A café with a difference opens its doors in Lancaster for one night only next Wednesday. Gomito Productions present a new comic romance, The Alchemystorium, using silent physical comedy, striking visuals and puppetry.
Details: www.dukes-lancaster.org
Travelling Light, a new National Theatre production, comes to the Lowry in Salford from Tuesday to Saturday, starring Anthony Sher. The story pays tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood's golden age.
Details: www.thelowry.com
Moscow City Ballet perform two of the world's most famous traditional ballets Romeo & Juliet and Swan Lake at the Opera House in Manchester next Thursday to Saturday.
Details: www.atgtickets.com/venues/opera-house-manchester
South Pacific returns to Manchester's Palace Theatre next week after its success at the venue in the autumn. A new cast includes Rebecca Thornhill as Nellie, Matthew Camelle as Emile de Becque, Daniel Koek as Lt Joe Cable and Alex Fearns as Luther Billis and it runs from Tuesday to Saturday.
Details: www.atgtickets.com/manchester
Following a successful debut tour last year, Science Museum Live's daring demonstrations and explosive experiments blast back on to The Lowry's stage in Salford for National Science and Engineering Week next Friday and Saturday.
Details: www.thelowry.com
Bette Davis confronts the ghost of Joan Crawford in Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain, a new play by Foursight Theatre which takes a wry, feisty and irreverent look at two of Hollywood's greatest icons, at the Lowry in Salford next Wednesday to Friday.
Details: www.thelowry.com
On March 29 it's also at Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre.
Details: www.breweryarts.co.uk
Award-winning Workin Girls return to The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester next Wednesday to Saturday to present Baglady—an Irish masterpiece by Frank McGuinness. Performed as a monologue by Joan Kempson, it tells the story of one woman's alienation from society.
Details: 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk
Blackbird is the story of a kidnapped woman, held captive in the basement of her kidnapper's home and the knock-on effects of the isolation with only her imagination and infrequent visits by the kidnapper as comfort.
Catch it again at Studio Salford from March 14-17.
Details: www.studiosalford.com
The Hound of the Baskervilles, an Oldham Coliseum Theatre Production, starts a two-month tour at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield next week.
It's the most extensive tour in the Coliseum's history and forms part of their inaugural season out of their usual building while it is being refurbished.
Working alongside state-of-the-art visual design team imitating the dog (itd), it will include a tapestry of digital images, stark lighting and enveloping sound to create a cinematic portrayal.
Details: www.coliseum.org.uk