The Lowry announces big Christmas show for 2022 - and it's direct from the West End

The Lowry theatre has confirmed its big show for the festive period this year will be a West End exclusive - with the first touring production of hugely-acclaimed drama The Ocean at the End of the Lane. The show heads to Salford for a six week run over Christmas, direct from the West End before heading on a national tour.

Billed as a thrilling adventure of fantasy, myth and friendship, it is the first major stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel and is said to be "unlike anything else you'll ever see at the theatre". It blends magic with memory in what is billed as a "tour de force of storytelling that takes audiences on an epic journey to a childhood once forgotten and the darkness that lurks at the very edge of it."

It will play at The Lowry in Salford from Monday December 12 2022 through to Sunday January 8, 2023. The show is directed by Katy Rudd (Camp Siegfried) and adapted by Joel Horwood (Skins, I Want My Hat Back) and aims to appeal to a "Netflix generation" of new theatre fans as well as wowing those returning audiences.

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The story follows a man returning to his childhood home, and standing beside the pond of the old Sussex farmhouse where he used to play. He's then transported to his 12th birthday when his remarkable friend Lettie claimed it wasn't a pond, but an ocean – a place where everything is possible.

Plunged into a magical world, their survival depends on their ability to reckon with ancient forces that threaten to destroy everything around them. While it is a family show, the dark themes mean it is recommended for age 12 and above.

After Salford, the production will tour for a total of 40 weeks, the largest tour mounted by