh is also due to appear in the second series of BBC’s The Celebrity Traitors and will take part in a Coliseum event about the programme in Oldham on Sunday 13 December.<\/p>\n
Donations to the Pay It Forward campaign can be made at gofundme.com\/f\/pay-it-forward-tickets.<\/p>\n
Tickets for Macbeth and further information are available at coliseum.org.uk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reporter: Rochdale Online Date published: 03 September 2026 Julie Hesmondhalgh launches ticket fund for Oldham…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1185082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,24074,2465,24075,24073,16,15],"class_list":["post-1185081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-main-news","tag-manchester","tag-oldham-chronicle","tag-oldham-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117210000276683064","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1185082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}