Lantern Theatre's final Shiny New Festival

This month sees the fifth Shiny New Festival at the Lantern Theatre - and the last at the venue we know and love.It will be the theatre's final in-house production at their Blundell Street home, and as such it will run for an extended length of ten days from July 15 to 24, due to what they say is an increase in applications from companies and comedians keen to showcase their work ahead of August’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe (which is why Shiny New exists).Since launching in 2011, the fest has acted as a platform for companies to try out new work whilst offering audiences a mix of new writing and comedy. This year the formatis changing slightly, with the first five days dedicated to comedy, and the rest to new writing and plays.Headline comics include QI 'elf' Andrew Hunter Murray (he appears on the No Such Thing As Fish podcast), Fern Brady, Ed Aczel, Richard Gadd, and John Luke Roberts. They will be joined by local acts including the Lantern’s in-house compere from their Matchbox comedy nights Alastair Clarke, as well as Foxdog Studios, Harriet Dyer, Kris Foster and Frank Foucault.Theatre audiences can catch three performances per night from July 20 to 24. Opening the festival is Hotel from Art Groupie, whose previous productions for Shiny New have included Weave and Pornovision. Other companies involved inclue SeeGold Productions, Teatro Pomodoro, The Off Off Off Broadway Company, Holly and Ted and more. Closing the festival is new writing from 'festival favourites' Naughty Corner Productions with their new play Dirty Glitter - a self proclaimed ‘neon noir’ comedy thriller that previewed at the Lantern back in April, and will be heading to the Edinburgh Fringe.The festival's final performance will be followed by a closing party for the venue, which will shut for good at the end of this month following the sale of the building to developers. The Lantern’s owners Margaret Connell, Siobhan Noble and Daniel Noble are currently looking for a new venue, and fundraising to cover costs.Help see things go out with a bang - festival tickets are on sale now starting at just £5. For full line up and ticket information visit www.lanterntheatreliverpool.co.uk.