A Bold New Look and Website for the Coli

The website has been created to make it easier for people to navigate, find information and book tickets for shows. It has been designed by Smiling Wolf, who have also developed a striking and colourful brand design reflecting positivity and optimism as Oldham Coliseum Theatre seeks to cement itself as a key part of the borough’s future cultural, social and economic success – and a revitalisation that brings benefits to everyone living there.

Inspired by Oldham Coliseum Theatre as a place of stories that brings creatives and audiences together, the new identity features bold and colourful modular shapes that can be endlessly assembled, reinterpreted and reinvented in different combinations, reflecting the dynamic and transformative power of storytelling and creativity – and the spirit and energy of people across Oldham.

The new look underscores Oldham Coliseum Theatre’s commitment to working with Oldham’s different communities and the creative individuals and organisations based in the borough, and the possibilities that people coming together can enable.

In the meantime, the Spring 2026 season is already underway with a lively programme of shows and activities for people of all age. Upcoming theatre, with a focus on northern storytelling, includes Census and Smoke and Mirrors. For families Khooghi is bringing holiday fun and puppetry.  Other highlights include an exciting new collaboration with Manchester Jazz Festival including Vipertime and a double bill with Her Revelation and Lullaby-Sonic Cradle.

This spring–summer season at Oldham Coliseum Theatre features a vibrant mix of theatre, storytelling, comedy and community events across intimate local venues — from specially commissioned works inspired by and set in Oldham to interactive meet-ups and cultural conversations that bring local voices and stories to the forefront of the borough’s creative life, all underscoring the Coliseum’s commitment to connection and creativity as part of its journey toward reopening.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO

Oldham Born. World Bound.

A Brand in Motion.

The brand journey of Oldham Coliseum Theatre begins, as all honest stories do, with place.

Oldham born – Not as a slogan, but as a truth. Born of mill towns and music centres, of graft and gallows humour, of people who make things because they have to. Born from a belief that culture is not a luxury imported from elsewhere, but something forged locally — in community halls, back rooms, youth theatres, living rooms. Something that belongs to everyone.

And world bound — not because we want to escape where we come from, but because we believe what’s made here has value everywhere. That tension — between roots and reach — sits at the heart of our brand. It always has. What’s changing now is how consciously, confidently and publicly we inhabit it.

Our manifesto was never about being finished. It was about becoming. The Coliseum brand is not static or polished. It’s alive. It evolves as the town evolves, as the organisation learns, as the world shifts around us. Over recent years, that evolution has accelerated — shaped by closure, uncertainty, reinvention and ambition. Not despite the disruption, but because of it.

At our core sit three archetypes that guide our voice, our choices and our future:

First, the Jester. This is our humour, our irreverence, our refusal to take ourselves too seriously. The jester reminds us that joy is radical. That laughter is political. That warmth, wit and playfulness are powerful ways of welcoming people in. We are not aloof. We are human. We laugh with our audiences, not at a distance from them.

Second, the Magician.
The alchemy of theatre. The transformation that happens when lights go down and something shifts inside you. The magician is our belief in imagination, possibility and change. It’s the sense that stories can rewire how we see ourselves and the world. That creativity is not decoration — it’s a force.

And third, the Civic.
This is perhaps our most important evolution. The Coliseum as a public good. A civic actor. A cultural anchor with responsibility to place. This archetype grounds us in service — to Oldham, to its people, to its future. It shapes our commitment to visibility, access, skills, partnership and regeneration. It’s where art meets responsibility.

Together, these archetypes create a brand that is playful but purposeful. Magical but grounded. Proudly local and confidently outward-facing. As we move forward, the excitement lies not in “reopening” but in re-emerging — clearer about who we are and what we stand for. The Coliseum brand is becoming more porous, more generous, more collaborative. Less about a single building, more about a wider cultural presence.

Oldham born means we honour where we come from.

World bound means we refuse to be small.

This brand journey is not about arrival. It’s about momentum. And the story is still being written.

Martina Murphy

CEO, Oldham Coliseum Theatre