A big irreverent hit on Broadway, in the West End and worldwide, award-winning comedy musical Avenue Q returns to the region in a new production from Sell a Door Theatre Company at the Palace Theatre, Manchester from Tuesday to Saturday.
Bruntwood Prize winning play Britannia Waves The Rules by Gareth Farr receives its world première at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre from Tuesday to June 7.
Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake opens its summer season this weekend with two very different plays: a family-friendly comedy, Rookery Nook by Ben Travers, in the main house and a blackly comic thriller, The Winterling by Jez Butterworth in the studio.
Performer Peggy Shaw presents Ruff at Contact in Manchester on Tuesday. It’s a tribute to those who have kept her company for 68 years, a lament for the absence of those who disappeared into the dark holes left behind by her stroke in 2011.
Kent-based theatre company Transport is touring its family production of 1001 Nights around the UK with various dates in Manchester and Lancashire. It’s at The Edge, Chorlton next Thursday, The Boo, Waterfoot the following day and Burnley Arts Centre on Saturday.
Bless ’Em All, a brand new touring production from the company behind hit matinée show We’ll Meet Again, comes to Preston Charter Theatre on Tuesday afternoon. Veteran variety producer Duggie Chapman MBE is the man behind We'll Meet Again, paying tribute to some of the greatest entertainers of the wartime era.
Back by public demand and celebrating its 15th year with a new show for 2014, the UK’s longest running musical theatre concert Beyond the Barricade returns to Preston Charter Theatre on Thursday.
Anne Dalton, best-known for her musical Her Benny, brings her take on The Pied Piper to Stockport Plaza from 28 to 31 May.
Northern Stage will present an adaptation of Joseph Heller's Catch 22 at Liverpool Playhouse from 27 to 31 May.
Vivienne Franzmann's latest play Pests comes to the Liverpool Playhouse Studio in a co-production between Clean Break, the Royal Court and the Manchester Royal Exchange from 28 to 31 May.